GRAND HORIZONS
Regional Premiere of the 2020 Tony Award-nominated comedy
Fifty years into their marriage, Bill and Nancy want a divorce. While they seem unfazed by the decision, their two adult sons are shaken to the core, forced to reexamine everything they thought they knew about their parents’ outwardly happy lives. As the family grapples with their new reality, each must reckon with their own imperfect past and how their collective love for each other might express itself in new and unlikely forms.
“…a clever truth bomb of a play…a terrific comedy…”
“…playwright Bess Wohl nails the [family] genre beautifully with GRAND HORIZONS, which…provides two hours of solid laughs (including some pretty high peaks of riotous guffaws) while quizzically pondering issues of love and marriage.”
“…a supremely funny comedy…GRAND HORIZONS is that rare animal, a smart but crowd-friendly Broadway comedy, one that does not pander to the audience, and finds twisty new paths through familiar pastures.”
“...a punchy, powerhouse comedy about marital malaise, now in a laugh-out-loud, smack-dab-scrumptious performance at The Stage...”
“Once again, San Jose Stage production values are sublime. Then there’s the performances. No doubt the cast and direction is accomplished, with a deeply skilled and experienced team at work. ”
“The cast is very balanced, and the direction is compelling. The result is a good time that still provides much to think about as the lights fade.”
“San Jose Stage Company’s production of ‘Grand Horizons’ [is] an offering infused with honesty revealing itself masterfully within Allison F. Rich’s keen direction...the ensemble truly discovers a higher gear of artistry...”
“Wherever you are in the Bay Area, make the trip to San Jose and see this great show... a great evening out at the theatre.”
CAST
CREATIVES
ALLISON F. RICH | DIRECTOR
ROBERT PICKERING | SCENIC DESIGN
BROOKE JENNINGS | COSTUME DESIGN
MAURICE VERCOUTERE | LIGHTING DESIGN
STEVE SCHOENBECK | SOUND DESIGN
JENN TRAMPENAU | PROPS COORDINATOR
TAZ STAHLNECKER* | STAGE MANAGER
ARTIE PERLAEZ | PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
MORGAN BOHAC | PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
VICTOR KOLBE | PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Antonella Doblanovic | board op
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Bess Wohl’s plays include GRAND HORIZONS (Tony Nominations for Best Play and Best Featured Actress, Broadway, Outer Critics Circle Honor, Drama League Award nom), MAKE BELIEVE (NYTimes Critic Pick, Best of 2019, Outer Critics Circle Honor), CONTINUITY, SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (John Gassner Outer Critics Circle Award, top ten lists in The New York Times, The New York Post, The Guardian and others), AMERICAN HERO, BARCELONA, TOUCHED, IN, CATS TALK BACK and the musical PRETTY FILTHY with composer/lyricist Michael Friedman and The Civilians (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical).
Her plays have been produced or developed at theaters in New York and around the country, including Second Stage, Manhattan Theater Club, Ars Nova, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodman Theater, The Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light and Theatre Company, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Vineyard Arts Project, The Pioneer Theatre, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Northlight Theater, TheaterWorks New Works Fesitval, Ojai Playwright's Conference, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, PlayPenn and the New York International Fringe Festival (Award for Best Overall Production).
In 2015, Bess won the Sam Norkin special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater, and having a breakthrough year.” Other awards and honors include the Athena Award for her screenplay, VIRGINIA, a MacDowell Fellowship, and inclusion on Hollywood’s Black List of Best Screenplays. She is an associate artist with The Civilians, an alumna of Ars Nova’s Play Group, and the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Hartford Stage and Lincoln Center.
She also writes screenplays and has developed multiple original television projects for HBO, ABC, USA, FOX, Disney, Paramount and others. In her previous life as an actress, she appeared onstage in New York and regionally, and in numerous films and TV shows where she has given birth, solved crimes, committed crimes, been wrongly accused, and come back from the dead.
She is a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama.