- 2023-10-08
Wink | WORLD PREMIERE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 14th, 2019
MARIN THEATRE COMPANY
PRODUCES THE WORLD PREMIERE
OF JEN SILVERMAN’S
Wink
MILL VALLEY, CA—Marin Theatre Company (MTC) closes out their 2018-19 season with the World Premiere production of Jen Silverman’s darkly-comic piece on the complicated and dangerous territory of the human heart—Wink.
Wink follows unhappy housewife Sofie and her breadwinning husband Gregor who both seek weekly counseling from an unorthodox therapist, Doctor Frans. Their current topic of disagreement: the cat, Wink. When Wink goes missing, violent desires, domestic anarchy and feline vengeance emerge, threatening the neatly ordered reality Sophie, Gregor and Doctor Frans have constructed. Jen Silverman’s new play is a caustic comedy about the thin, thin line between savagery and civilization.
“I’m fascinated by human relationships, and I’m always trying to find new lenses to see us through, new ways of understanding our complexities. Wink is a dark comedy with absurdist tendencies, but it seeks to cut to the heart of something authentic and true in how we long for and lose each other, how we recover and rebuild.” - Jen Silverman
MTC welcomes back New York-based director Mike Donahue (Swimmers, 2017) to direct this World Premiere production. Rounding out a phenomenal cast are Liz Sklar (Anne Boleyn, The Wolves) as Sophie, Seann Gallagher (Straight White Men) as Gregor, Kevin R. Free as Doctor Frans, and John William Watkins as the eponymous cat, Wink.
More About Playwright, Jen Silverman
Jen Silverman’s theatre work includes: The Roommate (Humana Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Steppenwolf, South Coast Rep, among others); Collective Rage: A Play In 5 Betties (Woolly Mammoth, Southwark Playhouse in London, MCC Theatre, NYT Critic's Pick); The Moors (Yale Rep, The Playwrights Realm, Red Stitch in Melbourne, Seymour Center in Sydney); Dangerous House (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Witch (Writers Theatre, upcoming at The Geffen), and Wink (Marin Theatre Company). Jen is a member of New Dramatists, an affiliated artist with The Playwrights Center, New Georges, and SPACE on Ryder Farm, and has developed work with the O’Neill, The Ground Floor Residency at Berkeley Rep, and the Royal Court in London, among other places. She’s a two-time MacDowell fellow, recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts grant, a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Fellowship, the Yale Drama Series Award, the Helen Merrill Award, and a Lilly Award. She was the 2016-2017 Playwrights of New York (PoNY) Fellow at the Lark. Random House recently published her first book, The Island Dwellers, a collection of interlinked stories; her first novel is forthcoming with them. Jen also writes for TV and film, most recently on Netflix’s Tales of the City. Education: Brown, Iowa Playwrights Workshop, Juilliard. More info: www.jensilverman.com
Mike Donahue directs the World Premiere of Wink
Mike Donahue is a New York-based director. NYC credits include: world premieres of Matthew Lopez’s The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC, The Geffen and Denver Center, Joe A. Callaway Award, Outer Critics Circle Nomination, Ovation Award Nomination); Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage (MCC, Woolly Mammoth, Drama League Nomination), The Moors (Playwrights Realm – NYC premiere), Phoebe in Winter (Clubbed Thumb) and The Hunters (Cherry Lane Mentor Project); Jordan Seavey’s Homos, Or Everyone In America (Labyrinth); and Ethan Lipton’s Red-Handed Otter (Playwrights Realm). Regionally: world premieres of Jen Silverman’s The Roommate (Humana, Williamstown, Long Wharf); Rachel Bonds’ Curve of Departure (South Coast Rep, Studio Theatre), The Wolfe Twins (Studio Theatre D.C.) and Swimmers (Marin); Matthew Lopez’s Zoey’s Perfect Wedding and Lauren Feldman’s Grace, or The Art of Climbing (Denver Center); and Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cheryomushki in a new libretto by Meg Miroshnik (Chicago Opera Theatre). Additionally regionally, Annie Baker’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya (Weston); Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles (Actors Theatre); Antony & Cleopatra (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis); and Assassins, Henry IV & V (co-directed with Joe Haj) and A Number (Playmakers Rep, 2011/12 Distinguished Guest Artist). Select readings/workshops: MTC, Roundabout Underground, NYTW, Soho Rep (Writer/Director Lab), McCarter, The O’Neill, Berkley Rep Ground Floor, South Coast Rep’s Pacific Playwrights Festival, New Dramatists, The Lark, Ars Nova, Primary Stages, Chautauqua, Cape Cod Theatre Project and Studio 42. Mike is recipient of a Fulbright to Berlin, the Dramaleague Fall Fellowship, The Boris Sagal Fellowship at Williamstown, winner of the Inaugural Opera America Director-Designer Showcase Award, and was the artistic director of the Yale Summer Cabaret for two seasons. Mike is a graduate of Harvard University and the Yale School of Drama. Upcoming: world premieres of Jen Silverman's Wink and Kate Cortesi's Love (Marin) and Euripides The Bacchae (Baltimore Center Stage).
CALENDAR LISTING
Theatre | Performing Arts
WHAT
Wink
WHO
By Jen Silverman
Directed by Mike Donahue
FEATURING
*Kevin R. Free: DOCTOR FRANS
*Seann Gallagher: GREGOR
*Liz Sklar: SOFIE
*John William Watkins: WINK
* Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association
WHEN
Thursday, June 13th - Sunday, July 7th
PERFORMANCES
OPENING NIGHT: Tuesday, June 18th, 2019
Evenings
Tuesday - Sunday, 7:30pm
Matinees
Sunday (Preview) June 16, 4pm
Thursday (Perspectives) June 27, 1pm
Saturdays, June 15, 22, 29 and July 6, 2pm
Sundays June 23, 30, and July 7, 2pm
WHERE
397 Miller Ave | Mill Valley, CA 94941
ABOUT
Sofie is an unhappy housewife. Gregor is her breadwinning husband. Dr. Franz is their strange psychiatrist. Wink is the cat. And Gregor has just skinned the cat. Violent desires, domestic anarchy, and feline vengeance at any cost make Wink a dark comedy about the thin, thin line between savagery and civilization.
Tickets $25 - $70
Discounts for seniors, under 30, teens, military families, and teachers are available.
Group Discounts: Purchase 8 or more tickets and receive a $7 discount off each ticket. MTC will also waive any applicable order fees. As the organizer of a group, your ticket is free! Contact the Box Office for more details.
Press Photos will be available for Wink on Friday, June 14th.
MTC ENGAGEMENT EVENTS
- Young Professionals Night | Pride Night: Since June marks Pride month, the YPN event for Wink will also double as Pride Night! Join us on Wednesday, June 19th for a pre-show reception with wine and snacks, followed by a 7:30pm performance. Not only young professionals, but LGBTQ+ folx and friends are encouraged to attend. No matter where you are in your career path, join us for an evening of theatre and celebration. To make sure all who are interested are able to attend, all day-of sales for this performance (6/19) will be Pay What You Can (PWYC).
- Window on the Work: Join members of MTC’s artistic staff and cast of the show to discuss artistic and production elements of MTC’s production of Wink at 7:00pm on Thursday, June 6th, at the Mill Valley Public Library.
- Perspectives: The third Thursday of each show is the Perspectives matinee performance which includes a pre-show topical lecture. For Wink, the Perspectives matinee is scheduled for Thursday, June 27th, with the pre-show lecture beginning at 12:30pm, and the performance beginning at 1:00pm.
- Pre-Show Discussions: Join members of MTC’s artistic staff to discuss the play, playwright and play’s themes on Wednesdays before the 7:30pm performances.
- After Words: Join a member of MTC’s artistic staff (often with one or more members of the cast) for a Q&A talkback after every performance, except Saturday evenings and Opening and Closing Nights.
ACCESS
Marin Theatre Company provides open captioned performances of each of the plays in our mainstage series on the Thursday matinee. The open captioned performance for Wink will be Thursday, June 27th, at 1:00pm.
For visually impaired patrons, Large Print playbills are available with one week’s advance notice. To request a Large Print playbill, call MTC’s Box Office, (415) 388-5208, or use the California Telecommunications Relay Service by dialing “711.” For hearing impaired patrons, amplified sound Assistive Listening Devices are available. Our system will also work with personal assistive hearing devices equipped with a T-coil.
BOX OFFICE CONTACT
marintheatre.org | (415) 388-5208 | boxoffice@marintheatre.org
ABOUT MTC
Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area’s premier mid-sized theatre and the leading professional theatre in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season focused on new American plays. We are committed to the development and production of new plays, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes productions of world premieres, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards and readings and workshops by the nation’s best emerging and established playwrights. Our numerous education programs serve more than 4,500 students from over 40 Bay Area schools each year. MTC strives to create intimate, powerful and emotional experiences that engage audiences to discuss new ideas and adopt a broader point of view. We believe in taking risks and inspiring people to participate in live theatre, regardless of personal means. MTC celebrates the intellectual curiosity of our community, and we believe that theatre is an important tool to help build empathy. MTC was founded in 1966 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
PRESS CONTACT
Kate Robinson, Director of Ticketing and Communications Associate
(415) 322-6029 | kater@marintheatre.org
####