Lia Chang: Jarlath Conroy set for Shakespeare Theatre Company’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, June 12–July 15, 2012 at Sidney Harman Hall in Washington D.C.

Jarlath Conroy Photo by Lia Chang

The Shakespeare Theatre Company is presenting The Merry Wives of Windsor, June 12–July 15, 2012, at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW in Washington D.C.

The Merry Wives of Windsor, a bawdy, riotous romp that hasn’t been seen on STC’s stage in more than a decade, includes Bev Appleton as Bardolph, Jarlath Conroy as Shallow, STC Affiliated Artist Veanne Cox as Mistress Page, Michael Keyloun as Abraham Slender, Jimmy Kieffer as the Host of the Garter Inn, STC Affiliated Artist Floyd King as Sir Hugh Evans, James Konicek as Pistol, Caralyn Kozlowski as Mistress Ford, Michael Mastro as Master Frank Ford, Hugh Nees as Nym, Kristine Nielsen as Mistress Quickly, Kurt Rhoads as Master George Page, David Schramm as Sir John Falstaff and STC Affiliated Artist Tom Story as Doctor Caius. Ensemble members include Remy Brettell, Aayush Chandan,Caroline Coleman, Alyssa Gagaran, Michael Gregory, Aaryn Kopp, Matthew McGee, Anne Page, Ian Pedersen and Aidan White. Making his STC directorial debut, director Stephen Rayne puts a new spin on this comedy and a merry end to an exceptional season.

The Merry Wives of Windsor tells the tale of Falstaff, an impoverished knight, who plots to woo two wealthy wives at the same time. However, his plan backfires and the cunning wives seek revenge, bringing chaos to Windsor and embarrassment after embarrassment to Falstaff.

Jarlath Conroy has appeared on Broadway in The Seagull with Kristin Scott Thomas, The Weir, The Iceman Cometh, On The Waterfront, Ghetto, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Visit, Comedians. Off-Broadway: The Coward, Finn, A Man of No Importance, Our Lady of Sligo, A Life, Gardenia, Translations, The Matchmaker. His regional credits include The Homecoming, Catchpenny Twist, The Steward of Christendom (Barrymore Award), Juno and the Paycock (Helen Hayes Award), Henry V (Helen Hayes Award nomination), Faith Healer, Twelfth Night, Ah, Wilderness!, Inherit the Wind, A Christmas Carol. Internationally he has appeared at The Royal Court, London in Cromwell and Hamlet, The White Devil at The Old Vic and numerous plays at Nottingham Rep. Film and television audiences may be familiar with Conroy from his work in True Grit, Day of the Dead, Across the Universe, Kinsey, Stay, Day of the Dead, Heaven’s Gate, The Art of Getting By, “Law & Order”, “Law and Order SVU”, “NYPD Blue”, “Summer”, “A Marriage”,”O’Keeffe and Stieglitz”. His directing credits include True West and Human Resources.

To reserve tickets or for more information, please call the box office at 202.547.1122 or visit ShakespeareTheatre.org.

ABOUT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
In the 2011-2012 Season, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is set to celebrate! Not only is it the 25th year of Michael Kahn’s leadership, vision and artistic direction but, over the past quarter of a century, STC has become one of the nation’s leading theatre companies. Today, STC is synonymous with artistic excellence and making classical theatre more accessible.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s innovative approach to Shakespeare and other classic playwrights has earned it the reputation as the nation’s premier classical theatre company. By focusing on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced, the Company’s artistic mission is unique among theatre companies: to present theatre of scope and size in an imaginative, skillful and accessible American style that honors the playwrights’ language and intentions while viewing their work through a 21st-century lens.

In its 2007-2008 Season, the company opened the Harman Center for the Arts, consisting of the new 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall and the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre, both located in downtown Washington’s Penn Quarter neighborhood. A dynamic hub of activity, the Harman Center showcases the company as well as outstanding local performing arts groups and nationally renowned organizations. STC’s annual Free For All performance, a re-creation of a production from seasons past staged for free in August and September, is now held at Sidney Harman Hall. Sidney Harman Hall is located at 610 F Street NW, Washington D.C.

Other Jarlath Conroy Articles:
Jarlath Conroy in the CENTERSTAGE Production of The Homecoming
Jarlath Conroy Leads Cast of Pinter’s The Homecoming at CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore
Jarlath Conroy in The SEAGULL
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2012 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at lia@backstagepasswithliachang.com.

Lia Chang: Jarlath Conroy in the CENTERSTAGE Production of The Homecoming

Jarlath Conroy and Felicity Jones in CENTERSTAGE's production of The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, Directed by Irene Lewis. Photo by Richard Anderson

Jarlath Conroy, who can currently be seen as a grim undertaker opposite Hailee Steinfeld’s Mattie Ross in The Coen Brothers’ Oscar nominated “True Grit”, recently starred as Max, the family partriarch in the CENTERSTAGE production of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming, directed by Irene Lewis.

Nelson Pressley of The Washington Post writes, “Jarlath Conroy delivers a wonderfully skuzzy performance as the vainglorious, opportunistic patriarch, setting an attacking tone with the snarling barbs the old man lobs at his brother (Laurence O’Dwyer) and two sons (Trent Dawson and Sebastian Naskaris).”

Jayne Blanchard of DC Theatre Scene writes, “As her main adversary, Mr. Conroy lends a disarming naturalness to Mr. Pinter’s barbed dialogue, spewing vitriol as if making small talk about flowers. His nastiness is so persuasive you can actually see how it plays out in the rest of the family—in Lenny’s buoyant cruelty, in Joey’s sexual opportunism, in Sam’s careful avoidance.”

Tim Smith of The Baltimore Sun writes, “As the patriarch Max, who calls his sons “bitches” and his daughter-in-law “a stinking pox-ridden slut” (until her marketability dawns on him), Jarlath Conroy provides an arresting anchor for the production. He’s an incisive actor, capable of turning on each of Pinter’s slippery dimes in disarmingly natural fashion.”

Jarlath Conroy Photo by Lia Chang

In December, the award winning actor’s nuanced portrayals of four different characters in the Off-Broadway run of Nick Jones’s The Coward at The Duke, prompted Charles Isherwood of The New York Times to write, “Perhaps best of all is Jarlath Conroy, who looks (and acts) as if he has just sprung from a Hogarth etching, in roles ranging from a doddering old man who inadvertently offends Lucidus, setting the plot in motion, to a loyal servant whose poker face belies a sympathetic heart.”

He can be seen in the Fox Searchlight Films Summer 2011 release of “The Art of Getting By”, which was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Jarlath Conroy Leads Cast of Pinter’s The Homecoming at CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore
Jarlath Conroy in The SEAGULL
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com.

Lia Chang: Jarlath Conroy Leads Cast of Pinter’s The Homecoming at Centerstage in Baltimore

Jarlath Conroy Photo by Lia Chang

Harold Pinter’s darkly comedic family drama, The Homecoming, helmed by Irene Lewis, CENTERSTAGE’s Artistic Director, kicks off previews on Wednesday, January 26, 2011, in The Pearlstone Theater at CENTERSTAGE, 700 North Calvert St., Baltimore, Maryland. Opening night is Wednesday, February 2, and the show runs through Sunday, February 20. Tickets are $10-$55, and can be purchased by calling the box office at 410.332.0033 or by at www.centerstage.org.
Broadway and film veteran Jarlath Conroy leads the cast in the role of Max, the family patriarch. Steven Epps, who has appeared Off Broadway and across the country from Theatre de la Jeune Lune to the Guthrie portrays the prodigal son, Teddy. Accompanying him as the mysterious and sensual woman at the center of the family drama, Felicity Jones returns to Baltimore, last seen at CENTERSTAGE in the 2008-09 production of ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore. Trent Dawson, a day-time television staple for many years as Henry Coleman in “As the World Turns”, returns to CENTERSTAGE after previously performing in several productions, including Misalliance and Lady Windermere’s Fan. Rounding out the cast are CENTERSTAGE Associate Artist Laurence O’Dwyer as Sam, the live-in uncle, and CENTERSTAGE newcomer Sebastian Naskaris as youngest brother Joey.

Jarlath Conroy and Felicity Jones in CENTERSTAGE's production of The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, Directed by Irene Lewis. Photo by Richard Anderson

The production team for The Homecoming includes Tony Award winning costume designer, Catherine Zuber, scenic designer Riccardo Hernández, sound designer David Budries and lighting designer Matthew McCullough.

The last weekend of November, I had a double feature of Jarlath Conroy, first at an advance screening of the Oscar nominated “True Grit”, directed by The Coen Brothers, in which he plays the grim undertaker opposite Hailee Steinfeld’s Mattie Ross, and then onstage in the Off-Broadway run of Nick Jones’s The Coward, at The Duke, the latest production from Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3 program. The award winning actor’s nuanced portrayals of four different characters prompted Charles Isherwood of The New York Times to write, “Perhaps best of all is Jarlath Conroy, who looks (and acts) as if he has just sprung from a Hogarth etching, in roles ranging from a doddering old man who inadvertently offends Lucidus, setting the plot in motion, to a loyal servant whose poker face belies a sympathetic heart.”

Jarlath Conroy, Felicity Jones, and Sebastian Naskaris in CENTERSTAGE's production of The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, Directed by Irene Lewis. Photo by Richard Anderson

Conroy previously appeared at CENTERSTAGE in The Triumph of Love. His work on Broadway includes The Seagull with Kristin Scott Thomas, The Weir, The Iceman Cometh, On The Waterfront, Ghetto, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Visit, Comedians. Off-Broadway: The Coward, Finn, A Man of No Importance, Our Lady of Sligo, A Life, Gardenia, Translations, The Matchmaker. His regional credits include Catchpenny Twist (directed by Irene Lewis), The Steward of Christendom (Barrymore Award), Juno and the Paycock (Helen Hayes Award, Henry V (Helen Hayes Award nomination), Faith Healer, Twelfth Night, Ah, Wilderness!, Inherit the Wind, A Christmas Carol. Internationally, he has appeared in Royal Court, Cromwell and Hamlet. Film and television audiences may be familiar with Conroy from his work in “Day of the Dead”, “Across the Universe”, “Kinsey”, “Stay”, “Day of the Dead”, “Heaven’s Gate”, “Law & Order”, “NYPD Blue”, “Summer”, “A Marriage”,”O’Keeffe and Stieglitz”. The Indie film “Homework”, currently in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, has been picked up by Fox Searchlight Films and will be released this summer. His directing credits include True West and Human Resources.

After seeing Conroy in The Coward, we popped into Un Deux Trois for a quick bite and to chat about his experience of working with The Coen Brothers on “True Grit”. Check back for my interview with him.

Laurence O'Dwyer, Steven Epp, Felicity Jones, Trent Dawson, and Jarlath Conroy in CENTERSTAGE's production of The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, Directed by Irene Lewis. Photo by Richard Anderson.

Performance Schedule for The Homecoming:
Tuesday at 8pm,
Wednesday at 1pm
Wednesday at 8pm
Thursday at 7pm
Friday at 8pm
Saturday at 2pm
Saturday at 8pm
Sunday at 2pm
Tickets are $10-$55, and can be purchased by calling the box office at 410.332.0033 or at www.centerstage.org. CENTERSTAGE is located at 700 North Calvert St, Baltimore, Maryland.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Jarlath Conroy in The SEAGULL
Photos: Chinese New Year Festival at The Huntington in San Marino
A.B. Cruz III of Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc., Lillian Kimura To Receive 2011 Justice in Action Awards
Photos:The Working Theater’s Off-Broadway production of HONEY BROWN EYES by Stefanie Zadravec at The Clurman
Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Alexander Calder, Lia Chang in Art & Healing Exhibit at Snug Harbor on SI
Photos: David Duchovny, John Earl Jelks, Amanda Peet,Tracee Chimo opening night of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon
André De Shields leads cast of Charles Smith’s Knock Me A Kiss at Abrons Arts Center
STORIES FROM CHINESE AMERICA: The Arthur Dong Collection, Vol. 2 as 4 disc DVD Box Set
Photos & Video Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas-In the Makeup Chair with Thom Sesma
Photo Call: BD Wong and the Cast of Heading East at the Asia Society
Multimedia: Promises, Promises’ Stars Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes at Lord & Taylor Fifth Ave
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space will become part of newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, VIBE, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog. Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.