THE METAL CHILDREN Review Quotes

“COMPELLING! Billy Crudup is excellent.” -John Lahr, The New Yorker “ADAM RAPP’S MOST AMBITIOUS WORK YET! SHARPLY FUNNY, BRAVE AND WHOLLY LIKEABLE!” –Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post “GRIPPING!   A riveting piece of theatre that delves into our country’s passionate extremes.” –Matt Windman, AM New York “AN ENGROSSING NEW PLAY! Billy Crudup delivers a wonderfully […]

“COMPELLING!

Billy Crudup is excellent.”

-John Lahr, The New Yorker

“ADAM RAPP’S MOST AMBITIOUS WORK YET! SHARPLY FUNNY, BRAVE AND WHOLLY LIKEABLE!”

Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post

“GRIPPING!

  A riveting piece of theatre that delves into our country’s passionate extremes.”

Matt Windman, AM New York

“AN ENGROSSING NEW PLAY!

Billy Crudup delivers a wonderfully vivid, nuanced performance.”

Dan Bacalzo, Theatermania

“‘THE METAL CHILDREN’ IS COMPELLING! THE CAST IS SPLENDID.”

Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg News

“THRILLING! RAPP RETURNS WITH A VENGEANCE!

Keeps audiences guessing and enthralled. Crudup’s performance is magnetic. ‘Metal Children’ is smart, literate and adult — the perfect antidote to the Broadway season.”

Mark Peikert, New York Press

“PROVOCATIVE AND INTRIGUING!

Mr. Crudup delivers a keenly felt, dryly funny performance.”

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“MOVING! GRIPPING!

The cast is especially impressive.”

David Sheward, Backstage

“A RIVETING RIDE! THIS STORY KICKS ASS!

Outstanding performances from a fantastic cast. It’s smart, witty, thought-provoking and modern — YOU’LL REALLY DIG IT!”

Molly Marinik, Theatre Is Easy

“A FUN RIDE!

An A-plus ensemble in an elegant production.”

Elyse Sommer, CurtainUp

“RAPP’S BEST PLAY YET!

A superb cast, anchored by a magnificent performance from Billy Crudup.”

Edward Karam, OffOffOnline

“AN EXEMPLARY PRODUCTION!

Crudup delivers a tour-de-force performance.”

Michael Criscuolo, NYTheatre.com

Artists

Henry Russell Bergstein, CSA

(Casting Director) Vineyard Theatre: GOOD GRIEF, THE AMATEURS, HARRY CLARKE, THE LYONS (and Broadway), GLORIA (and Goodman), DOT, THE LANDING, CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?, KID VICTORY (and Signature DC), TOO MUCH SUN, BILLY & RAY, SOMEWHERE FUN, THE NORTH POOL, ARLINGTON, OUTSIDE PEOPLE, CHECKERS, PICKED, MIDDLETOWN, THE METAL CHILDREN, WIG OUT!. Other theater: KPOP, SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, NATASHA, PIERRE, & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812; THE WILDNESS (Ars Nova). Sundance Theatre Lab: 5 seasons. Television: US Casting for “Black Mirror,” Comedy Central’s “The Other Two” with Allison Estrin, HBO’s “Succession” and Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” with Douglas Aibel. Film: Saturday Church, It Felt Like Love, Easy Living; with Douglas Aibel – Grandma, Love After Love, How to Talk to Girls at Parties; with Allison Estrin – Spider-Man: Homecoming (NY Casting). Also: “Homecoming The Podcast” S1-2.

Erin Kennedy Lunsford

(Wig and Makeup Design) Adam Rapp’s FINER NOBLE GASES and ESSENTIAL SELF DEFENSE. Recently: LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE (Westside Theater), THE DUCHESS OF MALFI (Red Bull), ORLANDO (Yale School of Drama), THAT PRETTY PRETTY… (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), JERRY SPRINGER- THE OPERA (at Carnegie Hall), WALMARTOPIA (Minetta Lane). Her work has also been seen in NY at Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theatre Company, The Flea, MCC, The MINT, Atlantic Theatre Company, Second Stage, Century Center, Primary Stages, The Acting Company and Columbia University, among others. Regional: New York Stage & Film, Westport Playhouse, Philadelphia Theater Company, Two Rivers, Syracuse Stages and The University of Michigan Opera. She is also a Hair Supervisor on Broadway, currently with Enron.

Jessica Pabst

(Costume Design) Vineyard Theatre: Can You Forgive Her?, Somewhere Fun, The Metal Children. Broadway: Marvin’s Room, The Heidi Chronicles. Recent Off-Broadway: A Life, Rancho Viejo, The Profane, Marjorie Prime, The Whale (Lucille Lortel Award, Playwrights Horizons); The Ruins of Civilization, When We Were Young and Unafraid, Murder Ballad (MTC); The Harvest (LCT3); Sundown Yellow Moon (Ars Nova/Women’s Project); The Nether (MCC); Fortress of Solitude (The Public). Regional: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Long Wharf, Two River, Dallas Theatre Center, Children’s Theatre Company, and Center Theatre Group.

David Korins

(Set Designer) B’way: LOMBARDI, PASSING STRANGE, BRIDGE AND TUNNEL. New York: THE METAL CHILDREN (Vineyard Theatre), WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING (Lortel Nomination), STUNNING (Lincoln Center Theater); THE MARRIAGE OF BETTE AND BOO (Roundabout); THE WIZ (City Center); THE RECEPTIONIST, PUMPGIRL, ROMANTIC POETRY (MTC); HAMLET (Delacorte); WHY TORTURE IS WRONG… (Drama Desk & Hewes Awards, Lortel Nomination), PASSING STRANGE, YELLOW FACE (Public Theater); JACK GOES BOATING (LAByrinth, Lortel & Drama Desk Nominations); THE DRUNKEN CITY, FLOYD AND CLEA…, MISS WITHERSPOON (Playwrights Horizons); FARRAGUT NORTH (Atlantic); BLACKBIRD (Hewes Award, Drama Desk Nomination); ORANGE FLOWER WATER (Edge Theater, Drama Desk Nomination); ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE (Playwrights Horizons/Edge Theater, Drama Desk Nomination); SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS (Second Stage, Lortel Nomination). Regional: THE PEE WEE HERMAN SHOW (Club Nokia); CTG, The Huntington, Old Globe, ACT, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geffen Playhouse, Berkeley Rep., Santa Fe Opera, Alliance Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, The Guthrie, and Toho Tokyo. 2009 Obie Award For Sustained Excellence in Design. www.davidkorinsdesign.com

Adam Rapp

(Playwright and Director) An Obie-award-winning playwright and director. He is the author of numerous plays, which include THE METAL CHILDREN (Vineyard Theatre), NOCTURNE (American Repertory Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop), FASTER (Rattlestick), ANIMALS & PLANTS (A.R.T.), FINER NOBLE GASES (26th Humana Festival, Rattlestick), STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS (A.R.T., Edge Theatre), BLACKBIRD (The Bush, London; Edge Theatre), GOMPERS, (Pittsburgh City Theatre), ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE (Playwrights Horizons/Edge Theatre), AMERICAN SLIGO (Rattlestick), BINGO WITH THE INDIANS (The Flea), KINDNESS (Playwrights Horizons), and RED LIGHT WINTER (Steppenwolf, Scott Rudin Productions at Barrow Street Theatre), which was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has published seven novels for young adults, including The Buffalo Tree (Front Street Books, 1997), which was struck from the curriculum at Muhlenberg High School in Reading, Pennsylvania in 2005, and Punkzilla (Candlewick Press, 2009), which was recently named a 2010 Michael J. Printz Honor Book. He is also the author of the adult novel, The Year Of Endless Sorrows (Farrar Strauss & Giroux, 2006), and the graphic novel, Ball-Peen Hammer (First Second Books, 2009). His playwriting honors include The Helen Merrill Award, The 2006 Princess Grace Statue, a Lucille Lortel Playwright’s Fellowship, and The Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This summer he will direct a workshop production of his new play, WELCOME HOME DEAN CHARBONNEAU, at Seattle Rep.

Phoebe Strole

(Vera Dundee) Broadway: SPRING AWAKENING. Off-Broadway: SPRING AWAKENING, THE METAL CHILDREN (Vineyard Theatre), MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA. Regional: GIRLS I’VE LIKE LIKED (Ars Nova and Comedy Central Stage), A DIFFERENT MOON (Penguin Rep), EVITA (Casa Mañana), SMILE (NYU), SEX AKA WIENERS AND BOOBS (NYU). Film: Hamlet 2, My One and Only. TV: “Mercy”, Sorority Wars, “30 Rock”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, “Stella”, “Rescue Me”. Thank you Dad, Estelle, Genn & Stephanie.

Jessy Hodges

(Cooper/Nurse/Porky Pig Boy) NY Stage: THE METAL CHILDREN (Vineyard Theatre), THE GREAT RECESSION at the Flea Theatre, MISERY AND GOOD FORTUNE at HERE Arts, and most recently, a workshop of GILGAMESH’S GAME with New Georges. Jessy is a series regular on the award-winning webseries “Anyone But Me” and can be seen online with sketch comedy group BriTANick. Training: Experimental Theatre Wing at Tisch, NYU.

Halley Wegryn Gross

(Kong/Tami Lake/Boy X) Off-Broadway: THE METAL CHILDREN (Vineyard Theatre), THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, HURLYBURLY, TRUE LOVE, STEALING SWEETS AND PUNCHING PEOPLE (SPF). Regional: GREAT FALLS (Humana Festival). Film: Across the Universe, The Babysitters, The Missing Person, Lying, Leaving Gussie, Beautiful Kid. TV: “The Good Wife”, “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”, “Gossip Girl”, “Third Watch”, “The Book of Daniel”, “The Education of Max Bickford”, “As the World Turns”. Halley has just received her MFA from NYU’s Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.

David Greenspan

(Bruno Binelli/Father Derby) At the Vineyard: Adam Rapp’s THE METAL CHILDREN, Elizabeth Egloff’s PHAEDRA. Other credits: RESCUE ME, THE ROYAL FAMILY, CORALINE, CORNBURY, BEEBO BRINKER CHRONICLES, THE WAX, SAVED OR DESTROYED, LIPSTICK TRACES. Two performance Obies: one for SOME MEN and Goethe’s FAUST, another for THE BOYS IN THE BAND. His own plays: JACK, THE HOME SHOW PIECES and 2 SAMUEL 11, ETC. (Home), DEAD MOTHER (The Public), SHE STOOPS TO COMEDY (Playwrights Horizons, Obie), THE ARGUMENT (Target Margin, Obie), THE MYOPIA (The Foundry), in collaboration with Stephin Merritt: CORALINE (MCC), Guggenheim, Lortel fellowships, Alpert Award.

Billy Crudup

Equally memorable on the stage and screen, Billy Crudup has appeared at Vineyard Theatre in Chiori Miyagawa’s AMERICA DREAMING and Adam Rapp’s THE METAL CHILDREN. On stage, Crudup most recently starred in the repertory productions of NO MAN’S LAND and WAITING FOR GODOT on Broadway, opposite Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Shuler Hensley. In 2007, Crudup won a “Best Performance by a Featured Actor” Tony Award for his role in the Broadway production of THE COAST OF UTOPIA. He also received Tony nominations for his roles in THE ELEPHANT MAN, THE PILLOWMAN, and ARCADIA.

His other stage credits include William Inge’s BUS STOP and the Roundabout Theater’s production of THREE SISTERS, which earned him a Drama Desk nomination. He has appeared in OEDIPUS with Frances McDormand, starred in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of MEASURE FOR MEASURE at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, and starred in the off-Broadway run of THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI opposite Al Pacino and Steve Buscemi.

Crudup most recently starred in Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant and made his television debut in Netflix’s psychological thriller “Gypsy.” Additional major motion pictures include Jackie, 20th Century Women, Spotlight, Youth in Oregon, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Sleepers, Everyone Says I Love You, Inventing the Abbotts, Without Limits, Jesus’ Son, Waking the Dead, Almost Famous, 1 Mile to You, Glass Chin, Rudderless, Blood Ties, Eat Pray Love, Public Enemies, Watchmen, Charlotte Gray, Big Fish, Stage Beauty, Trust the Man, Mission Impossible 3, and The Good Shepherd.

Upcoming, he will appear in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, to debut in November, and will star in the 2018 film adaptation of Maria Semple’s novel, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, alongside Kristen Wiig and Cate Blanchett.

Guy Boyd

(Otto Hurley) Broadway: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (Charlie Akin), ROSE. Off-Broadway: Adam Rapp’s AMERICAN SLIGO, and THE METAL CHILDREN (Vineyard Theatre), ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE, STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS, TRUEBLINKA. Quincy Long’s PEOPLE BE HEARD, THE JOY OF GOING SOMEWHERE DEFINITE, THE LIVELY LADD. Sam Shepard’s THE LATE HENRY MOSS, CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS. Chris Durang’s BETTY’S SUMMER VACATION, THE MARRIAGE OF BETTE AND BOO, SEX AND LONGING. Anne Marie Healy’s NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A STORM. Wm. Hauptman’s HEAT, DOMINO COURTS, THE DURANGO FLASH. Neena Beeber’s HARD FEELINGS. Film: Henry’s Crime, Taking Chance, The Savages, Walker Payne, Blackbird, Streamers (Golden Lion Award, Venice Film Festival) Ticket To Heaven, Sister Act, Jagged Edge, Body Double and others.

Susan Blommaert

(Edith Dundee) Broadway: GREASE (Brooks Atkinson Theatre). Off-Broadway: THE METAL CHILDREN, MARY ROSE and PHAEDRA (Vineyard Theatre), MEASURE FOR PLEASURE and FUCKING A (The Public Theatre), RECKLESS (Circle Repertory Theatre), BLUE WINDOW and THE GILDED CAGE (The Production Company), LAST SUMMER AT BLUEFISH COVE (Actors Playhouse) and TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (Ubu Repertory Company). Last seen Regionally in THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING at Weston Playhouse. TV: “The Good Wife”, “Flight Of The Conchords”, “The Sopranos”, “Law & Order(s)”, “X-Files”, “ER”, etc. Film: Happy Tears, Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond, Doubt, United 93, Kinsey, Personal Velocity, Guarding Tess, Pet Sematary, Edward Scissorhands, and the upcoming The Good Heart.

Connor Barrett

(Stacey Kinsella) Previously worked with Adam Rapp on his play FINER NOBLE GASES (Williamstown, Rattlestick, Woolly Mammoth, Edinburgh Fringe- Fringe First Award, & Bush Theatre in London). Other NY and regional theatre credits include THE METAL CHILDREN (Vineyard Theatre), KITTY KITTY KITTY (SPF), BASED ON A TOTALLY TRUE STORY (Geva), THE CHERRY ORCHARD (McCarter), CAMINO REAL & CHAUCER IN ROME (Williamstown), A LIE OF THE MIND (NYU), THE MARRIAGE OF BETTE AND BOO (NYU), and THE SERPENT WOMAN (NYU). Television/Film: “Rita Rocks”, “Do Not Disturb”, “Guiding Light”, “The Jury”, Two Classy Ladies. Education: BA, Northwestern University and MFA, NYU Graduate Acting. For JMB, MTB, & BMG.

Betsy Aidem

(Lynne/Roberta Cupp) Over the Last 12 Years: THE METAL CHILDREN (Vineyard Theatre), MARY ROSE (Vineyard Theatre), STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS by Adam Rapp (Edge Theater), CELEBRATION and SEA OF TRANQUILITY (Atlantic Theatre Company), CROOKED (WP), THE TRIPLE HAPPINESS (Second Stage), GOOD THING (New Group), BUTTERFLY COLLECTION (Playwrights Horizons), TENDER (SPF), SEVEN (Deauville, London, etc), THE SUGAR SYNDROME and SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH (Williamstown), THE SEAGULL, THE CHERRY ORCHARD and PLATANOV (Lake Lucille). Film and Television: “The Good Wife”, “Nurse Jackie”, “Rescue Me”, “Law & Order” (Law & Order, SVU, CI) etc. Winter Passing, County Road K, Margaret, The Oranges. 2007 Obie for Sustained Excellence of Performance.

Tyler Micoleau

(Lighting Design) Vineyard Theatre: MIDDLETOWN, GOD’S EAR (Jenny Schwartz), and workshops of MY MARRIAGE TO ERNEST BORGNINE (Nicky Silver) and THE METAL CHILDREN (Adam Rapp). With director Ken Rus Schmoll: TELEPHONE (Foundry) and PROSERPINA (Spoleto USA). Recent and notable Off-Broadway credits: THAT FACE, THE ALIENS, WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING (Lucille Lortel Award), BLASTED (American Theatre Wing Hewes Award), HELL HOUSE (Hewes nom.), BUG (Lucille Lortel and OBIE Awards), ORSON’S SHADOW, UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL and MOJO. Regional: Goodman, American Repertory Theatre, Trinity Rep, Old Globe, Dallas Theater Center, Shakespeare Theater, Chautauqua, Long Wharf, among others. 2010 Village Voice OBIE for Sustained Excellence.