World Premiere
Heartbroken over the sudden death of her sister, Kate, Abby delves into the world of Kate’s final novel to deal with her grief and somehow move on. As the lines blur between the fictional world and her own reality, Abby attempts to make sense of life and death in this funny and poignant play.
Bottom of the World was commissioned by WET (Women’s Expressive Theater, Inc), New York City, Sasha Eden and Victoria Pettibone, Artistic Directors.
BIOS
CRYSTAL A. DICKINSON (Abigail) Off Broadway: Clybourne Park (Playwrights Horizons), Broke-ology (Lincoln Center), Ruined (u/s, Manhattan Theatre Club), The First Breeze of Summer (Signature Theatre Company), Sun Down Names and Night Gone Things (Negro Ensemble Company). Regional: Baltimore Centerstage, The Alliance, 7 Stages, Georgia Shakespeare, Illinois Shakespeare, Synchronicity, Theatre-in-the-Square. Television: “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.” Education: MFA University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, London Academy for Music and Dramatic Art, Member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab.
BRANDON J. DIRDEN (Ely) Atlantic debut. Broadway: ENRON, Prelude To A Kiss (Roundabout Theatre Company). Off-Broadway: The First Breeze of Summer and Day of Absence (Signature Theatre). Regional: Magnolia (Goodman Theatre); Fences (Huntington Theatre & South Coast Repertory); Topdog/Underdog (Playmakers Repertory Company); Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (True Colors Theatre) Othello, Twelfth Night, Metamorphoses, Comedy of Errors, and others (Georgia Shakespeare Festival); A Death in the House…, A Christmas Carol, and The Breach (Alliance Theatre); Take Me Out (Theatre in the Square); Come On in My Kitchen (7 Stages); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Alley Theater) and Julius Caesar and As You Like It (North Carolina Shakespeare Festival). Training: B.A., Morehouse College and M.F.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Proud Member of Actors Equity Association.
AUBREY DOLLAR (Susan/Dana) Aubrey Dollar was last seen as journalist Cindy Thomas in ABC’s drama “Women’s Murder Club” - based on the successful series of novels from James Patterson. Dollar’s feature film credits include “Hard Luck,” “Stepping Up” and “Failure to Launch,” with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Aubrey starred in the Fox drama “Point Pleasant” and created the role of Marina Cooper on CBS’s daytime drama “Guiding Light.” Dollar’s background on the stage includes roles in The Mistakes Madeline Made at the Yale Repertory, Juvenilia by Wendy McCloud for Playwrights Horizons as well as many productions at Boston University.
BRENDAN GRIFFIN (Josh) Off-Broadway: Clybourne Park (Playwright’s Horizons). Regional: Back Back Back, Cyrano de Bergerac, Coriolanus (The Old Globe Theatre), Clouds (Dog and Pony Theatre Company). Film: Taking Chance, The Nanny Diaries. Television: “The Good Wife,” “Generation Kill,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “One Life To Live,” “Guiding Light”. Proud graduate of Kenyon College with a B.A. in Drama and a founding member of Chicago’s Dog & Pony Theatre Co. Member of AEA.
KRISTIN GRIFFITH (Louise/Christine) previously appeared at Atlantic in Jody’s Mother (10x20) directed by Neil Pepe. Recent work includes Ernest in Love, Director Charlotte Moore and Ciaran O’Reilly’s production of Ibsen’s The Master Builder with James Naughton at the Irish Repertory Theater and her critically acclaimed performance as Richard Nixon’s secretary Rose Mary Woods in Susan Bernfield’s Stretch (A Fantasia) directed by Emma Griffin. Ms. Griffith made her Broadway debut in A Texas Trilogy and has appeared in plays at the WPA, Hudson Guild, The Women’s Project, MTC, The Promenade, UBU, The Roundabout, The Lambs, The Mint, and Atlantic Theater among others. A member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, she has appeared in 14 “Marathons” in the works of Frank Gilroy, Joyce Carol Oates, Peter Maloney, David Mamet, Edward Allen Baker, and Paul Austin. She has performed at regional theaters across the country and at The Shaw Festival in Canada. Feature films include Woody Allen’s Interiors, Steven Soderbergh’s King of the Hill and James Ivory’s The Europeans. On TV she has guest-starred in the series “Law & Order” (and its franchises “SVU” & “CI”), “New Amsterdam,” “Ed,” “Wonderland” and “Third Watch.” TV movie appearances include “Rose Hill” (w/ Jennifer Garner), “The Long Way Home” (w/ Jack Lemmon), “Gregory K: A Place to Be” and “Flesh and Blood” (w/ Denzel Washington and John Cassavetes).
JESSICA LOVE (Kate) Jessica graduated last year from Juilliard’s acting program. She has appeared in the world premiers of Rogelio Martinez’s, When Tang Met Laika (The Denver Center), Kay Maschulat’s Don’t Fuck With Love (The Redbull Theater), and Daniel Morgan Kelly’s The Conveniences of Modern Living (Fringe 2010). Jessica is also an illustrator and animator. Jess lives in Brooklyn. www.Jessicalove.org.
PETER MALONEY (Marshall/Paul) most recently appeared at Atlantic in the world premiere of Peter Parnell’s play Trumpery and the acclaimed production of David Mamet’s adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. He recently appeared on Broadway as “Doc” in the current revival of West Side Story. At Atlantic he has also been seen in 10 x 20 (Leavings), The Room, The Cherry Orchard, Hobson’s Choice, The Water Engine, Mr. Happiness, The Duck Variations, Down the Shore and The Dadshuttle. Broadway: Arcadia, Carousel, Six Degrees of Separation, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Dinner at Eight and Our Town (Lincoln Center Theater), Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley, Poor Murderer, Hughie. For four years he was a member of Joseph Chaikin’s Open Theater, appearing here and in Europe in The Serpent, Terminal and Endgame in which he played Clov to Mr. Chaikin’s Hamm. Film: 47 films, including K-Pax, Boiler Room, Requiem for a Dream, The Crucible, Washington Square. Television: Fans of “Rescue Me” will recognize him as “Uncle Red.” Writer: his latest play Witness, (part of his Abu Ghraib Triptych), was just published by Applause Books in the collection Best American Short Plays. He is also published by Samuel French, Inc., Broadway Play Publishing, and Faber and Faber. Member: The Actors Studio, Ensemble Studio Theatre. Mr. Maloney is a Fox Foundation Fellow.
K.K. MOGGIE (Gina/Sally) Theatre credits include: The Bereaved (Partial Comfort), Grace (MCC), Richard III (CSC), A Peddlers Tale (Women’s Project),The Proust Project (CSC Monday Nights), The Tempest (CSC Monday Night Tempest), Fetes de la Nuit, Love: A Tragic Etude, Metamorphosis from Ted Hughes’ Tales from Ovid, Cleansed, Uncle Vanya, The Vagina Monologues, Our Country’s Good, Agamemnon. Film and TV: NBC’s Mercy, MTV’s “Gamekillers”, Anna and the King, The Sleeping Dictionary. Training: Columbia University’s M.F.A acting program.
ALEXANDER SOVRONSKY (Violin) is an accomplished and celebrated composer. Composition credits include – BROADWAY: Cyrano de Bergerac. OFF-BROADWAY: Women Beware Women (Red Bull Theatre); The Three Sisters (Classical Theatre of Harlem); The Libertine (The Fools’ Theatre). REGIONAL: Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Twelfth Night, Pericles (Shakespeare & Company); Summer (The Wharton Salon). He sends eternal thanks to his parents & family, who continue to encourage and inspire him on a daily basis. For a good time, check out www.AlexanderSovronsky.com
BENNETT SULLIVAN (Banjo/Mandolin) Hailing from Greensboro, North Carolina, Bennett was immediately immersed in bluegrass and folk music from the moment he first picked up the banjo at age 13. Just after high school, Bennett worked for Carnival Cruise Lines as a contracted musician playing mostly electric guitar. He also was involved in the production of the original play Beautiful Star (Triad Stage), as well as Eubie (NC A&T) and Dreamgirls (NC A&T). Music has brought him to many locations around the world, including Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Bennett moved to New York City in January of 2010 to study under some of the finest performers and educators that the New York jazz scene has to offer at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He spent a semester at the New School and is now pursuing his education through his own means. Currently, Mr. Sullivan is an employee at J-Crew in Manhattan by day, and a freelance musician by night. Bennett is extremely excited about being involved in the world premiere of Bottom of the World.
LUCY THURBER (Playwright) is the author of eight plays: Where We’re Born, Ashville, Scarcity, Killers and Other Family, Stay, Bottom of The World, Monstrosity and Dillingham City. The Atlantic Theater Company opened its 2007/08 season with Scarcity, and developed Bottom of the World at Perry-Mansfield in 2009. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater has produced three of her plays, Where We’re Born, Killers and Other Family and Stay, and produced a critically acclaimed revival of Killlers and Other Family in 2009, directed by Caitriona McLaughlin. Lucy has twice collaborated with the director Lear DeBessonet , both on Quixote, a site-specific performance with the Psalters made for and with The Broad Street Community in Philadelphia, and also on her play Monstrosity for 13P. Scarcity was published in the December 2007 issue of American Theatre, and acting editions of her work are published by Dramatists Play Service. A member of New Dramatists, 13P, MCC Playwrights Coalition and the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, she was also the recipient of the 2000-01 Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting Fellowship. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and is developing a new musical with Bigheart productions, Lear DeBessonet and The Citizen’s Band. Lucy currently teaches writing at Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College.
CAITRIONA MC LAUGHLIN (Director) is an Irish theatre director currently based in London. Recent productions include Judgement Day by Ödön Von Horváth (Bard Summerscope), Still, the Blackbird Sings by Dave Duggan (Playhouse Derry and Irish Tour, 2010), Killers and Other Family by Lucy Thurber (Rattlestick Theatre), The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar (Farquhar festival, Blue Eagle Theatre Company). Previous directing work includes The New Statesman (Ambassadors Theatre Group and No.1 Tour), Shadowbox (Southwark Playhouse), Masks and Faces, Frank Pig Says Hello, Allports Revenge and Lullabies of Broadmoor (The Finborough Theatre) and Roman Nights, Modern Man and Pete n Me (The New End Theatre, London). Caitriona was awarded a Clore Fellowship in 2007 and spent time on secondment at The Royal Court Theatre in London before becoming Associate Director of The Playground Studio in London.
WALT SPANGLER (Scenic Design) has designed for The Atlantic for over a decade, including the premiere of Lucy Thurber’s Scarcity. Recent/upcoming NY projects include the Broadway revival of Desire Under The Elms directed by Robert Falls and Pinter’s The Collection and A Kind of Alaska directed by Karen Kohlhaas at Atlantic Theater Company. Walt is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
EMILY REBHOLZ (Costume Design) New York: Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (Upcoming Broadway Production) and (Public Theatre); This Wide Night (Naked Angels); Broke-ology, Clay (Lincoln Center) Killers and Other Family (Rattlestick Theatre); Dance Dance Revoluion (Les Freres Corbusier); The Language of Trees (Roundabout Theatre); Sax and Dixon, Jollyship the Whizbang, Boom (Ars Nova); Monstrosity, Have You Seen Steve Steven? (13P); Gutenberg! The Musical! (The Actors Playhouse) Select Regional: Becky Shaw (The Wilma Theatre); Six Degrees of Separation (The Old Globe); Danton’s Death (University of Rochester); Murderers, Doubt, Expecting Isabel (Asolo Repertory Theatre); Caroline in Jersey, Beyond Therapy (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama.
MATTHEW RICHARDS (Lighting Design) Atlantic Theater Company: What’s That Smell and Port Authority. Off-Broadway: Graceland (Lincoln Center); The Drunken City, Pen (Playwrights Horizons); Grace (MCC); Len, Asleep in Vinyl (Second Stage); Seussical!; Click!, Clack!, Moo! (TheatreworksUSA); A Small Melodramatic Story (The Public/LAByrinth); One Loss Plus (B.A.M. Next Wave Festival); ARS Nova; Edge Theater; Katharsis; The Play Company; Rattlestick. Regional: Baltimore’s Center Stage; Bay Street; Dallas Theater Center; Ford’s Theatre; The Goodman; The Huntington; New York Stage and Film; The Old Globe; Shakespeare Theatre; Westport Playhouse; Williamstown Theatre Festival; Yale Repertory Theatre. Graduate: University of Massachusetts, and The Yale School of Drama. matthewrichardsdesign.com.
ROBERT KAPLOWITZ (Original Music & Sound Design) Credits include: Bill T. Jones’ Fela! on Broadway; John Beluso’s The Poor Itch, Tracy Scott Wilson’s The Story, and a handful of others at the Public; David Adjmi’s Stunning (LCT3); Kia Corthron’s Light, Raise the Roof (NYTW); Abbey Spallin’s Pumpgirl (MTC), Chloe Moss’s This Wide Night (Naked Angels); Adam Bock’s The Thugs (SoHo Rep); and Eric Jackson’s drag adaptation of Carrie (PS122). He has also designed for 2nd Stage, Arden, LAByrinth, MCC, Primary Stages, The Vineyard, the O’Neill, Sundance & PlayPenn, amongst others. He received a Tony for Fela!, an OBIE for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design, and is married to actress and former John Deere Catalog Model Kittson O’Neill, whom he loves, along with his son Niall, more than any work he’s ever done.
TELSEY+COMPANY (Casting) Broadway/Tours: Elf, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark, A Life in the Theatre, Million Dollar Quartet, The Addams Family, Memphis, Next to Normal, Rock of Ages, In the Heights, Wicked, 9 to 5, South Pacific, Peepshow in Vegas; Off-Broadway: MCC, Signature; Film: Margin Call, Sex and the City 1 & 2, Jonah Hex, Main Street, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, I Love You Phillip Morris, Rachel Getting Married, Dan in Real Life, Then She Found Me, Across the Universe, Ira & Abby, Rent, Pieces of April, Camp, The Grey Zone, Finding Forrester, The Bone Collector; TV: Ugly Betty (pilot), Whoopi, HBO’s Undefeated, commercials.
EILEEN RYAN KELLY (Production Stage Manager) Broadway- Mary Stuart. Off-Broadway- The Understudy, Streamers (Roundabout Theatre Company), Equivocation (MTC). Regional - Shining City, Brendan, She Loves Me, Present Laughter, The Hopper Collection, Falsettos (Huntington Theatre Company), A Flea in her Ear, Cabaret and Main, and R Shomon (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Equus, The Glass Menagerie (Guild Hall). Other regional credits include Boston Playwright’s Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, and the Olney Theatre.
EMILY E. LEVIN (Assistant Stage Manager) Previous credits include: Off Broadway: Atlantic Theater Company’s: Trumpery, Port Authority, and Farragut North. National Tour: TheaterWorks/TwoBeans Production of James and the Giant Peach, Regional: Weston Playhouse Seasons 2006-2009. Emily is the ongoing Production Coordinator for Christine Jones’s Theatre For One.
ATLANTIC STAGE 2 Atlantic is dedicated each season to cultivating new writers by producing at least two fully-realized productions of new works at its 99 seat state-of-the-art black box theater, Atlantic Stage 2. Since its inception in 2003, this stage has remained the anchor of Atlantic’s play development program and a major contributor to the artistic life of the organization. In addition to producing two new works each season, Atlantic Stage 2 maintains a formalized Commissioning Program launched in 2006, and the Next Page Reading Series
