Rubicon Theatre Company opens the 2019 season with HEISENBERG by playwright SIMON STEPHENS, a quirky romance starring Ovation Award-winner FALINE ENGLAND and Emmy and L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award-winner JOE SPANO. Sweet, sexy and full of surprises, the story follows two strangers whose lives intersect in a bustling London train station. Free-spirited Georgie, an American in her 40s, unexpectedly plants a kiss on the neck of Alex, an Irish butcher in his 70s. She doesn’t really know why. Or does she? When Georgie turns up in Alex’s shop a few days later, full of contradictions, his conventional life becomes chaotic, uncertain and undeniably richer. Peeling away the many layers of everyday relationships with subtle humor and quiet poeticism, HEISENBERG brings to poignant theatrical life the uncertain and sometimes comical sparring match that is human connection.
History of the Production
English playwright Simon Stephens was originally commissioned to write HEISENBERG by Manhattan Theatre Club. HEISENBERG premiered Off-Broadway at New York City Center in June of 2015 under the direction of Mark Brokaw with Mary Louise Parker and Dennis Arndt, transferring to Broadway in October of 2016.
New York Times’ reviewer Ben Brantley described the show as, “A soaring, suspenseful, thrilling and wondrously stealthy play…vibrant and emotionally charged.”
Brantley further called the play, “One of the most emotionally complex and fulfilling plays to grace a New York stage…it resonates in your mind long after it’s over…a probing work that considers the multiplicity of alternatives that could shape our lives at every moment.”
The Associated Press reviewer wrote that the play is “quirky, lovely, powerful and special;” while Newsday appreciated the play’s “enchanting, offbeat brilliance.”
Favorite Rubicon Artists Return to Star in Heisenberg
Faline England, a favorite with Central Coast audiences, returns to the Rubicon stage in the role of Georgie, having previously appeared in Gulf View Drive (Ovation Award, Best Production of a Play, Larger Theatre/Ovation nomination, Best Supporting Actress), Crimes of the Heart (Indy Award), Turn of the Screw (Ovation Nomination, Best Production of a Play, Larger Theatre), and All My Sons, (Ovation Award, Best Production of a Play, Larger Theatre/Ovation nomination, Best Supporting Actress). England graduated with a B.F.A. in Theatre from the University of California, Santa Barbara and currently lives in Los Angeles. Her stage credits include Julius Caesar with Shakespeare Center L.A., Carry the World: Women and Peace with Creative Visions, Twelfth Night (Indy Award), Chicago (Indy Award), The Rover (Indy Award), The Three Sisters, Playboy of the Western World, The Changeling, and The Tavern. Other credits include Heartbreak House and The Tempest with Theatre Artist’s Group, Finnegan’s Wake with Santa Barbara Dance Theatre, Purge! with James Donlon & Co., and All in the Timing at Western Stage. England co-wrote, produced, and starred in the two-person show Flayjennnie Eroticus: A Documentary (Indy Award). Television credits include “Criminal Minds,” “The Mentalist,” “Nip/Tuck,” “CSI,” “Numb3rs,” “Medium,” and “Without a Trace.”
Rubicon company member Joe Spano has appeared at Rubicon in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, The Sunset Limited, Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple, Sylvia, Waiting for Godot, R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe (Ovation nomination) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(Ovation nomination/Indy Award). Other West Coast credits include David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow and American Buffalo, for which he received an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award; School for Scandal,
Speed the Plow and A Chorus of Disapproval at South Coast Rep; Bill Cain’s Equivocation at the Geffen Playhouse; Jessica Goldberg’s Better at the Echo; and The Guys at Berkeley Rep, where he is a founding member. Spano made his Broadway debut in the Roundabout Theatre production of Arthur Miller’s The Price with Hector Elizondo and Eli Wallach, which was nominated for a Tony for Best Revival. He has appeared in thirty feature films, including “Apollo 13” working alongside Tom Hanks; “Primal Fear” with Richard Gere and Edward Norton, “Hart’s War,” “American Graffiti,” “Hollywoodland,” “Fracture” and “Frost/Nixon.” Series TV credits include Special FBI Agent T. C. Fornell on “NCIS” (now in its 15th year), Lt. Henry Goldblume on “Hill Street Blues” (Emmy nomination) and “Mercy Point,” “Amazing Grace,” “Murder One” and “NYPD Blue.” Spano won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for “Midnight Caller.”
Director of International Programming Helms Production
London-based artist Katharine Farmer, who has been Rubicon’s Director of International Programming for the past three years, directs HEISENBERG. She recently directed an intimate version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific at Rubicon. She has received two Best Director nominations at the Ovation Awards, and her production of Gulf View Drive by Arlene Hutton won Best Production of a Play, Larger Theatre, at the 2017 ceremony. Other Rubicon credits include the West Coast Premiere of Incognito by Nick Payne, plus See Rock City and Last Train to Nibroc, also by Hutton (the latter presented at the Bermuda Festival). Elsewhere, Farmer directed 23.5 Hours by Carey Crim at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre; Kiss Me by Richard Bean at Wardrobe Theatre/The Other Palace Theatre in the UK; Silent Meat by David Levelsey at The Pleasance in London; Pig Farm by Greg Kotis at the St. James Theatre in London; an adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Dominion Theatre in London which raised £155,000 for the Duchenne Medical Research Fund; Glamping by Carey Crim (Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (WSAF, University of Warwick); and Look Back in Anger by John Osborne (WUDS, Loft Theatre). Credits as Assistant Director include Dracula by Liz Lochead at Loco Klub, Bristol UK (dir. John Walton); Sleeping Beauty at Theatre Clywd, Wales (dir. Zoe Waterman); Lonesome Traveler by James O’Neil at 59E59 Theater NYC (dir. James O’Neil); The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown (dir. Stephanie Coltrin at Rubicon); Wiesenthal by Tom Dugan at Theatre Row NYC (dir. Jenny Sullivan); Conviction by Carey Crim at Rubicon (dir. Scott Schwartz); and Scenes from a Marriage at St. James Theatre, London (dir. Sir Trevor Nunn).
About the Playwright
Simon Stephen’s plays have been produced in many languages throughout the world. Stephens won the Tony Award for his adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2012 under the direction of Marianne Elliott. In its initial run, the show tied for the most Olivier Awards in history (seven). The production was broadcast live to cinemas worldwide in September of that year, transferring to the West End in 2013. Curious… opened on Broadway in 2014, winning five Tony Awards including Best Play, multiple Drama Desk Awards and a Theatre World Award. The show ran for two years (nearly 800 performances). Stephens began his theatrical career in the literary department of the Royal Court Theatre, where many of his productions have since premiered: Bluebird, Herons, Country Music, Motortown, Wastwater, and Birdland. Harper Regan and Bluebird were staged in New York at the Atlantic Theater Company. His play Punk Rock was staged by MCC. His version of A Doll’s House for the Young Vic transferred to New York in 2014. In addition to Tony and Olivier Awards for Curious…, Stephens received the Pearson Award for Best New Play for Port, the Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore of the Wide World, and was voted Best Foreign Playwright by German critics in Theater Heute’s annual poll.
Sponsors
HEISENBERG is sponsored by SHELLEY AND RICHARD BAYER, JANET AND MARK L. GOLDENSON, BARBARA MEISTER and BETTY THOMAS.
Calendar Listing
HEISENBERG
Rubicon Theatre Company opens the 2019 Season with the quirky romance HEISENBERG. Sweet, sexy and full of surprises, the story follows two strangers whose lives intersect in a bustling London train station when free-spirited Georgie, a 40-something American, unexpectedly plants a kiss on the neck of Alex, an older Irish butcher, as he sits on a bench at St Pancras Station. When she turns up in his shop a few days later, she sets the suspicious man’s world reeling. As Alex is drawn into Georgie’s anarchical world, his conventional life becomes chaotic, uncertain and undeniably richer. Written by Tony-Award winning playwright Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog…), Rubicon Theatre Company’s production stars Emmy and LADCC Award-winner Joe Spano as Alex (“NCIS,” RTC’s A Christmas Carol, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and Ovation-winner Faline England (RTC’s Gulf View Drive, All My Sons) as Georgie. Directed by Indy-Award Winner Katharine Farmer.
Wednesday January 30, 2019 at 7 p.m. ($25-$35)
Thursday January 31 at 7 p.m. ($25-$35)
Friday February 1 at 8 p.m. ($25-$40)
Regular Performance Times and Prices
Wednesdays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. ($25-$55) (Talkbacks follow all Wednesday evening shows except the January 30 preview)
Thursdays at 7 p.m. ($25-$55)
Fridays at 8 p.m. ($25-$55)
Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. ($25-$55)
Sundays at 2 p.m. ($25-$55)
Rubicon Theatre Company
Ventura’s Downtown Cultural District
1006 E. Main St. Ventura, CA 93001
Ticket Range: $25 – $55 ($120 for opening night including post-show party)
Previews: $20-$40
Prices above do not include a $4 ticket service fee
Discounts Available for Groups of 10+
Discounts for Seniors 65 and over, Students, Teachers and active Military available
Box Office (for single and group tickets): 805.667.2900
