DINNER with FRIENDS by Donald Margulies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: SANDRA KUKER-FRANCO Email: [email protected]

DINNER WITH FRIENDS By Donald Margulies Winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize Brought to you by Crimson Square Theatre Company In Association With Beverly Hills Playhouse And Cheshire Moon Inc.

LOS ANGELES (June 3, 2019) – Crimson Square Theatre Company, in association with Beverly Hills Playhouse and Cheshire Moon Inc., are pleased to present Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize winning production of “DINNER WITH FRIENDS” – Opening June 14, 2019, at Beverly Hills Playhouse. The show will run twleve performances through June 30, 2019. Tickets and information available at: www.CrimsonSquare.org Performances Friday & Saturday 8PM and Sunday 2PM & 7PM

THE STORY Dinner With Friends is a play by Donald Margulies about two couples who have been best friends for years, and the husband and wife who have to re-evaluate their relationship when their closest friends decide to split up after 12 years. Dinner With Friends received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

STARRING Samantha Sloyan,* Jay Huguley, Chris Devlin, and Tania Gonzalez Lisagaye Tomlinson and Bryan McKinley (understudies)

PRODUCTION TEAM Written by Donald Margulies Directed by Michael Yavnieli Produced by Faye Viviana, Crimson Square Theatre Company, Beverly Hills Playhouse and Cheshire Moon Inc. Lighting Design by Dereck McDaniels. Production Design by Bryan McKinley.

DINNER WITH FRIENDS Opening June 14 – 30, 2019 Dates - Fridays and Saturdays @ 800PM, Sundays @ 2:00PM and 7:00PM Beverly Hills Playhouse - 254 S. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211 Website - www.CrimsonSquare.org Tickets - $25 available via the website or at the door

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BIO’S

DONALD MARGULIES (Playwright) Donald Margulies is an American playwright and a professor of English and Theater Studies at Yale University. In 2000, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Dinner with Friends.

MICHAEL YAVNIELI (Director) Michael Yavnieli directed last year’s well-received LAUNDRY AND BOURBON & LONE STAR at BHP San Francisco and I AM MY OWN WIFE with Alec Norris. Michael has been acting professionally in Los Angeles for over twenty years, and has appeared on screen in nearly 40 separate projects; he has acted opposite such notables as Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Steve Martin, Toni Collette, Kiefer Sutherland, John Leguizamo, Christian Slater, Cynthia Nixon, and many others. On stage he has appeared in such critically acclaimed productions as TRACERS at Hermosa Beach Playhouse (collaborators included Ron Kovic), and the award-nominated Skylight Theatre Company production of YEARS TO THE DAY, for which he received nominations for Best Lead Actor from LA Drama Critics Circle and Best Two-Person play performance from Stage Raw. That production toured the world from 2013-2016, with stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Kansas City, Edinburgh, and Paris. Michael is an acting teacher at BHP Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife and two young daughters. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0946904/

THE ACTORS

SAMANTHA SLOYAN – (playing Karen) Samantha has worked with and known this wonderful cast of people for many years and is thrilled to make her debut with CRIMSON SQAURE. Known best for her role of Dr. Penny Blake on Grey’s Anatomy, Samantha’s recent work includes recurring roles on the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, Animal Kingdom (TNT) and Seal Team (CBS). Love to her family and thanks to The Beverly Hills Playhouse where she continues to study.

JAY HUGULEY – (playing Gabe) Jay Huguley is best known for playing ‘David’ on AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ and Jimmy Ledoux on HBO’s ‘True Detective’ – Film work includes the Oscar winning ’12 Years A Slave’, ‘Lizzie’ with Chloe Sevigny and Kristen Stewart and the upcoming ‘The Gloria’s’ opposite Julianne Moore. He has appeared in over 50

plays and is thrilled to be working for the first time with Crimson Square.

TANIA GONZALEZ – (playing Karen) Tania began acting at the age of eleven when she was accepted into an arts magnet program in Miami, Florida. There she was signed by an agent and began to work in local theatre, commercials and voice overs. She attended High School at New World School of the Arts for theatre and after winning a scholarship from the National Foundation for the Arts, received her diploma in theatre and literature from the BFA program at Florida State University. At the BHP for nearly twenty years as a student and teacher, Tania was mentored by MIlton Katselas and was directed by him in many projects including his original play, FOUR, in 2004. Some of her Los Angeles theatre performances include Juliet in the world premiere of The Porcini Test at The Promenade Playhouse, Cecilia in Hatful of Rain and Evelyn in Paddy Chayefsky’s The Tenth Man directed by Gene Reynolds (M*A*S*H, Hogan’s Heroes) The Skylight Theatre Company; Liesel in The Painter, the title role in Antigone; Anna in Four for Camelot Productions, all directed by Milton Katselas; and Lea in My Sister In This House at The McCadden Theatre directed by Ellen Williams (Baskets/FX).

T.V. and film credits include George Clooney’s Unscripted for HBO, E.R., The Profiler, The Bannen Way for Sony Pictures, General Hospital on ABC and Homeroom, a web-series. She lent her voice to lead primatologist Jane in the animated series Gorillaville for DreamWorks TV and has be seen regularly in commercials for Disney Parks, US Cellular, Time Warner, Honey Nut Cheerios and more.

Tania participated in The Fulfillment Fund's Voices In Harmony program mentoring at-risk teens, has been a guest teacher for the ACME Network and was a presenter for the National Young Arts Foundation. Tania lives in Los Angeles with her husband Michael Yavnieli and their daughters.

CHRIS DEVLIN – (playing Tom) Is so excited to be a part of Crimson Square’s production with such an amazing cast and helmers. Stage: Jack (US) Big Sky at the Geffen, Johnny in A Hatful of Rain Skylight Theatre, Twentieth Century Lillian Theater, Death of a Salesman The Odyssey w/ Eddie Jones, the rock musical The Playground The Unknown Theater, Joe in Balm in Gilead Skylight Theatre, Henry in Henry V Skylight, Waltz de La Tierra Actor’s Gang, Leon in Neil Simon’s Fools The Lex, and Christian in Cyrano de Bergerac Knightsbridge. TV: Blunt Talk, Astronaut Wives Club, The Picture (pilot), Criminal Minds, Mad Men, Workahoilics, Dark Blue, Without a Trace, Incredible Crew, etc. Film: Auggie, Doolittle’s Heroes, State of WARd, Helen Alone, At The End, Howard K. Stern in Anna Nicole w/ Willa Ford, Windtalkers, starring in Hers, The Morgue, and The Wager with Oscar nominee Burt Young. Thank you to BHP, Yav for the call, this brilliant cast and crew, my family and much love to Samantha Curtaran. www.christopherdevlin.com.

LISAGAYE TOMLINSON – (Understudy) Lisagaye is a Jamaican-born actress, writer, composer, and producer who emigrated to the United States in her youth. She began her career on stage in South Florida playing the role of Dionne in a Caldwell Theatre production of Hair and went on to play Erzulie in Once on This Island as well as multiple roles in a Hollywood Fringe Fest production of Fifty Shades of Shrew. Last summer, she received outstanding reviews for playing multiple supporting roles in David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Music has always played an integral role in her life and she is deeply inspired by her mother who sang every day in their family home. Lisagaye is currently recurring on Freeform's spinoff hit Good Trouble and has appeared on Jane the Virgin, Days of Our Lives, CSI:Cyber, and Scorpion. She is an avid volunteer for the Blind, rescued farm animals, and the homeless population.

BRYAN MCKINLEY (Understudy) Bryan began his theatre training at Indiana University in 1995. After two years of major study, he decided to commit himself completely to his craft. He was referred to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, applied and was 1 of 75 accepted out of 4000 applicants in the year 2000 Bryan moved to Los Angeles and has been studying at The Beverly Hills Playhouse since 2008.

In addition to creating the set design, Bryan is in the dream position to understudy both male lead roles in Dinner With Friends.. he is very excited to breathe life into these two very different points of view .

FOR PRESS REVIEW COMPS OR TO SCHEDULE AN INTERVIEW CONTACT: SANDRA KUKER PR Sandra Kuker-Franco Email: [email protected] or Tele: (310) 652-7222

CAST: Chris Devlin, Jay Huguley, Samantha Sloyan*, Tania Gonzalez. *appearing courtesy of AEA