SENSE AND SENSIBILITY Plays Milwaukee Rep, 12/11-1/13

From the author of Pride and Prejudice comes this heartwarming, humorous tale of two sisters struggling to move past a family disaster. Sensible, reserved Elinor and passionate, impulsive Marianne find the road to true love beset with dashing suitors and well-meaning relatives, devoted friends and devious rivals, and scandalous secrets and unexpected twists in a period-perfect adaptation that captures all of the deliciousness, flirtation and folly of Jane Austen's well-loved novel. 

Mark Healy has adapted the play from the book by Austen. Making his Rep debut, Art Manke will direct the play. The cast features Associate Artists Jonathan Gillard Daly and Laura Gordon, and guest actors John-Patrick Driscoll, Nick Gabriel, Kate Hurster, Ben Jacoby, Victoria Mack and Meaghan Sullivan. Rep Artistic Intern Ensemble Members Jonathan Altman, Emily Berman, Jess Prichard and J.R. Yancher are featured in the Ensemble as well as Anna Cline and Brandon Herr.

The Associate Producers for this production are Steve and Nancy Einhorn and James and Pati Ericson. Sense and Sensibility runs in The Rep's Quadracci Powerhouse from December 11, 2012 – January 13, 2013 and opens on Friday, December 14, 2012.

"Sense and Sensibility is my favorite of Jane Austen's wonderful works," says Artistic Director Mark Clements. "I love the relationship between the two sisters – their contrasts, their journeys, their growth throughout – and how this 200-year-old story still resonates. We all fall in love, we all have our hearts broken, we all go through periods where our lives are suddenly turned upside-down, and Austen's beautiful prose manages to get right to the heart of those moments and makes us feel and say 'wow, I know that, I felt that, I understand that.'"

"Our production of Sense and Sensibility features a bravura Acting Company – with most playing multiple roles – to bring all of Jane Austen's multiple characters to life," added director Art Manke. "The design is a feast for the senses, with the scenery based on the Picturesque Art movement of the time that featured crumbling, antique architecture in lush natural gardens. The costumes are sumptuous period pieces, all set to swirling movement with an original musical score. Sense and Sensibility is the perfect holiday treat: a classic story that appeals to all ages, filled with songs, dances and plenty of romance and comedy."

Written in the closing few years of the 18th Century, Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen's earliest full-length novel and was published in 1811 in London. All six of Austen's completed novels have been adapted a number of times for film, television and the stage. Mark Healy's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility premiered at Northcott Theatre, Exeter, England on March 16, 2001; it was commissioned and directed by Ben Crocker.

THE CAST
Jonathan Altman (Ensemble) is a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble and has been seen this season in The Rep's productions of The Diary of Anne Frank and Assassins; Emily Berman (Ensemble), is also a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble who just appeared as Margot Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank; she is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan; Anna Cline (Ensemble) is making her Milwaukee Rep debut with this production; she recently received her BFA in Musical Theatre from Western Illinois University where she received three Irene Ryan nominations and went on to win "Best Ensemble Work" and "Best Comedy Acting" at the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival; Jonathan Gillard Daly (Henry/Carey/Sir John/Dr. Grogan), a Rep Associate Artist, was most recently seen on the Quadracci Powerhouse stage as Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank; other roles include The Proprietor in Assassins and Heck Tate in To Kill a Mockingbird, among many others; Daly is also a founding member of the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN; John-Patrick Driscoll (John Dashwood/Colonel Brandon), returns to The Rep after being an acting intern during the 02/03 Season; he was most recently seen as MacDuff in Shakespeare Theatre of Rhode Island's production of Macbeth and as Boo Radley and Mr. Gilmer in To Kill a Mockingbird at Arkansas Repertory Theatre; Nick Gabriel (Edward Ferrars/Robert Ferrars) is a member of the Core Acting Company at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco; he received his MFA from ACT and serves on the faculties of all five educational programs offered by the institution; Laura Gordon, a Rep Associate Artist, was most recently seen as Mrs. Frank in The Rep's The Diary of Anne Frank; she has performed in over 75 productions at The Rep including Death of a Salesman, The Lady with All the Answers, Pride and Prejudice, Enchanted April, The Crucible and Doubt, among many others; Brandon Herr (Ensemble), making his Rep debut, is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with his BA in Theater Arts with a concentration in Acting; recent productions there include Cloud Nine, MacBeth, Much Ado About Nothing, All My Sons and Hamlet; Kate Hurster (Elinor Dashwood) is also making her Rep debut; credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Denver Center Theater Company and Lantern Theater, among others; she received her MFA in Acting from Swarthmore College; Ben Jacoby (Willoughby), makes his Rep debut with this production; credits include The Glass Menagerie, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Hamlet, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Les Miserables at the Utah Shakespeare Festival; Victoria Mack (Marianne Dashwood), also making her Rep debut, was seen on Broadway in Venus In Fur (Vanda understudy); Off-Broadway credits include: A Little Journey (Drama Desk nomination, Best Revival), The Truth About Blayds, Mr. Pim Passes By and Far and Wide at the Mint Theater and Flight at the Lucille Lortel Theatre; film credits include The Stare, Atlantis and A Song in the Shell. TV: The Good Wife, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and MTV; Meaghan Sullivan (Fanny/Lady Middleton/Lucy), a Chicago native, received her BFA in acting from the University of Illinois and an MFA in acting from the University of Delaware's PTTP; regionally she has worked at Delaware REP, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Texas Shakespeare Festival; she is a proud alum of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble; Jess Prichard (Ensemble), a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble who just appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank, completed his MFA in Acting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Prichard has been a touring company member with Imago Theatre as well as a professional clown; he has also spent two summers with Associate Artist Jonathan Gillard Daly at the Great River Shakespeare Festival; J.R. Yancher (Ensemble), a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble, was just seen in The Rep's production of Assassins as James Blaine and in the Chorus as well as in the Ensemble in The Diary of Anne Frank; he is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts.

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