The New Repertory Theatre Presents
Oleannna
by David Mamet
October 14 through November 5
Watertown, MA
“New Rep is proud to present this challenging play by one of its favorite playwright’s, David Mamet,” says Artistic Director Jim Petosa. “In the hands of director Elaine Vaan Hogue, the titanic talents of Johnny Lee Davenport and Obehi Janice will create a counterpoint of intensity that will bring the central conflict of this play into sharp focus.”
“New Rep is excited to welcome back both Johnny Lee Davenport and Obehi Janice to our stage,” says Managing Director Harriet Sheets.
“Johnny Lee returns after his masterful portrayal in our acclaimed productions of Thurgood and The Whipping Man and Obehi returns after her powerful performance in Lydia Diamond’s The Gift Horse last season. We hope New Rep audiences will enjoy watching these two powerhouse performers together in David Mamet’s classic drama.”
JOHNNY LEE DAVENPORT* (John) returns to New Repertory Theatre after performing in Thurgood, The Whipping Man, and A House with No Walls. Other area credits include The Unbleached American (Stoneham Theatre); It’s A Wonderful Life, A Radio Play (Wheelock Family Theatre); Water by the Spoonful and Broke-ology/Elliot Norton Award, Best Actor (The Lyric Stage Company); Driving Miss Daisy and Master Harold…and the Boys (Gloucester Stage Company); and Invisible Man/Helen Hayes Award, Best Ensemble (Studio Theatre Washington, D.C. and The Huntington Theatre Company). Mr. Davenport has played more than 50 roles in 24 of Shakespeare’s plays including Richard III (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); Pericles (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); and Richard II (Shakespeare & Company). Film credits include Ted, The Fugitive, U.S. Marshals, and Ascendants. He was named Best Actor in Boston Magazine (2011). johnnyleedavenport.com
OBEHI JANICE* (Carol) returns to New Repertory Theatre after performing in The Gift Horse and New Rep’s Next Voices New Play Reading Series. Recent credits include Love’s Labour’s Lost (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); We’re Gonna Die (Company One Theatre/American Repertory Theater); An Octoroon (Company One Theatre/ArtsEmerson); Mr g (Underground Railway Theater); her solo show FUFU & OREOS (IRNE Nomination, Best Solo Performance, Bridge Repertory Theater); Arabian Nights (Central Square Theater); It Felt Empty (Theatre on Fire); and Splendor (Company One Theatre). A graduate of Georgetown University, Obehi was named “Boston’s Best Actress” by The Improper Bostonian in 2014. Her comedic short, Black Girl Yoga, won the Reel 13/AfroPunk Film Competition (WNET/New York Public Media). American Theatre magazine named her one of “6 Theatre Workers You Should Know” in February 2017. She was also the TCG Fox Foundation Resident Actor at Company One Theatre from 2015-2017. Originally from Lowell, Massachusetts, she currently resides in Medford. obehijanice.com
ELAINE VAAN HOGUE (Director) is a director, actor, and teacher. Previous productions at New Repertory Theatre include directing Baltimore, The Amish Project, Imagining Madoff (Elliot Norton nominee for Outstanding Production), The Kite Runner, and co-curating the inaugural Next Rep Black Box Festival in 2014. Regional directing credits include A Disappearing Number (URT @ Central Square Theater); Metamorphosis (Boston Center for American Performance); Walking the Volcano (Boston Centerfor American Performance/Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); Crave (Nora Theatre Company); Thin Air: Tales from a Revolution (Kansas City); Infinity’s House (Majestic Theatre); Fen (New Theatre); The Penelopiad, Execution of Justice, Lizzie Stranton, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, The Other Shore, Angels in America, Three Sisters, Pains of Youth, Polaroid Stories, Marisol, and many others (Boston University). As an actor she has performed in The Road to Mecca (Boston Center for American Performance); Creation: Mythic Weavings (Women on Top & Magdalena USA); When Jennie Goes Marching (Olney Theatre & Spontaneous Celebrations). She is a member of the Magdalena Project, an international network of women in contemporary theatre, and is a participant in an international cyber-performance group collaborating in All the Better To See You With (Odin Teatret), MagFest KISS (Amsterdam), trans-hack- feminist UpStage Jam (Eclectic Tech Carnival). Ms. Vaan Hogue serves as Program Head of Theatre Arts at Boston University. Originally from Los Angeles, she resides in Central Massachusetts.
New Repertory Theatre presents Oleanna, October 14-November 5, 2017 in the MainStage Theater at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA. New Rep Box Office at 617-923-8487 newrep.org.