A National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere by Robert Schenkkan, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright
by Robert Schenkkan, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright
A National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere
@CityTheatreMIA @ArshtCenter #ArshtCenter
September 21 – October 8, 2017
Tickets: $34, $39, $44 & 54*
Carnival Studio Theater
in the Ziff Ballet Opera House
City Theatre (@citytheatremia) and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@arshtcenter) are proud to present the South Florida premiere of BUILDING THE WALL, a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan (The Kentucky Cycle, All the Way, Hacksaw Ridge). Local award-winning actors Gregg Weiner and Karen Stephens have been cast for the Miami production directed by City Theatre Artistic Director Margaret M. Ledford. BUILDING THE WALL will be playing September 21 – October 8 in the intimate Carnival Studio Theater (Ziff Ballet Opera House).
Tickets to BUILDING THE WALL are $34, $39, $44 & $54*. Tickets are available now and may be purchased through the Adrienne Arsht Center Box Office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at www.arshtcenter.org. Select performances will offer American Sign Language interpreters and devices that translate the play into Spanish and Creole.
Written by Robert Schenkkan immediately prior to the recent presidential election and inspired by candidate Donald Trump and his anti-immigration campaign rhetoric, BUILDING THE WALL reveals a scenario of how campaign promises made law might lead to a terrifying, seemingly inconceivable, yet inevitable conclusion.
The drama is set in the very near future, after the election, as a Trump administration carries out its promise to round up and detain millions of immigrants, following a terrorist attack in Times Square. With martial law declared and increased arrests by Homeland Security and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), rapid expansions in the private detention system are quickly overwhelmed with detainees awaiting deportation to home countries refusing to accept them. Rick (Gregg Weiner), a detention center supervisor abandoned by his supervisors as the situation deteriorates into chaos and death, is interviewed by Gloria (Karen Stephens), a historian curious to understand his side of the story, while he awaits sentencing for carrying out the federal policy that escalated into the unimaginable. This riveting, harrowing and illuminating drama delivers a powerful warning and puts a human face on the inhuman, revealing how the inconceivable becomes inevitable when personal accountability is denied.
Gregg Weiner was last seen locally in Ground Up & Rising’s The Good Thief, Terror at Miami New Drama, and prior to that at Gablestage in The Royale. He was part of the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Doublewide at Florida Repertory Theatre in Ft. Myers. Additional theater credits include: Red, Dumbshow, Scott & Hem, Long Days Journey into Night, Dial M for Murder, Speed the Plow, That Championship Season, Pitmen Painters and 50 Words. He is the proud recipient of numerous regional acting awards in South Florida and Tampa/St. Petersburg. TV/Film credits include: “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “War Dogs,” “Magic City,” “Burn Notice,” “Transporter 2” and he recently shot a pilot called “Catapult Joe.” He is an on-air radio personality on 102.7 FM The Beach, a member of The Dramaworkshop at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, an New World School of Arts alumni and a member of Actors Equity Association. For more information, please visit www.greggweiner.net.
Karen Stephens was a part of City Theatre’s 2017 cast of Summer Shorts at the Arsht Center and recently appeared in the world premiere of Michael Leeds’ new play, Impressions, with Pigs Do Fly Productions. Karen is a Carbonell, Silver Palm, Miami New Times, Curtains Up, and Randolph A. Frank Award recipient. For more information, please visit karenstephensonline.com.
Mr. Schenkkan and the Rolling World Premiere partner theaters producing BUILDING THE WALL have received international attention in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on the BBC Newshour for their rapid artistic response to the current administration and the political climate it foments.
“City Theatre chooses new works for its productions of short plays that are timely, exciting and resonant,” said City Theatre Co-Founder and Literary Director Susan J. Westfall. “However, this opportunity as associate members of National New Play Network, and its Rolling World Premiere of BUILDING THE WALL, allows us to develop an important original script in our first main stage full-length production in many years, and work with Robert Schenkkan, one of this country’s foremost playwrights, to bring this powerful and compelling immigration story to South Florida audiences.”
As the other theater’s presenting this play have offered during their productions, following certain performances City Theatre and the Arsht Center will host a series of post-show talks with experts, grassroots leaders, universities and other institutions to explore aspects of the play and provide opportunities for community education and engagement. A schedule of topics, speakers and moderators to be announced soon.
BUILDING THE WALL is the National New Play Network’s (NNPN) 68th Rolling World Premiere. In a NNPN Rolling World Premiere, the Network provides production support to the playwright and the partnering theaters, including assistance with the creation and the contracting of the premiere agreement, collaborative interactions between the theaters, and travel and housing funds for the playwright to further develop the play in each city. BUILDING THE WALL is co-presented in Miami with the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Sponsors include the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, Stearns, Weaver, Miller, Weissler, Alhadeff & Sitterson, PA, and Citizens Interested in the Arts. Visit www.citytheatre.com or call (305) 755-9401 for up-to-date information on details and schedules.
BILDING THE WALL is co-presented in Miami with the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Sponsors include the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, Stearns, Weaver, Miller, Weissler, Alhadeff & Sitterson, PA, WLRN, and Citizens Interested in the Arts.
*All programs, artists, ticket prices, availability, dates and times are subject to change without notice.
Visit www.arshtcenter.org for up-to-date information.
