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Penguin Rep Theatre, under the leadership of Joe Brancato, founding Artistic Director, and Andrew M. Horn, Executive Director, presents the world premiere of The Steel Man, a new play by Cary Gitter, directed by Mr. Brancato, beginning Friday, September 6, in Stony Point, New York.
The Steel Man closes the nonprofit professional theatre’s 46th season and will be produced through September 29.
Set in 1980s Pittsburgh, The Steel Man tells the story of Jake Gellert, an aspiring actor who struggles to escape from the shadow of his larger-than-life father, Leo, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. Inspired by a true story, the play is a powerful drama about a father and son haunted by the past but hopeful for a more promising future.
Cary Gitter is the playwright-in-residence at Penguin Rep Theatre, where his plays Gene & Gilda and The Virtuous Life of Joseph Andrews were previously presented. The musical The Sabbath Girl, adapted from his play, and featuring a book by Gitter, music by Neil Berg, and lyrics by Berg and Gitter, opened Penguin’s 2024 season in May before transferring to a triumphant Off Broadway run.
Gitter is a three-time O’Neill semifinalist, a two-time Jewish Plays Project finalist, and an alumnus of the Obie Award-winning EST/Youngblood playwrights’ group. 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.
The cast, under Mr. Brancato’s direction, includes Sam Guncler as Leo Gellert (Broadway: The Gathering with Hal Linden. Off Broadway: Bug, My Name is Asher Lev. Penguin: The Goldman Project, Around the World in 80 Days, A Strange and Separate People, Half and Half); Amanda Kristin Nichols as Christine Sommers (Penguin: Let There Be Love. TV: Mr. + Mr. Smith, New Amsterdam, The Sinner); and Leighton Samuels as Jake Gellert (Film/TV: Mindhunters, FBI. Theatre: Aslo Repertory Theatre FORG Theatre Company, Lost Nation Theater).
Director Brancato’s credits include The Sabbath Girl at Penguin and Off Broadway; Michael McKeever’s Daniel’s Husband, which transferred from Penguin to Primary Stages at the Cherry Lane Theatre and then onto its commercial production at the Westside Theatre/Upstairs, as well as the same playwright’s After, which moved from Penguin to 59E59 Theaters; Erasmus Fenn’s Drop Dead Perfect at Theatre at St. Clements (NY Times Critic’s Pick); The Devil’s Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Off B’way Alliance, and Audelco Award nominee); Freed (Audelco Award nominee); Tryst (Outer Critics nomination for Best Play) at the Promenade and at Irish Rep; and Cobb (Drama Desk winner).
The Steel Man is designed by Christopher and Justin Swader (set), Christian Fleming (costumes), Ed McCarthy (lights), Max Silverman (original music and sound), Brian Pacelli (projections), and Dana Weintraub (props). Michael Palmer is production stage manager.
Performances take place at Penguin’s home facility, a repurposed hay 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 are scheduled: Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m. (September 12, September 19, September 26); Friday matinees at 2:00 p.m. (September 6, September 13); Friday evenings at 7:00 p.m. (September 20, September 27); Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (September 7, September 14, September 21, September 28); and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. (September 8, September 15, September 22, September 29).
There will be a reception following the opening on Sunday, September 8; a tasting catered by Big Daddy’s Home Plate BBQ of Haverstraw before the early show on Saturday, September 14; and a discussion following the performance on Friday, September 20.
Tickets to The Steel Man are priced at $49. Early ordering discount tickets are $42 if purchased by August 31.
The production is made possible with funds from Arts Alive, a regrant program of ArtsWestchester with support from the Office of the Governor, the New York State Legislature, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
To order tickets or for further information, visit Penguin Rep’s website at WWW.PENGUINREP.ORG or call 845-786-2873.
ABOUT PENGUIN REP THEATRE
Penguin Rep Theatre (Penguin Players, Ltd.), based in historic Stony Point (Rockland County), New York, is a nonprofit professional theatre company now in its 46th year of operation.
Joe Brancato was a high school English and drama teacher in 1977 when he peered into an abandoned 1880s hay barn 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 lower 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, Penguin has presented more than 200 productions – 150 directed by Brancato himself – for more than 400,000 people from the lower Hudson Valley and beyond. And Mr. Brancato has brought together award-winning 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.
As it launches its 46th season, Penguin Rep Theatre, dubbed “the gutsiest little theatre” by The New York Times, continues to present a cultural experience that is unique in the region: professional productions of new plays at affordable prices.
As The Journal News wrote: “Somebody forgot to tell artistic director Joe Brancato that he’s crazy to use a little barn plunked down in the Rockland County suburbs to experiment with unusual and challenging plays … I hope everybody keeps forgetting to tell him. The region is more the richer for it.”
“Guided by the skilled hand of Penguin’s artistic director, Joe Brancato, the splendid performers get first-rate support, as always at Penguin, by an excellent design team” (The New York Times).
“Penguin Rep is a place where theatergoers can experience magic time after time” (Lohud.com).
Penguin Rep Theatre’s 2024 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Penguin Rep gratefully acknowledges the support of the County of Rockland, Town of Stony Point, Rockland County Tourism, Chazen Foundation, Jacques and Margot W. Kohn Foundation, Orange & Rockland Utilities, Shubert Foundation, Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, and Joan Weingarten and Bob Donnalley Gift Fund.
