By Mark Rylance & Louis Jenkins
Drawn from the words of Louis Jenkins
Directed by Claire van Kampen
Starring Kayli Carter, Bob Davis, Louis Jenkins, Jim Lichtscheidl, & Mark Rylance
On a lake in frozen Minnesota, the ice is beginning to creak and groan. It’s the end of the fishing season, and two men are out on the ice one last time, angling for answers to life’s larger questions. A play woven together from the acclaimed prose poems of Louis Jenkins, Nice Fish reflects nature with a wry surreality. As Jenkins writes, they “are after something big, something down there that is pure need, something that, had it the wherewithal, would swallow them whole.”
@americanrep #NiceFishART
There is no guarantee that standing room will be available for sold-out performances however, if it becomes available a limited number of standing room tickets may be sold in person for select shows on the day of each show at 12 noon. The number of standing room tickets will not be known in advance of the ticket services office opening at 12PM. There may not be any standing room tickets sold for the final weekend. Please call our Ticket Services office with any ticket related questions at 617.547.8300. Hours are: Tuesday-Sunday, Noon-5PM.
Need to know
This production contains loud noises and flashing lights.
Please plan to arrive early. Latecomers and re-admittance will be seated at the discretion of House Management. In particular, patrons seated in rows BB-HH will not be able to be sat in their seats after the start of the show.
Read more
Click here to read more about the show in our winter Guide.
Click here to read the show’s program.
Read these blog posts to learn more about the production:
A Long Way From Home
by Louis Jenkins
Ice Fishing: An Interview with Mark Rylance
Interview by Robert Duffley
Frozen: Or the (N)ice Fish(es) of Louis Jenkins & Mark Rylance
by Christina Davis
Notable dates
ASL Dates
Feb. 2, 7:30PM – Feb. 6 at 2PM
Audio Described Dates
Feb. 4, 7:30PM – Feb. 7, 2PM
Open Captioned
Jan. 28, 7:30PM – Jan. 31, 2PM
Age Appropriateness
Recommended for grades 9 and up.
Though couched in a familiar real-life setting, the play’s heightened, imagistic language and mythological undertones make this a surreal theater experience appropriate for experienced and first time theatergoing teens alike.
Discussions
Post-performance discussions with the cast and creative team will follow matinee performances on:
Jan. 23, Jan. 27, Jan. 30, Feb. 3, Feb. 6
Explore
![Nice Fish Production Photos [A.R.T.] 14 items](https://american-rep-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/0708_160116_ARTNiceFishDress-1067x1600.jpg){kind=link}
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![Nice Fish Production Photos [A.R.T.] 14 items](https://american-rep-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/0808_160116_ARTNiceFishDress-2000x1316.jpg){kind=link}
![Nice Fish Production Photos [A.R.T.] 14 items](https://american-rep-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/0269_160116_ARTNiceFishDress-2000x1333.jpg){kind=link}
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![Nice Fish Production Photos [A.R.T.] 14 items](https://american-rep-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/0394_160116_ARTNiceFishDress-2000x1333.jpg){kind=link}
![Nice Fish Production Photos [A.R.T.] 14 items](https://american-rep-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/0764_160116_ARTNiceFishDress-2000x1333.jpg){kind=link}
![Nice Fish Production Photos [A.R.T.] 14 items](https://american-rep-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/156_160131_ARTNiceFish-2000x1333.jpg){kind=link}
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![Nice Fish Rehearsal [Guthrie Theater] 5 items](https://american-rep-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Mark at Guthrie.jpeg){kind=link}
![Nice Fish Rehearsal [Guthrie Theater] 5 items](https://american-rep-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Mark at Guthrie 2.jpeg){kind=link}
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Press
Credits
Creative team
Cast
Flo
Kayli Carter
Flo
Kayli Carter
A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: Machinal (Irene Ryan nomination), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Spring Awakening, SCAD. Workshops: The Aeneid. TV/Film: “Z” (Amazon, Dir. Tim Blake Nelson), “Rings” (Paramount, Dir. F. Javier Gutiérrez). Performing Arts BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design.
The DNR Man
Bob Davis
The DNR Man
Bob Davis
A.R.T.: Debut. Regional: The Crucible, Othello, Nice Fish, dozens more, Guthrie Theater (26 seasons since 1987); Richard III (Richard III, Star Tribune Best Performance), Ten Thousand Things; Betrayal, Sylvia, Jungle Theater; Peter Pan, Children’s Theatre; Sherlock Holmes, Park Square Theatre; The Foreigner, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres; Mixed Blood; New Classic; Actors Theatre of St. Paul; Cricket Theatre; Illusion Theater; Pasadena Playhouse. TV/Film: Factotum, A Simple Plan, Trauma, “Algo’s FACTory.” Awards: McKnight Fellowship, Lunt- Fontanne Fellowship.
Wayne
Louis Jenkins
Wayne
Louis Jenkins
A.R.T.: Debut. Louis Jenkins has been writing and publishing poetry for more than 50 years, and most of this poetry was written in Duluth, Minnesota, Mr. Jenkins' home for the last 45 years. His most recent books are Tin Flag: New and Selected Prose Poems and Before You Know It: Prose Poems 1970- 2005, both published by Will o’ the Wisp Books.
Erik
Jim Lichtscheidl
Erik
Jim Lichtscheidl
A.R.T.: Debut. International: Tiny Kushner, Tricycle Theatre, London. Regional: The Miser, Berkeley Rep, Alley Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Theatre de la Jeune Lune; Santaland Diaries, Portland Center Stage; The 39 Steps, Arizona Theatre Company; Love’s Labour's Lost, Actors Theatre of Louisville; over 30 productions with the Guthrie Theater including Uncle Vanya, Peer Gynt, Side Man, Merrily We Roll Along, Arms and the Man, Clybourne Park, and Nice Fish. Film: A Serious Man, Best Man Down, Factotum.
-380x400.jpeg "mark rylance headshot (credit steve pyke).jpeg")
Ron
Mark Rylance
-150x150.jpeg "mark rylance headshot (credit steve pyke).jpeg")
Ron
Mark Rylance
Mark Rylance played the title role of Hamlet and Treplev in The Seagull at A.R.T. in 1991. In addition to the A.R.T. production, he has played Hamlet over 400 times in his life: in high school at age 16, at The RSC at age 28, and at The Globe at age 40. His most recent credit is King Philippe V in Farinelli and the King by Claire van Kampen in London’s West End, first seen at Shakespeare’s Globe. Other recent theater includes Ron in Nice Fish at the Guthrie Theater in 2013; Countess Olivia in Twelfth Night and Richard III at Shakespeare’s Globe, in the West End, and on Broadway in 2013; and Johnny “Rooster” Byron in Jerusalem at the Royal Court, in the West End, and on Broadway in 2011. Other West End/ Broadway performances have included La Bête (Valère), and Boeing Boeing (Robert). His first play, I Am Shakespeare, premiered in 2007 at the Chichester Festival Theatre and was published in 2012. He has appeared at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, the Bush, The Tricycle, Shared Experience, Theatre for a New Audience, and for his own companies, The London Theatre of Imagination (LTI) and Phoebus Cart. He was the Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre from 1996-2006. Rylance’s most recent film roles include Bridge of Spies; the upcoming BFG; Wolf Hall on PBS and the BBC; The Gunman; and We Are Many. Other film work includes Days and Nights; Anonymous; The Government Inspector; The Grass Arena; Love Lies Bleeding; Intimacy; Angels and Insects; Nocturne; and Institute Benjamenta. He trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1978-1980) under Hugh Cruttwell, and is an honorary bencher of the Middle Temple Hall in London; trustee of The Shakespearean Authorship Trust; an ambassador of SURVIVAL, the movement for tribal peoples; and a patron of PEACE DIRECT.