Mark Brokaw (Reckless, The Constant Wife) will direct the new play written and performed by Steven Tomlinson. Previews begin April 14, and the opening is slated for April 26 for a run scheduled through May 20.
"When Steven, an obsessive collector of brightly colored vintage Fiestaware ceramic dinnerware, goes cross-country in search of the perfect specimens," reads a show description, "he finds a series of remarkable encounters between residents of 'red' and 'blue' states, as well as some startling divides within his own family as he announces his intention to marry his same-sex partner."
Tomlinson has also penned the solo plays Managed Care, Free Trade, Curb Appeal and Millenium Bug. His American Fiesta first played in Austin, TX, and won the American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award for Best Play by an up-and-coming playwright. The Austin resident makes his New York stage debut with this work.
Director Brokaw returns to the Vineyard where he previously staged How I Learned to Drive, The Dying Gaul, Stranger, Eight Days (Backwards) and The Long Christmas Ride Home. The director of Broadway's recent revivals of The Constant Wife and Reckless has also staged Off-Broadway's The Busy World Is Hushed, As Bees in Honey Drown, Music From a Sparkling Planet, Lobby Hero, This Is Our Youth, Old Money and The Baltimore Waltz.
The design team for American Fiesta features Neil Patel (set), Jan Hartley (projection), David Lander (lighting) and David Van Tieghem and Jill BC Duboff (sound). Van Tieghem also provides original music. The Vineyard currently presents Tina Landau's staging of J.M. Barrie's Mary Rose, starring Keir Dullea and Paige Howard (extended through March 25). The company's 25th season opened with a production of Anne Washburn's The Internationalist starring "Law & Order" actress Annie Parisse and continued with Broadway stars Victoria Clark and Cheyenne Jackson in a developmental run of Nicky Silver's The Agony and the Agony. The Off-Broadway troupe also co-produced History of the Word with Queens Theatre in the Park.
Tickets go on sale March 29 to American Fiesta at the Vineyard Theatre, 108 East 15th Street, and can be reserved by calling (212) 353-0303 or online at www.vineyardtheatre.org.
