Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 15, 2004|Volume 33, Number 7

The publicity photo for "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow," an award-winning play by recent School of Drama graduate Rolin Jones.

Yale Rep's next offering is a
'techno-comedy' by an alumnus

A play about a woman who tries to discover her heritage and overcome her fears with the help of a Mormon missionary, a pizza delivery guy and her robotic replica will be the next offering at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

Rolin Jones' "techno-comedy" -- titled "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow: An Instant Message with Excitable Music" -- will be staged Oct. 22-Nov. 13 at the theater, corner of York and Chapel streets. Jackson Gay will direct.

The play centers around Jennifer Marcus, an "average California girl" who re-engineers obsolete missile components for the U.S. Army from her bedroom. When she decides to meet her birth mother in China, she uses her technological genius to devise a new form of human contact. As the play's promotional material notes: "Some people are born with an identical twin. Jennifer built hers from spare parts."

In 2004, "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" received both the Elizabeth Osborne Award for an Emerging Artist of the American Theatre Critics' Association and OC Weekly's 2004 Best New Play Award. The play had productions readings at South Coast Repertory, Old Globe Theatre, Underwood Theater and Studio Theater in Washington, D.C.

Playwright Jones is a 2004 graduate of the School of Drama. His full-length plays also include "Time of No Reply," "The Jammer" (which won a Fringe First Award for Best New Writing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and "Last of the Chatterbox Wolves." Jones was one of four American playwrights chosen to participate in this year's Old Vic/New Voices Festival in London. Currently he is the NEA/TCG playwright-in-residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

Gay, who is also an alumnus of the School of Drama, directed a production of "The Three Sisters" at the Yale Rep in 2002 as her directing thesis. Her recent credits include Brecht's "Man is Man" for Prospect Theater Company, "A View from the Bridge" for Dartmouth's Hopkins Center, "Fear and Misery of the Third Reich" for Denver Center's National Theatre Conservatory and "Rough Crossing" for Florida's Banyan Theater Company. Her production of "Spring Awakening" received the 2003 Off-Off-Broadway Review Award for Best Production.

The cast for "The Intelligent Life of Jenny Chow" includes (in alphabetical order) Remy Auberjonois (Dr. Yakunin, Preston, Terrence, Colonel Hubbard), Carson Elrod (Todd, Chinese Boy), Seema Sueko (Jennifer Marcus), Ken Marks (Mr. Marcus, Mr. Zhang), Keiko Yamamoto (Jenny Chow) and Janet Zarish (Adele, Su Yang Zhang). Auberjonois, Marks and Yamamoto are all drama school graduates.

The play features original music composed by Matthew Suttor, visiting lecturer in composition in Yale's Department of Music and lecturer in design at the School of Drama. Other members of the design team -- all M.F.A. candidates at the drama school -- are Lee Savage (scenic design), Chloe Chapin (costume design), Miriam Crowe (lighting design) and Hillary Charnas (sound design). Company voice work is by Walton Wilson. Rick Sordelet is fight director, Christine Mok is the dramaturg, and Marion Friedman is the stage manager.

"The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" will be performed at 8 p.m. nightly, with 2 p.m. matinees on three Saturdays, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6 and 13, and on two Wednesdays, Nov. 3 and 10.

The Rep is offering a variety of special events during the run of the show at no additional cost. These include: Yale Night on Friday, Oct. 22, which features a pre-show discussion with members of the creative team as well as free pizza courtesy of BAR and soft drinks for students from area colleges and universities; Opening Night on Thursday, Oct. 28, with a celebration following the performance at the Playwright; "Re:Play," a question-and-answer session with the cast and crew following the matinee performance on Saturday, Oct. 30; and a senior matinee on Wednesday, Nov. 10. The production will be sign interpreted and audio described on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m.

Tickets for "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" range from $20 to $45 and are available by calling (203) 432-1234; dropping by the Yale Rep box office; or visiting the website at www.yalerep.org. Student, senior and groups rates are also available.

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Campus Notes