(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The next production at George Street Playhouse is Clyde's, the lightning- charged comedy by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage. Directed by Melissa Maxwell, the Tony-Nominated tale of reinvention and redemption marks the play’s debut at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. Performances begin January 31 and runs through February 19, 2023. Tickets are now on sale.
A slice of life that elevates the soul, Clyde's is about the healing power of food. Centering around the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff at a truck stop sandwich shop.
Clyde’s is a story about living with and through your mistakes – and the importance of a shared dream in bringing people together; like the quest for creating the perfect sandwich.
“We are so very thrilled to bring two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage to our stage for the first time ever!” says George Street Playhouse Director/Artistic Director David Saint. “Clyde's is the perfect play to kick off the New Year,” he adds. “Our audience will savor every bite of this delicious Tony-nominated feast of a play!”
This production is supported by Philip Kirstein and Melida Raso Kirstein.
The Cast & Creative Team
Gabriel Lawrence (Montrellous) is an actor, educator, filmmaker raised in Houston, TX and based in Brooklyn. New York stage credits include: Fairview - Theatre for a New Audience; X; or Betty Shabazz v. Nation and title roles in both Macbeth and Julius Caesar - The Acting Company; Carnaval - National Black Theatre (Adelco Award - Best Ensemble); 12 Angry Men - Billie Holiday Theatre. TV credits include: Prodigal Son, The Deuce, Alpha House and recurring performances on ABC’s What Would You Do?. As an educator he has taught acting, debate and filmmaking around the country. As a filmmaker, Mr Lawrence has produced documentaries, movie trailers and news reports for cable and primetime television. He is a 2018 National Theatre Hall of Fame Emerging Artist and a collective member of the commercial advertising agency BBDO Worldwide. Last, but not least, he earned a BA in Mass Communication from West Texas A&M and a MFA in Theatre from U.C. San Diego.
Darlene Hope (Clyde) is a NYC–based classically trained actress. She earned her BA in Theatre Arts from the University of South Florida and her MFA in Acting from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. She also studied extensively in London, Paris, and Italy under lauded international artists Corin Redgrave, Sir Donald Sinden, Dame Sian Phillips, Patsy Rodenburg OBE, Maestro Antonio Fava, Sheridan Morley, and Tony Award winner Mark Medoff. Perhaps best known as the title character in A Visit from Aunt Flo, the Cannes Lion Award–winning viral video that has received over 2.5 million views worldwide, Miss Hope has toured extensively throughout the US, South America, and the Caribbean, combining her bright and captivating performances with philanthropy, humanitarian relief, and young artist mentorship. She is the author of multiple plays, screenplays, and faith-based journals, and is the founder of HopeFull Productions. Off-Broadway: Sistas: the Musical, Normalcy. Regional: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, American Stage Theatre Company, Miami New Drama, Playhouse on Park, Theatre East, Polk Theatre, Norwegian Cruise Line, TheatreWorksUSA. Film: Commedia By Fava. Television: Halston (Netflix), FBI, God Friended Me (CBS). New media: Don’t Shoot the Messenger, A Visit from Aunt Flo, When Bae Doesn’t Pay Attention.
Xavier Reyes (Rafael) Xavier Reyes was born in Puerto Rico, where he started performing during his fourth grade of elementary school thanks to his dad who encouraged him to attend his first, life changing, rehearsal. Xavier spent two years working and studying Drama at the University of Puerto Rico and then left in 2010 to get his Bachelor in Fine Arts in Acting at Ithaca College. Outside performing he enjoys reading, good acting/storyline movies, spending time home with family, being an audience member, dreaming, aspiring and talking in Spanish. He booked his first big job by working hard and holding on to his discipline, passion, and training. Persistency is key! He knew he was right for the show and kept auditioning and bringing his best work into the room while having fun, of course! Xavier says “My people influence me every day. All the hardworking passionate Latinos out there are the ones that keep my wheels spinning.” Forget regrets or life is yours to miss. When not performing, Xavier can be found deepening his craft and looking for ways to instill change through it!
Sydney Cusic (Letitia) is an actor, director, writer and producer born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. From a young age she was exposed to the complexities, beauties and pain that black culture contains. This understanding of self-fuels the art she creates to this day. She is an alumna of New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Having studied acting through the University and with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Sydney has a sensitive understanding of the human condition. She noticed in much of the film and television that enters mainstream culture, the human condition of black, indigenous and people of color is ignored and reduced to stereotypes and one-dimensional stories. It is her wish to highlight BIPOC voices to their fullest in her art. She loves being a black woman. She loves diverse stories. She wants the world to love them too.
Ryan Czerwonko (Jason) is an actor and filmmaker in NYC. TV: The Endgame, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, The Blacklist(NBC), The Deuce, Watchmen (HBO), and many more. FILM: Cherry, Paint, Birder. THEATRE: First Folio Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare, Livermore Shakespeare. Ryan is the artistic director of “Adult Film”, a film and theatre collective in Brooklyn. He teaches acting in his apartment. IG: @ryanczerwonko + @adultfilm.nyc
Melissa Maxwell (Director) SDC Member. Melissa specializes in new play development. Credits include: Trouble in Mind (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Safe House (Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis; received six St Louis Theatre Circle Award Nominations); Slashes of Light (The Kitchen Theatre/Civic Ensemble; world premiere); Tunnel Vision (Off the WALL Theatre, world premiere); American Slavery Project’s Unheard Voices (NY Historical Society and other venues); Show Way (Vital Theatre; received Off Broadway Theatre Alliance ‘Best Family Show’ nomination): Nathan the Wise (Pearl Theatre Company); world premiere of scientist Carl Djerassi’s (creator of the contraceptive pill) Taboos (Soho Playhouse). Melissa is also an actor, award-winning playwright, and a motivational speaker with two TEDx Talks to her credit (TEDxMosesBrownSchool: Taking Ownership; TEDxBarnardCollegeWomen: On Courage). www.melissamaxwell.com.
Lynn Nottage (Playwright). Lynn Nottage is the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Recent work includes the libretto for the opera Intimate Apparel (L.CT), MJ (Broadway) and co-curating the performance installation The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre). Other work includes the musical adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic): Mlima's Tale, Swear (Pulitzer Prize, Obie, Evening Standard Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize); By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lilly Award); RuinedPulitzer Prize, Obie, Lortel, NY Drama Critics' Circle, AUDELCO, Drama Desk and OCC awards); Intimate Apparel (American Theatre Critics and NY Drama Critics' Circle), TV: writer/producer of She's Gotta Have It (Netflix), consulting producer on Dickinson (Apple TV+). Awards: PEN/Laura Pels Master Dramatist Award, Doris Duke Artist Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship and is an associate professor at Columbia University School of the Arts and a member of the Dramatist Guild.
Clyde’s Design and Production Team Features: Riw Rakkulchon (Scenic Designer), Azalea Fairley (Costume Designer), Cheyenne Skyes (Lighting Designer), Scott O’Brien (Sound Design & Original Music), Fre Howard (Hair & Makeup Design), Christina M. Woolard (Production Stage Manager).
Tickets begin at $25 and are now on sale. For subscriptions and group discount information visit www.GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org or call 732-246-7717.
Note: Contains adult material and language.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint since 1997, George Street Playhouse produces groundbreaking new works, inspiring productions of the classics, and hit Broadway plays and musicals that speak to the heart and mind, with an unwavering commitment to producing new work. As New Brunswick’s first producing theatre, George Street Playhouse became the cornerstone of the revitalization of the City’s arts and cultural landscape. With its 47-year history of producing nationally renowned theatre, the Playhouse continues to fill a unique theatre and arts education role in the city, state and greater metropolitan region.
Beginning with the 2019-20 Season, George Street Playhouse moved to the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in downtown New Brunswick. Featuring two state-of-the-art theatres -- The Arthur Laurents Theater with 253 seats and The Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater which seats 465-- and myriad amenities, the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center marks a new era in the esteemed history of George Street Playhouse.
Founded by Eric Krebs, George Street Playhouse, originally located in an abandoned supermarket on the corner of George and Albany Streets, was the first professional theatre in New Brunswick. In 1984, the Playhouse moved to a renovated YMCA on Livingston Avenue, and in 2017 took temporary residence in the former Agricultural Museum at Rutgers University during construction of its new home.
The Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway. In 2018, George Street Playhouse was represented on Broadway with Gettin’ the Band Back Together which premiered on the Playhouse mainstage in 2013. American Son, produced by George Street Playhouse in 2017, opened on Broadway in 2018 starring Kerry Washington and Stephen Pasquale, and appeared on Netflix in 2019. Other productions include the Outer Critics’ Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger. In 2015, It Shoulda Been You opened on Broadway and Joe DiPietro’s Clever Little Lies opened off-Broadway. Both shows received their premieres at the Playhouse. Others include the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill; and the Broadway hit and Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at the Playhouse during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays.
George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.
