NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE
TIME STANDS STILL
Written by
Donald Margulies
Directed by Lara Macgregor

CAST Jacque Drew, Peter Hayden, Torum Heng and Jeff Szusterman

Nominated for two Tony Awards, TIME STANDS STILL is a moving and humor-filled portrait of a couple daunted by the prospect of a more conventional life as they return home to Brooklyn after working in the Middle East.

Sarah (Jacque Drew) and James (Jeff Szusterman), a photojournalist and a foreign correspondent, find themselves trying to find balance and happiness after being scarred – physically and emotionally – while covering conflicts. Theirs is a partnership based on telling the toughest stories and, together, making a difference. But, when their own story takes a sudden turn, this brave couple finds themselves moving in two different directions, unable to erase the past.

Margulies’s drama cleverly contrasts Sarah and James’ relationship with that of their good friend Richard (Peter Hayden), a news magazine editor, and Mandy (Torum Heng), his much-younger, very naïve and slightly dopey new girlfriend.

Lara Macgregor, Director and Fortune Theatre’s Artistic Director said, “I had the privilege of meeting the writer in New York in April, and he was thrilled that Time Stands Still is having its New Zealand Premiere in Dunedin. He is such a smart writer and has penned a dynamic, funny and complex character in Sarah – a woman torn between her career and relationship. Her beliefs in what she has dedicated her life to are under siege themselves. The fallout of those choices on her husband and how he copes are issues faced by many in the contemporary society we live in.”

"Margulies is gifted at creating complex characters through wholly natural interaction.” - NY Times

“What I tried to do with this play," said writer Donald Margulies, "is capture a sense of the way we live now, to dramatize the things that thinking, feeling, moral people are thinking about and struggle with — the issues of how to be a citizen of the world, how to show compassion, how to be involved, how to be true to yourself and your immediate loved ones. The title of the play comes from the idea that photographs capture a specific moment, that they freeze time.”

“Margulies conveys contemporary attitudes towards war, the media, and relationships by his skilful choice of characters who express themselves with bite and wit.” - CurtainUp

This is a blazingly important new work about responsibility – to ourselves, to our loved ones, to our community and to our world.

Time Stands Still was commissioned and given its world premiere by the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles in February 2009. The play was produced on Broadway in January 2010 by the Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Daniel Sullivan with a cast featuring Laura Linney (Sarah), Brian D’Arcy James (James), Eric Bogosian (Richard) and Alicia Silverstone (Mandy). Christina Ricci stepped into the role of Mandy when the play reopened in New York in October of 2010.

CREW
Writer Donald Margulies
Director Lara Macgregor
Set Designer Peter King
Set Builder Richard Clark
Lighting Designer Garry Keirle
Costume Designer Maryanne Wright-Smyth
Sound Designer Matthew Morgan
Make-up Designer George Wallace
Stage Manager Monique Webster
Properties George Wallace

KEY EVENTS / DATES

Lunchtime Bites / Thursday, 17 September meet at 12.15pm in the Dunedin Public Library, ground floor. The actors will perform an excerpt from Time Stands Still with an opportunity to win tickets. Reading will commence at 12.30pm followed by afternoon tea. This is a FREE event.

Opening Night / Saturday, 26 September 7.30pm, Fortune Theatre.

Members’ Briefing / Sunday, 27 September meet at the Fortune bar at 3.00pm and join Fortune Theatre Artistic Director Lara Macgregor for a lively informal chat about Time Stands Still.

Forum / Tuesday, 29 September - join the cast and crew for an open question and answer session following the 6.00pm show.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Donald Margulies
Donald Margulies received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Dinner with Friends, Variety Arts Theatre (New York), Comedie des Champs-Elysees (Paris), Hampstead Theatre (London), Actors Theatre of Louisville,
South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA); American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award; Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award; Lucille Lortel Award; Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk nominee).
His many plays include Time Stands Still (Geffen Playhouse (Los Angeles), Manhattan Theatre Club/Friedman Theatre, Comedie des Champs-Elysees); Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as told by himself), (South Coast Repertory, Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven), Geffen Playhouse, Primary Stages; Outer Critics Circle Award nomination); Brooklyn Boy (Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Comedie des Champs-Elysees; American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award finalist, Outer Critics Circle nominee); Sight Unseen (Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore Theatre [Broadway, 2004], Manhattan Theatre Club/Orpheum Theatre [1992], South Coast Repertory, Comedie des Champs-Elysees; OBIE Award, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award, Drama Desk nominee, Pulitzer Prize finalist); Collected Stories (Theatre Royal Haymarket (London), South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club [1996], HB Studio/Lucille Lortel Theatre, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle/Ted Schmitt Awards, L.A. Ovation Award, Drama Desk nominee, Dramatists Guild/Hull- Warriner Award finalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Drama Desk nominee; MTC/Friedman [Broadway, 2010]); God of Vengeance (based on the Yiddish classic by Sholem Asch), ACT Theatre (Seattle), Williamstown (MA) Theatre Festival; Two Days (Long Wharf Theatre); The Model Apartment (Los Angeles Theatre Center, Primary Stages (New York), La Jolla (CA) Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre; OBIE Award, Drama-Logue Award, Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award finalist, Drama Desk nominee); The Lowman Family Picnic (Manhattan Theatre Club, Drama Desk nominee); What's Wrong With This Picture? (Manhattan Theatre Club, Jewish Repertory Theatre (New York), Brooks Atkinson Theatre); Broken Sleep: Three Plays (Williamstown Theatre Festival); JULY 7, 1994 (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Found A Peanut (Joseph Papp/New York Shakespeare Festival); Pitching to the Star (West Bank Cafe); Resting Place (Theatre for the New City); Gifted Children, Zimmer and Luna Park (Jewish Repertory Theatre).

His plays have been performed at major theatres across the United States and around the world. Theatre Communications Group has published seven volumes of his work. Dinner with Friends was made into an Emmy Award-nominated film for HBO, and Collected Stories was presented on PBS. Currently, he is adapting the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides into an HBO series.

Margulies has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He was the recipient of the 2000 Sidney Kingsley Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Theatre by a playwright. In 2005 he was honoured by the American Academy of Arts and Letters with an Award in Literature and by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture with its Award in Literary Arts. Margulies is an alumnus of New Dramatists and serves on the council of The Dramatists Guild of America. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1954, Margulies now lives with his wife, Lynn Street, a physician, and their son, Miles, in New Haven, Connecticut, where he is an adjunct professor of English and Theatre Studies at Yale University.

Production Dates: 26 September – 17 October, 2015
Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes, including intermission
Venue: Fortune Theatre, 231 Stuart Street, Dunedin
Directed by: Lara Macgregor
Cast: Jacque Drew, Peter Hayden, Torum Heng and Jeff Szusterman
Performances: Tuesday, 6.00pm, Wednesday - Saturday, 7.30pm, Sunday, 4.00pm
(no show Monday)
Tickets: Gala (first 5 shows) $34, Adults $42, Senior Citizens $34, Members $32, Tertiary Students $20, High School Students $15, Group discount (10 +) $34
Bookings: Fortune Theatre, 231 Stuart Street, Dunedin; Box Office 03 477 8323 or visit www.fortunetheatre.co.nz

For further information, imagery or interview/photo opportunities please contact
Lucy Summers, Marketing and Communications Manager,
P: (03) 477 1292 ext. 2 M: 021 108 3046 E: marketing@fortunetheatre.co.nz
www.fortunetheatre.co.nz