The talents of the School of Drama's graduating acting class, pictured here, will be showcased in "Serious Money," the next production at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

Drama School actors gang up for 'Serious Money'

The scheme of a group of unscrupulous investors attempting a hostile takeover of the Albion Corporation brings deadly consequences in "Serious Money," a thriller at the Yale Repertory Theatre that will showcase the talents of the School of Drama's graduating acting class. Performances of the play, by Caryl Churchill, begin on Thursday, March 21, and will run through Saturday, April 13, at the Yale Rep, corner of Chapel and York streets. Jean Randich, who earned her M.F.A. from the School of Drama in 1994, will direct the production. "I'm delighted to be returning to the Yale School of Drama to direct the graduating acting class," says Randich. "Not only are they a talented class, they also work well as an ensemble, having already been together for two-and-a-half years. Their immediate knowledge of each other is a director's rare treat." First presented to critical acclaim in 1987 at London's Royal Court Theater, "Serious Money" dramatizes the cutthroat dealings of corporate raiders and white knights. The corporation-takeover scheme of a cartel of arbitrageurs takes a disastrous turn when a paper dealer is murdered. The victim's sister decides to play detective, armed only with a little black book of high-powered contacts and a relentless ambition to make serious money. In the United States, "Serious Money" premiered Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre in 1987 and quickly sold out its limited engagement. It transferred to Broadway the following year with a cast that included Alec Baldwin and Kate Nelligan. Playwright Churchill's other works include "The Skriker," "Mad Forest," "Blue Heart," "Top Girls," "Objections to Sex and Violence," "Light Shining in Buckinghamshire" and "A Mouthful of Birds" (co-written with David Lan). She has also written for radio and television. Randich has been directing new works in diverse cultures for the past 15 years. Her credits include the world premiere of "The Floating Box: A Story in Chinatown, an opera" at the Asia Society, and "Girl Under the Grain," which won Best Drama at the New York International Fringe Festival in 2000 and the Drama League New Directors/New Works in 1998. Randich has also directed at En Garde Arts and the Dallas Theatre Center, as well as in Germany and Norway. She has served as the artistic director of the Ensemble Company for the Performing Arts in New Haven and as the George Abbott Resident Director at New Dramatists. She has written the libretto for a new opera, "The Miraculous Phonograph Record," commissioned by the Dallas Opera, and has been awarded (with her collaborators) a developmental grant from the Jonathan Larsen Foundation for a musical adaptation of the Tod Browning silent classic "The Unknown." Upcoming projects include the world premiere of Catherine Filloux's play, "Silence of God," about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge at the Contemporary American Theater Festival this summer. She is a professor of drama at Bennington College. The members of the graduating acting class are Lucia Brawley, Leslie Elliard, Sarah Elliott, Bridget Flanery, Andrew Guilarte, Brad Heberlee, Nancy Kim, Frank Liotti, Derek Milman, Matthew Lane Schwartz, Jeanine Serralles, William Theodore Thompson, Bess Wohl, Tamilla Woodard and Annette Worden. The design team for "Serious Money" includes scenic designer Fred Kinney, costume designer Daniel Urlie, lighting designer Paul Whitaker, composer and sound designer Shane Rettig, dramaturgs Carrie Hughes and Alice Rebecca Moore, dialect coach Jacqueline Farrington and stage manager Courtney Todd. Performances are Mondays at 7 p.m. and Tuesday-Saturday at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. Saturday matinees. There is no matinee performance on Saturday, March 23. Single tickets range from $22 to $39. For more information or to order tickets, call the Yale Rep box office at (203) 432-1234, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, or visit the theater's website at www.yalerep.org. 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