In the Philadelphia Premiere of THE OTHER PLACE, the audience meets Juliana, a successful neurologist whose life is becoming unhinged. Her success at work is unquestioned, but at home, her husband is filing for a divorce and her daughter has disappeared with a much older man. When she gives a lecture in the Virgin Islands, things become worse. A doctor is called. Her mother died of a brain tumor at an early age. Could the same thing happen to her? Nothing is as it seems. Juliana longs to escape to the family's "other place" on Cape Cod to begin anew. Will she succeed? Playwright Sharr White noted, “There really is this dire need to know what’s happened; what’s happened to her. That’s really the energy that drives the play. As the play moves, there are these mysteries; there are just small pieces of it that don’t add up at first.”
THE OTHER PLACE had its world premiere at MCC Theater in 2011 and opened on Broadway in January, 2013. The show was awarded the 2010 Playwrights First Award, the 2011 Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation’s Theatre Visions Fund Award and was nominated for two Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play, a Drama League Award and three Lucille Lortel Awards. The show is currently being produced by regional theatres nationwide.
Award-winning playwright Sharr White has authored several plays that have been produced at theatres across the country, including The Snow Geese, which premiered on Broadway in 2013. White is also a writer on Showtime’s television series, The Affair. His additional work for stage includes The Escape Velocity of Savages, Six Years, The Last Orange Dying, Safe from the Future and Sunlight. He recently finished a played titled The True and is currently workshopping Stupid Kid, a Steppenwolf commission.
Dan Olmstead returns to the director’s chair for The Other Place. At the Walnut, he directed last season’s production of Red and 2013’s acclaimed production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. Additional directing credits include Fool for Love, Daddy Unchained, Jesse and the Bandit Queen, The Medieval Mystery Plays, and Jack, or the Submission. A regular on the Walnut’s stage, Olmstead’s numerous acting credits include Amadeus, Harvey, High Society, Good People, Fallen Angels, The Constant Wife, Finian’s Rainbow and 1776. He is currently performing on the Walnut’s Mainstage as Captain George Brackett in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.
Jane Ridley returns to the Walnut’s Studio 3 as Julianna, having most recently played the iconic Dr. Ruth Westheimer in last season’s one-woman show, Becoming Dr. Ruth. Ridley’s additional Walnut credits include Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace and Mrs. Fanny Kemble in Mrs. Kemble’s Tempest. Regionally, she has worked for Pennsylvania Centre Stage, Mill Mountain Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, The Shakespeare Theatre, Round House Theatre, Barter Theatre and seasons for The Orlando, the Pennsylvania and the Utah Shakespearean Festivals. Johnnie Hobbs Jr. returns to the Walnut after his performance as Hoke Colburn in Walnut’s production of Driving Miss Daisy. In 2013, he retired after 30 years of teaching at the University of the Arts’ Brind School of Theatre Arts. Hobbs was awarded the 2015 Barrymore Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for his tremendous work on local stages and behind-the-scenes as a teaching artist.
Adrienne S. Wells and Tim Dugan join the cast as The Woman and The Man, respectively. A former Acting Apprentice with the Walnut, Wells has been seen in High Society, Memphis and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Dugan’s credits include performances with InterAct Theatre, Inis Nua Theatre New City Stage. He makes his Walnut debut in this production.
Giving a glimpse into the mind of Julianna, set designer Roman Tatarowicz (Red, I Love a Piano) used imagery of brain neurons as inspiration for the set. Costume designer Amanda Wolff (Shipwrecked! An Entertainment) used a palette of muted tones, as if recollecting faded memories. Lighting designer J. Dominic Chacon (Peter and the Starcatcher) and sound designer Mark Valenzuela (The Rise and Fall of Little Voice) also join the creative team.
Season sponsor for the 2016-2017 Independence Studio on 3 Season is The Independence Foundation. Media season sponsors are Philly Weekly and WRTI Radio. Tickets are $30-$35 and are now available at 215-574-3550 or 215-336-1234. Tickets are also available at walnutstreettheatre.org or Ticketmaster.com.
