Penguin Rep Theatre Presents World Premier of “Gene & Gilda”

Penguin Rep Theatre, under the leadership of founding artistic director Joe Brancato and executive director Andrew M. Horn, presents the world premiere of Gene & Gilda by Cary Gitter, directed by Mr. Brancato, from August 4 through August 27 in Stony Point, New York.

Beloved entertainers Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner come to vivid life in a hilarious and heartfelt new play from Penguin playwright-in-residence Gitter, author of The Sabbath Girl and The Virtuous Life of Joseph Andrews, which were previously presented at Penguin.

Described by Mr. Brancato as an “intimate portrait of two comic legends in love -- and the lives they led beyond the laughter,” the play follows the famous couple from their first meeting through their personal and professional ups and downs, all the way to their poignant farewell.

Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman, 1933-2016) was an actor, comedian, writer and filmmaker. He collaborated with Mel Brooks on the films The Producers (1967), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor; Blazing Saddles (1973); and Young Frankenstein (1974), which he wrote (with Brooks), and which garnered him an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay. He also starred in a series of films with Richard Pryor, including Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989).

Wilder also directed and wrote several of his own films, including The Woman in Red (1984). For his last acting performance – a guest role on Will & Grace in 2003, he received an Emmy Award for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series.

Gilda Radner (1946-1989) was an actress, comedian, writer, and singer. She was one of the seven original cast members of the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” on Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until her departure in 1980. She won an Emmy Award for the show in 1978 and, a year later, portrayed characters developed on the series – including Roseanne Rosannadanna, Emily Litella and Baba Wawa – in Gilda Radner – Live From New York, a highly successful one-woman show on Broadway. Her SNL work established Radner as an iconic figure in the history of American comedy.

Radner met Wilder on the set of the film Hanky Panky and the two married in 1984.

The cast under Mr. Brancato’s direction includes Jordan Kai Burnett as Gilda and Jonathan Randell Silver as Gene.

Burnett just returned from her Las Vegas debut starring as the Emcee for Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike Live, which played at the Hard Rock and the legendary Sahara Hotel & Casino. She was featured in the same role in Finding Magic Mike on MAX. She starred in Romy & Michele the Musical as Heather Mooney at Fifth Avenue Theater, for which she received a Gregory Award nomination for best supporting actress in a musical, and also appeared in the title role of Scissorhands: The Musical. Burnett worked side by side with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo on their Romeo & Juliet Project, and is the co-creator of Daisy & Jordan's Sunday Brunch of Shame with her comedy partner, Tony Award winner Daisy Eagan.

Silver returns to Penguin Rep where he starred last year in Cary Gitter’s The Virtuous Life of Joseph Andrews. His stage credits include work Off Broadway – Shear Madness! (New World Stages) -- and at regional theatres throughout the country, including La Jolla, Denver Theater Center, Long Wharf, and Bay Street. His film and television work includes Nevada (Sundance), Keeping the Faith, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Succession.

Playwright Cary Gitter is a two-time O’Neill semifinalist and Jewish Plays Project finalist, and an alumnus of the Obie Award-winning EST/Youngblood playwrights’ group. His play The Sabbath Girl premiered at Penguin Rep and transferred Off-Broadway to 59E59 Theaters, and is published by Stage Rights. His play How My Grandparents Fell in Love was a New York Times Critic’s Pick as part of the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s 36th Marathon of One-Act Plays and aired on the acclaimed podcast Playing on Air.

Director Joe Brancato is the founding artistic director of Penguin Rep Theatre where he has directed 200 productions, including premieres by Arthur Laurents, Lanie Robertson, Staci Swedeen, Cary Gitter, Jon Marans, William Mastrosimone, James Sherman, Steven Dietz, Richard Vetere, Allan Knee, and Tom Dudzick. His Off-Broadway credits include Michael McKeever’s Daniel’s Husband, After, and Mr. Parker; Erasmus Fenn’s Drop Dead Perfect; The Devil’s Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Off Bway Alliance & Audelco Award nominee); Charles Smith’s Freed (Audelco Award nominee); Tryst (Outer Critics nomination for Best Play); and Cobb (Drama Desk winner). He has also directed at Royal Manitoba Theatre Center, George Street Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Houston’s Alley Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, Westport Playhouse, Delaware Theater Company, Rubicon Theatre, Capital Rep, Florida Repertory, Boston’s New Rep, Hartford Theatreworks, The Cape Playhouse, and Passage Theatre.

The production is designed by Christopher Fleming (set), Gregory Gale (costumes), Jamie Roderick (lights), Joel Abbott (sound), and Buffy Cardoza (props). Michael Palmer is the production stage manager.

Performances are scheduled at Penguin’s home facility, a repurposed 1880 barn in historic Stony Point (Rockland County), New York. “The converted barn, circa 1880, has never been more inviting” (The New York Times). Says Mr. Horn, “It’s theatre so close you can feel it, with comfortable upholstered seats and no seat more than 30 feet from the stage.” The theatre is air-conditioned and handicapped accessible, features assistive hearing devices, and has plenty of free parking.

Performances will take place: Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m. (August 10, August 17, August 24), Friday matinees at 2:00 p.m. (August 4, August 11, August 18), Friday evenings at 7:00 p.m. (August 4, August 25), Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (August 5, August 12, August 19, August 26), and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. (August 6, August 13, August 20, August 27).

There will be a reception following the performance on Sunday, August 6; a tasting catered by Pasta Cucina of Stony Point before the early show on Saturday, August 12; and a discussion following the performance on Friday, August 25.

Individual tickets for mainstage productions are priced at $46. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more and young people (30 and under).

“We hate service charges, facility fees, credit card surcharges, and any kind of additional fee,” says Mr. Horn, “so we don’t charge them!”

To order tickets or for further information, visit Penguin Rep’s website at WWW.PENGUINREP.ORG or call 845-786-2873.

The production is designed by Christopher Fleming (set), Vanessa Leuck (costumes), Pamela Kupper (lights), Joel Abbott (sound), Bobbie Zlotnik (wigs), and Buffy Cardoza (props). Michael Palmer is the production stage manager.

About Penguin Rep Theatre

Penguin Rep Theatre (Penguin Players, Ltd.), based in a converted 1880s barn in historic Stony Point (Rockland County), New York, is a nonprofit professional theatre company now in its 45th year of operation.

Joe Brancato was a high school English and drama teacher in 1977 when he peered into an abandoned 1880s hay barn in Stony Point, New York, and envisioned the space repurposed into a theatre.

More than 40 years later, Penguin Rep – the theatre Brancato started with Francine Newman-McCarthy and runs with executive director Andrew M. Horn -- has grown from a summer theatre to become one of the Hudson Valley’s most enduring cultural institutions, reaching tens of thousands of theatergoers each year at its home, in New York City and beyond – with its work moving to Off Broadway and to stages across the country and around the world.

Since its founding in 1977, Penguin has presented more than 150 productions – over 100 directed by Brancato himself -- for more than 400,000 people from the lower Hudson Valley and beyond. And Mr. Brancato has brought together accomplished professional actors – David Canary, Michael Cullen, Tim De Kay, Gregg Edelman, Michael Esper, Barbara Feldon, Tovah Feldshuh, Beth Fowler, Deborah Hedwall, Celeste Holm, Richard Kline, Andrew McCarthy, Lizbeth Mackay, Michele Pawk, and Karen Ziemba, among others – to star in new and noteworthy plays by such playwrights as Lee Blessing, Ronald Harwood, Allan Knee, Arthur Laurents, Warren Leight, Jon Marans, William Mastrosimone, Lainie Robertson, James Sherman and Elizabeth Swados.