Squash
The Flea presents a festival of plays celebrating A.R. Gurney. Two world-premiere A.R. Gurney one-acts will play simultaneously in the Flea, utilizing both the upstairs and downstairs theaters.
In Squash, A professor of classic literature finds himself questioning his identity when a student presents an intriguing take on Plato’s Symposium. Boundaries are tested and personal lives are upended as teacher and student grapple with sexuality, love, and sport.
Featuring:
Dan Amboyer, Nicole Lowrance, & Rodney Richardson
BIOS
A.R. (“Pete”) Gurney was born in 1930 in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Williams College in 1952, served as an officer in the Navy, and afterwards attended the Yale School of Drama. For many years he taught literature at M.I.T., but moved to New York in 1982 to devote more time to writing for the theatre. He has won a fair amount of awards during his career, and is now a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and is a 2016 recipient of the Obie Lifetime Achievement Award. Gurney has been married to his wife Molly for 59 years. They have four children and eight grandchildren, and now live in Roxbury, Connecticut and New York City.
Stafford Arima was nominated for an Olivier Award for his direction of the West End premiere of the musical, Ragtime, and he recently directed the Broadway production of Allegiance. Upcoming: Poster Boy (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Selected work includes: Altar Boyz (received the Best Musical Outer Critics Circle Award, was nominated for a Drama Desk for Outstanding Musical), Carrie (Off-Broadway revival; nominated for 5 Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Revival of a Musical and an Outer Critics nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Musical; MCC Theater); The Secret Garden (David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center); Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living In Paris (Stratford Shakespeare Festival); Total Eclipse (TSP Theatre, Toronto); The Tin Pan Alley Rag (nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award as Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, Roundabout Theatre Company); Candide (San Francisco Symphony); Marry Me a Little (Cincinnati Playhouse); and Abyssinia (Goodspeed Musicals). Arima graduated from York University (Toronto) and is an Adjunct Professor at UC Davis. He serves as Artistic Advisor for the Broadway Dreams Foundation and is a proud member of SDC.
Dan Amboyer (Dan Proctor) played Thad Weber on the first two seasons of Darren Star’s hit TV series “Younger,” and will now appear as twin brother Chad in the upcoming third season. Theatre: David Ives’ premiere of The Metromaniacs (Shakespeare Theatre, dir. Michael Kahn), Orlando in As You Like It, Bertram in Inherit the Wind (both helmed by Adrian Noble) Henry VII in Richard III (dir. Lindsay Posner) all at the Old Globe, seasons at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Film/TV: Starred as Prince William in Hallmark’s William & Catherine: A Royal Romance, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Love the Coopers, CBS’ “Untitled John Cusack Pilot,” “Benders,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” “Person of Interest,” “Unforgettable,” “Body of Proof,” “Graceland,” “Law & Order,” “All My Children.” He is a founding member of Exit, Pursued By a Bear (artistic director Ed Iskandar), and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama. Social media: @DanAmboyer.
Nicole Lowrence (Becky) Broadway: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (u/s), Dividing the Estate. International: The Merchant of Venice (Royal Shakespeare Company). Off-Broadway: Permission (MCC); Middle of the Night (Keen Company); Peter and the Starcatcher (New World Stages); The Merchant of Venice, All’s Well That Ends Well, Engaged, Don Juan (Theatre for a New Audience); Columbinus (New York Theater Workshop). Regional: Disgraced (Long Wharf, Huntington Theater Co.) O.P.C. (American Repertory Theater); Oleanna/Speed-the-Plow (in rep) (ATC); Bedroom Farce, Beyond Therapy, David Copperfield (Westport Country Playhouse); Steel Magnolias, The 39 Steps (Cape May Playhouse) Curse of the Starving Class (ACT); The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue (Hartford Stage); Romeo and Juliet (Folger Theatre); Hamlet, The Little Foxes (Shakespeare Theatre Company). TV: “Law & Order,” “Whoopi,” “Guiding Light,” “American Masters.” She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
Rodney Richardson (Gerald Caskey) THEATRE: The Tempest (The Public/Delacorte – Dir. Michael Greif), Pulse (The Guthrie – Dir. Marcela Lorca),The Broken Record (New York Fringe Festival). TV/FILM: Cubby (Dir. Ben Mankoff), Sex, Drugs, & Rock & Roll (FX), The Good Wife(CBS), Three Sisters Film Project, The Instrumentalist, Kings to You. MFA, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.
TWO CLASS ACTS in one night!
Squash will play in our upstairs theater andAjax will perform in our downstairs space.Squash will play once each night, and Ajaxwill play twice to allow patrons to attend both shows in the same evening. We strongly encourage patrons to see both plays in the same night.
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