Four-Time Tony Winner BOYD GAINES Leads Cast of George Street Playhouse’s Our Town

Four-Time Tony Winner BOYD GAINES

Leads Cast of George Street Playhouse’s Our Town

April 22 – May 25

Most Lauded Broadway Leading Man Returns to New Brunswick;

Reunites With Driving Miss Daisy Director David Esbjornson

New Brunswick, NJ – He’s got more Tony Awards than any man on Broadway – and has been nominated in every possible category.  He’s Boyd Gaines, and George Street Playhouse just announced that he will play the starring role of the Stage Manager in their 40th Season-ending production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.  He is reunited with director David Esbjornson, who helmed the recent Broadway revival of Driving Miss Daisy, in which Mr. Gaines played both in New York and London.  Besides marking the New Brunswick theatre’s 40th season, and the75th anniversary of the premiere of Our Town, this production also marks the inaugural production of a landmark collaboration between George Street Playhouse and Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.  Mr. Esbjornson serves as head of the theatre program there, and graduating MFA candidates will be cast alongside seasoned professionals as part of this partnership.

“I am so pleased to welcome Boyd back to George Street,” said GSP Artistic Director David Saint.  “He’s an extraordinary talent, and I couldn’t be more pleased that he is a part of this very special production in our 40th season. “

The villagers of the mythical Grover’s Corners alight on the New Brunswick stage beginning April 22 and continue through May 25.  Opening night is set for Friday, April 25.  Tickets, beginning at $20, are available through the George Steet Playhouse Box Office 732-246-7717 or online at www.GSPonline.org.  George Street Playhouse is located at 9 Livingston Avenue, in the heart of New Brunswick’s vibrant downtown, with dining for every taste and budget.

Boyd Gaines  Returns to George Street Playhouse after playing the harried dog owner in A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia in 2010.  His Broadway credits include: An Enemy of the People, The Columnist, Driving Miss Daisy (Broadway and London), Gypsy (Tony, Drama Desk Awards), Pygmalion, Journey's End (Tony nominee; Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards), Twelve Angry Men, Contact (Tony, Lucille Lortel Awards), Cabaret, The Show Off, She Loves Me (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards), Company, The Heidi Chronicles (Tony Award). Off-Broadway: Bach at Leipzig, Major Barbara, The Shawl, Comedy of Errors, The Extra Man, The Maderati, The Winter's Tale, Barbarians, A Month in the Country (Theatre World Award). Regional: Williamstown, Westport Playhouse, Yale Rep, Center Stage, Long Wharf, Guthrie, Kennedy Center. Film: Robber Barons of Wall Street, Funny Games, Lovely by Surprise, Second Best, I'm Not Rappaport, Heartbreak Ridge, The Sure Thing, Porky's, Fame. TV: Angela's Eyes, The Confession, Piece of Cake, One Day at a Time, Frasier, Law & Order. Training: Juilliard.

David Esbjornson’s work as a director includes the Broadway debut and London West End production of Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry with Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones, and Boyd Gaines, and a five-city tour in Australia with Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones, and Boyd Gaines.  He recently directed Edward Albee’s Lady From Dubuque--the inaugural production of the new Signature Theater Space, Measure for Measure for Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theatre, the world premiere of Appomatox by Christopher Hampton at the Guthrie Theater, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller with Harris Yulin for the Gate Theatre in Dublin, the premiere of Molly Ivins: Red Hot Patriot by Allison and Margaret Engels, starring Kathleen Turner at Philadelphia Theatre Company, the Geffen Playhouse and Arena Stage, Abigail 1702 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacaso at NY Stage and Film, the American premieres of Moira Buffini’s Dinner at Bay Street Theatre and Gabriel with Lisa Emery and Zach Grenier for the Atlantic Theater Company, where he also directed the world premiere of Peter Parnell’s Trumpery with Michael Christopher.

Esbjornson directed the highly acclaimed production of Hamlet at Theatre for a New Audience with Christian Camargo. Other recent productions are Bill Cain’s Equivocation at the Geffen Playhouse, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at Boston’s Huntington Theatre and The Great Gatsby, which inaugurated the new Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.  Esbjornson has helmed four “Fund for New American Plays” world premieres including Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and the first staged presentation of Perestroika by Tony Kushner at the Eureka Theatre, Another Part of the House (after Lorca) by Migdalia Cruz at CSC, the trilogy New Music by novelist Reynolds Price at Cleveland Play House, and José Rivera’s Street of the Sun at Mark Taper Forum.

Esbjornson received the London What’s On Stage Award for Best Revival-“Driving Miss Daisy”, “OBIE Awards for “Hamlet” and “Therese Raquin”, Lucille Lortel Awards for “Entertaining Mr. Sloane” and for “Body of Work” at Classic Stage Company, a Los Angeles Ovation Award for “Equivocation”, Seven Bay Area Critics' Awards for “Angels in America”, Seven Ct. Critics Circle Awards for “Dealer’s Choice”, Friends of NY- Best Directing Award for “Ride Down Mt. Morgan”, Drama Desk nominations for ”Lady From Dubuque”, “Endgame” and “Iphigenia and Other Daughters”, Cab Callaway nomination for “Normal Heart” The Minneapolis Star Tribune Production of the Year for “Summer and Smoke” the 1989 TCG/NEA Directing Fellowship, the NYTW New Director’s Project/production--Farmyard, the Quinn Martin Honorary Chair at University of California San Diego, and a Distinguished Alumni citation from Gustavus Adolphus College.  Esbjornson holds an M.F.A. from New York University (Seidman Award for Excellence in Directing).

Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint, George Street Playhouse has become a nationally recognized theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. Founded in 1974, the Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway – recent productions include the Outer Critics’ Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger, the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill and the recent Broadway hit and Tony® and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. In addition to its mainstage season, GSP’s Touring Theatre features four issue-oriented productions that are seen by more than 40,000 students annually. George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.  Our Town is made possible through the generous support of The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, David Greene and media sponsor Greater Media Radio WMGQ-FM and WCTC-AM.