top of page

PLAYING THE ASSASSIN

written by David Robson

directed by Joe Brancato

OCTOBER 21 - NOVEMBER 2015

In a compelling story about a man’s legacy, Frank Baker is offered the chance of a lifetime – an interview on CBS before the Super Bowl. But just when he thinks his luck has changed, Baker and his interviewer are blindsided by secrets and revelations. Inspired by a true story, this new play looks closely at hero worship, forgiveness, and legacy. How will you be remembered when the final whistle is blown?

#DTCPlayingTheAssassin

Want an inside look at the show?

Check out our Study Guide.

PRESS & REVIEWS

- The News Journal

"A driving two-hander full of feints, snaps and switchbacks"

- The News Journal

- The Philadelphia Inquirer

- The Philadelphia Inquirer

- DC Metro Theater Arts

"TOUCHDOWN!"

- DC Metro Theater Arts

MEDIA

Ezra Knight,
Garrett Lee Hendricks. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

Garrett Lee Hendricks, Ezra Knight. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

Garrett Lee Hendricks, Ezra Knight. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

Ezra Knight. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

Garrett Lee Hendricks, Ezra Knight. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

Garrett Lee Hendricks, Ezra Knight. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

Garrett Lee Hendricks, Ezra Knight. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

Ezra Knight, Garrett Lee Hendricks. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

Garrett Lee Hendricks, Ezra Knight. Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

JOE BRANCATO (Director) was cited by The New York Times as “one of America’s most insightful directors.” His Off-Broadway credits include the critically acclaimed, sold-out production of Erasmus Fenn’s Drop Dead Perfect at Theatre at St. Clements; The Devil’s Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Off Bway Alliance & Audelco Award nominee), which he also staged at the Montreal Jazz Festival; Miracle on South Division Street; Fall to Earth for InProximity and Freed (Audelco Award nominee); Tryst (Outer Critics nomination - Best Play); Cobb (Drama Desk winner) produced by Kevin Spacey and Melting Pot in NYC and LA; From Door To Door at the Westside Theatre; One Shot, One Kill at Primary Stages; Jeffrey Solomon’s Santa Claus is Coming Out (The Santa Closet); Two and a Half Jews; My Italy Story; Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Matter of Minutes; at Naked Angels, Escape from Happiness (with Marsha Mason), The Big Swing (with Madeline Kahn, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Marisa Tomei) and Dr. Valentine’s Waltz (with John Turturro, Laura Linney, Gina Gershon, Jane Alexander); Hold the Wedding, produced by Joseph Papp. Regional credits: George Street Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Houston’s Alley Theatre, Hartford Stage, Westport Playhouse, Capital Rep, Florida Repertory, New Rep, Hartford TheatreWorks, Cape Playhouse, People’s Light & Theatre Co., Passage Theatre and Florida Stage. As founding artistic director of Penguin Rep he has directed well over 100 productions including premieres by Arthur Laurents, Lanie Robertson, William Mastrosimone, James Sherman, Steven Dietz, Richard Vetere, Allan Knee, Angelo Parra and Tom Dudzick. He commissioned and directed the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan, which was the basis for the film and Broadway musical Finding Neverland. Joe was named Best Director by L.A. Scene for Santa Claus is Coming Out and received two Rockland County Executive Awards for artistic excellence. His staging of Tryst at Merrimack Repertory Theatre garnered New England’s IRNE Award nominations for Best Director and Best Production. www.joebrancato.com.

DAVID ROBSON (Playwright) is the author of many plays, including PRICELESS, which recently premiered at Penguin Rep in Stony Point, New York, under the direction of Joe Brancato; PLAYING LENI (co-written with John Stanton, Madhouse Theater Company); A FEW SMALL REPAIRS (Theater Catalyst); MAN MEASURES MAN (InterAct Theatre Company, Barrymore Nomination); AFTER DENMARK (Yellow Taxi Productions); and OUT OF PLACE (Julie Harris Playwriting Award Finalist). He is the recipient of the Hotel Obligado Audience Choice Award for New Work and two playwriting fellowships and two grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts. Play development: Bated Breath Theatre (Hartford), Lark (NYC), White Pines Productions (Philadelphia), City Theater Company (Wilmington), Great Plains Theatre Conference (Omaha), Last Frontier Theatre Conference (Valdez, Alaska), and New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL). His plays and monologues are published by Smith and Kraus and Original Works Publishing. David is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild and a former playwright in residence at the Lark Play Development Center in New York City. A native Philadelphian, Robson has been a Delaware resident since 1990.

MARGUERITE PRICE (Production Stage Manager) is in her fourth season at DTC. Other recent regional credits: Ghosts, Fences at Peoples’Light & Theatre Company, Woody Sez at PLTC and Asolo Repertory Theatre and PlayPenn New Play Conference. She proudly served ten seasons as the Production Stage Manager at Act II Playhouse where she stage managed Mr. Robson’s play, Playing the Assassin. Margie is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and was its Philadelphia Liaison from May 2005 – January 2007. She is also a Past-Chair of the Stage Managers’ Association (www.stagemanagers.org).

BRIAN PRATHER (Scenic Designer) is happy to return to Delaware Theatre Company after designing their production of the new Patrick Barlow adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Off-Broadway designs include: A Christmas Carol, Becoming Dr. Ruth, The Memory Show, Freud’s Last Session, The Burnt Part Boys, and Fugitive Songs. Internationally: Chung-mu Art Hall in Seoul, South Korea. Regionally: The Alley Theatre, Barrington Stage Co., TheaterWorks Hartford, Virginia Rep., The Broad Stage, The Mercury Theatre (winning the Jeff Award for Best Set Design), The Hangar Theatre, Shakespeare on the Sound, and many others. Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. See more at www.brianprather.com.

CHARLOTTE PALMER-LANE (Costume Designer) is originally from the UK. While there she worked for the BBC as a costume designer and assistant. Credits include: The Chronicles of Narnia, Miss Marple, Dr Who, and She’s Been Away, directed by Sir Peter Hall. Film credits include: Guarding Tess and Quiz Show. Recent design credits: HVSF, Twelfth Night, Romeo and & Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, The Three Musketeers, The Liar and Othello; Rutherford and Son, Mint Theatre, Drop Dead Perfect, and Playing the Assassin for Penguin Rep; Family Reunion and The God Game for Hudson Stage. charlottepalmerlane.squarespace.com

ED McCARTHY (Lighting Designer) lit Playing the Assassin at Penguin Rep and TheaterWorks/Hartford, and is thrilled to be returning with the same great team to DTC. Most recently lit The Heart of Robin Hood at the Nat’l Theatre of Iceland. Broadway: Adaptation of Coram Boy (2007 Tony nomination for Best Lighting of a Play); the BC/EFA Benefit of Once on This Island. Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Over 70 Off-Bway and regional shows, including the recent Drop Dead Perfect and Southern Comfort at Barrington Stage Co. Concerts: Florence Henderson, Judy Collins, Marvin Hamlisch. Associate Lighting Designer for all companies of Mamma Mia! in the Western Hemisphere; and many others. Television: Peter Pan Live, The Sound of Music Live, 7 Grammy Awards, 13 Kennedy Center Honors, the last 15 Tony Awards (Emmy nomination 2014). Lincoln Memorial Inaugural Concert, 20 years of Live from Lincoln Center, A Prairie Home Companion Cinemacast; HBO telecast of Thurgood. Graduate of, and teacher at, NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

EMILY AUCIELLO (Sound Designer) Select New York: Signature Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Ohio, JACK, Dixon Place, NY Fringe. Select Regional: TheaterWorks Hartford, Two River Theater Company, Penguin Rep, Central Square Theater, Berkshire Fringe, Surflight Theatre. Love to Alex.

AVISTA CUSTOM THEATRICAL SERVICES, LLC (Properties), owned by Jennifer Burkhart and Amanda Hatch, was founded in 2007 as a properties design and construction firm. Avista specializes in period paper goods and newspapers, custom prop construction, upholstery, soft goods construction, and maintains a 7,000 square foot rental warehouse in Norristown filled with props and lighting equipment. Avista’s work has been seen at Delaware Theatre Co, Inis Nua Theatre, Flashpoint Theatre, Theatre Horizon, Mauckingbird, Theatre Exile, Bristol Riverside Theatre, Temple University, Burlington County College, Act II Playhouse, and Drexel University. Avista is the resident prop team at Azuka Theatre (8th season), 1812 Productions (5th season), and InterAct Theatre (7th season).

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER (Fight Director) is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) and has choreographed simulated violence for stage and screen for almost two decades. In addition, Christopher is also an Actor, Director, Writer, Producer and member of SAG-AFTRA. He is the Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director and resident Fight Director of the Rockland Shakespeare Company. Credits with Penguin Rep include: The Farm and Playing the Assassin. Christopher has also performed/directed dozens of productions for the stage and screen. He is the Director of the Cultural Arts Theatre at Rockland Community College as well as a professor in the Performing Arts Dept.

REBECCA LI GRADY (Assistant Stage Manager) served as the assistant stage manager for DTC’s Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life. She recently graduated from Muhlenberg College with a BA in theatre concentrating in stage management. Stage Manager credits at Muhlenberg include Seussical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Anyone Can Whistle. Rebecca spent the summer at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s Summer Professional Training Program as a development intern.

BUD MARTIN (Executive Director) is beginning his fourth season at Delaware Theatre Company. Last season he directed LOVE LETTERS, with Michael Learned and Daniel Davis, and REST, IN PIECES, with Donna Pescow and Lenny Wolpe, PUTTING IT TOGETHER (with the DSO), and Bon Appetit for Opera Delaware. Prior to DTC, Bud was Producing Artistic Director at Act II Playhouse for four years. Broadway producing credits include: The Story of My Life, 9 to 5, Burn the Floor, Time Stands Still (Tony nom.) and La Bete and he managed investments in THE RIVER (with Hugh Jackman), Arcadia, House of Blue Leaves, Stick Fly and Ghetto Klown. London and West End: Legally Blonde the Musical (Olivier Award), La Bete, and The Three Musketeers. Off-Broadway: Any Given Monday and The Outgoing Tide (59E59 Theaters). MA in Theatre from Villanova University. He is also a member of the The Broadway League and The Off-Broadway League.

MELISSA ZIMMERMAN (Managing Director) earned her MFA at Yale School of Drama. She was the Assistant Managing Director for Yale School of Drama and Special Events, Management Assistant at Yale Cabaret, and assisted Harold Wolpert at Roundabout Theatre Company in New York. She produced several shows at Yale Cabaret including Fatal Eggs, which ran off-Broadway in 2014. A passionate advocate for theatre education, Melissa spent three years as Producing Director of The Dwight/Edgewood Project - a student playwriting program in Greater New Haven. Previously, Melissa was the Managing Director at Act II Playhouse.

CAST & CREATIVE