Riveting New Work Explores Early Career of Revolutionary Artist
La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for its world-premiere production of to the yellow house, by Kimber Lee (brownsville song (b-side for tray), tokyo fish story), directed by former Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Neel Keller (Playhouse’s Light Up the Sky), running November 16 – December 12 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.
The cast features Alton Alburo (Ma Yi’s The Wong Kids) as “Henri,” Frankie J. Alvarez (HBO’s Looking) as “Theo,” UC San Diego Theatre & Dance Faculty Member Marco Barricelli (Broadway’s Tamara) as “Cormon/Jean-Léon Gérôme/Gaugin,” DeLeon Dallas (Playhouse’s Wild Goose Dreams) as “Bernard,” Deidrie Henry (Center Theatre Group’s A Raisin in the Sun) as “Agostina,” Brooke Ishibashi (Playhouse’s Cambodian Rock Band) as “Marie/Sophie” and Paco Tolson (Manhattan Theatre Club’s Vietgone) as “Vincent.” The ensemble includes six UC San Diego MFA students: Grayson Heyl, Noah Israel, Noah Keeling, Jada Alston Owens, Natalia Quintero-Riestra and Jordan C. Smith.
The creative team includes Takeshi Kata (Playhouse’s Cambodian Rock Band, The Last Tiger in Haiti), Scenic Designer; Playhouse 2021/22 Resident Artist David Israel Reynoso (Playhouse’s Queens, WOW Festival’s Las Quinceañeras, Waking La Llorona), Costume Designer; Masha Tsimring, Lighting Designer; Palmer Hefferan, Sound Designer; Nicholas Hussong, Projection Designer; Justin Ellington, Original Music; Alberto Alvarado, Wig Designer; tbd casting co. (Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA and Margaret Dunn, CSA) and Jacole Kitchen, Casting; Gabriel Greene, Dramaturg; and UC San Diego Theatre & Dance Faculty Member Lora K. Powell, Stage Manager.
“Kimber Lee populates her riveting new play with characters every bit as vibrant and lively as one of van Gogh’s masterpieces. This fantastically-talented cast is perfectly suited to tell her story of a revolutionary artist on the cusp of finding his brilliance,” said Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse.
February 1886. Vincent van Gogh is broke again. Trailing past-due notices and annoyed innkeepers, he arrives unexpectedly at his brother’s doorstep in Montmartre determined to make another fresh start. Caught in the colorful whirl of the Parisian art scene, he drinks too much, falls in love with the wrong woman, argues with everyone – and paints. Night and day he works to translate what he feels onto the canvas, relentlessly chasing a new form of expression that seems to be always around the next corner. But at what point in an endless cycle of failures do faith and persistence become delusion and foolishness? to the yellow house is a meditation on love, art and not being popular.
Kimber Lee’s plays include untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play (2019 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference), tokyo fish story (South Coast Rep, TheatreWorks/SV, The Old Globe), brownsville song (b-side for tray) (Humana Festival, LCT3, Long Wharf Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Seattle Rep, Moxie Theatre, Shotgun Players) and different words for the same thing, directed by Neel Keller (Center Theatre Group). She has developed work with Lark Play Development Center, The Ground Floor/Berkeley Rep, Page 73, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Hedgebrook, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Great Plains Theatre Conference, ACT Theatre/Seattle, Premiere Stages, MTC and Magic Theatre/ Virgin Series. Lark Playwrights Workshop Fellow, Dramatists Guild Fellow, member of Ma-Yi Writers Lab; recipient of the Ruby Prize, PoNY Fellowship, Hartford Stage New Voices Fellowship, BAU Institute Arts Residency Award, Kilroys List, 2020-2021 Hodder Fellowship and inaugural winner of the Bruntwood Prize International Award (2019). She received her MFA from University of Texas, Austin.
Neel Keller is thrilled to be returning to the Playhouse, where, during the years of the second Clinton administration, he was Associate Artistic Director. His previous Playhouse productions include The School for Wives, Light Up the Sky, Loot, Diva and The Cosmonaut’s Last Message To the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union. His more recent productions include the world premieres of Eliza Clark’s Quack, Julia Cho’s Office Hour, Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, Kimber Lee’s different words for the same thing, Dael Orlandersmith’s Until the Flood and Forever and Lucy Alibar’s Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up!. His productions have been mounted at theatres across the country, including The Public Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Kirk Douglas Theater, South Coast Rep, Goodman Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Long Wharf Theater, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, ACT, Portland Center Stage and several hospitable theaters in Ireland, Scotland and England. He is currently the Associate Artistic Director/Literary Manager at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.
La Jolla Playhouse is a place where artists and audiences come together to create what’s new and next in the American theatre, from Tony Award-winning productions, to imaginative programs for young audiences, to interactive experiences outside our theatre walls. Founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, the Playhouse is currently led by Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, and Managing Director Debby Buchholz. The Playhouse is internationally renowned for the development of new plays and musicals, including mounting 105 world premieres, commissioning 60 new works, and sending 33 productions to Broadway – including the hit musical Come From Away – garnering a total of 38 Tony Awards, as well as the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.
BACKGROUND: February 1886. Vincent van Gogh is broke again. Trailing past-due notices and annoyed innkeepers, he arrives unexpectedly at his brother’s doorstep in Montmartre determined to make another fresh start. Caught in the colorful whirl of the Parisian art scene, he drinks too much, falls in love with the wrong woman, argues with everyone – and paints. Night and day he works to translate what he feels onto the canvas, relentlessly chasing a new form of expression that seems to be always around the next corner. But at what point in an endless cycle of failures do faith and persistence become delusion and foolishness? A meditation on love, art and not being popular.
COVID-19 SAFETY: Throughout the run of to the yellow house, La Jolla Playhouse will be requiring proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test for patrons within 48 hours of their performance. The Playhouse will also be requiring that masks be worn by individuals in all indoor spaces, including the lobbies, restrooms and theatres. Additionally, all Playhouse staff, artists and volunteers will be fully vaccinated, and staff and volunteers will be wearing masks. The Playhouse will continue to evaluate its COVID safety plans in view of local health conditions and guidance from Federal, State and local authorities and will notify patrons of any changes. More at lajollaplayhouse.org/plan-your-visit/covid-safety/.
TICKETS: (858) 550-1010; LaJollaPlayhouse.org
