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The Day Room

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Act I is set in a semi-private hostpital room. Mr. Budge tries to get his new rommate, Mr. Wyatt to talk to him. A series of characters posing as medical staff are gradually revealed to be patients from the neighboring Arlo Klein Psychiatric Wing, known as “The Day Room.” Act II is set in a motel room where the same actors now play different characters. They watch daytime TV, throw food, and search for the elisive Arlo Klein Theatre Company that no one else has seen. Mr. Wyatt becomes a man in a straightjacket who spouts fragments of TV babble as the other characters signal him by remote control. At the end of the play, the scene is changed back to a hospital, and it appears the action will begin again.

Credits

Creative team

By

Don DeLillo

Don DeLillo, author of Valparaiso, was born in New York and attended Fordham University. Since 1971 he has published eleven novels, and he is widely recognized as one of the most distinctive and innovative American writers of our day. His novels include, in chronological order, Americana, End Zone, Great Jones Street, Ratner's Star, Players, Running Dog, White Noise, Libra, Mao II, and the recently published and highly acclaimed Underworld. Libra was adapted by John Malkovich and produced as a play by Steppenwolf Theatre in 1994. Mr. DeLillo's only previous play, The Day Room, was premiered by the American Repertory Theater in 1987, and was published by Knopf.

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Directed by

Michael Bloom

Set design by

Loy Arcenas

Costume design by

Karen Eister

Costume design by

Karen Eister

Costume designer Karen Eister's designs at the American Repertory Theater prior to The Marriage of Bette and Boo include An Evening of Beckett, Beckett Trio, Macbeth; the A.R.T. New Stages productions of Silence, Cunning, ExileThe Lost Boys, Claptrap, Two by Korder, and Mrs. Sorkin Presents … ; and for the A.R.T. New Stages premiere and 1987 mainstage production of The Day Room. Ms. Eister earned her MFA in design at New York University. After several years of freelancing for television, fashion, and theater, she returned to Cambridge, where she has been cutting and draping costumes for the A.R.T.

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Lighting design by

Richard Riddell

Cast

Budge/Arno Klein

Jeremy Geidt

Budge/Arno Klein

Jeremy Geidt

A.R.T. Senior Actor, founding member of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the A.R.T. Yale: more than 40 productions (including The Seagull). A.R.T.: 100 productions including The Seagull (three turns as Sorin), Julius Caesar, Three Sisters, The Onion Cellar, Major Barbara (Undershaft), Heartbreak House (Shotover), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Quince four times, Snug once), Henry IV (Falstaff), Twelfth Night (Toby Belch), The Caretaker (Davies), The Homecoming (Max), Loot (Truscott), Man and Superman (Mendoza/Devil), Waiting for Godot (Vladimir), The Threepenny Opera (Peacham/Petey), Ivanov (Lebedev), Three Sisters (Chebutkin), Buried Child (Dodge), The Cherry Orchard (Gaev) and The King Stag (Pantelone). Teaches at Harvard College, Harvard’s Summer and Extension Schools and at the A.R.T/MXAT Institute. Trained at the Old Vic Theatre School and subsequently taught there. Acted at the Old Vic, Young Vic, The Royal Court, in the West End, in films and television and has been hosting his own show “The Caravan” for the BBC for five years. Came to the U.S. with the satirical revue The Establishment and acted on and off Broadway, at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and at the Lincoln Center Festival. Lectured on Shakespeare in India and the Netherlands Theatre School. Received the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Boston Actor and the Jason Robards Award for Dedication to the Theatre.

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Wyatt/Figure in Straightjacket

Thomas Derrah

Wyatt/Figure in Straightjacket

Thomas Derrah

A.R.T.: 119 productions, including R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Myster) OF THE UNIVERSE (R. Buckminster Fuller), Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), Endgame (Clov), The Seagull (Dorn), Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Birthday Party (Stanley), Highway Ulysses (Ulysses), Uncle Vanya (Vanya), Marat/Sade (Marquis de Sade), Richard II (Richard). Broadway: Jackie: An American Life (23 roles). Off-Broadway: Johan Padan (Johan), Big Time (Ted).  Tours with the Company across the U.S., with residencies in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and throughout Europe, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, Japan and Moscow, and has recently been performing Julius Caesar in France. Other: I Am My Own Wife, Boston TheatreWorks; Approaching Moomtaj, New Repertory Theatre; Twelfth Night and The Tempest, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.; London’s Battersea Arts Center; five productions at Houston’s Alley Theatre, including Our Town (Dr. Gibbs, directed by José Quintero); and many theatres throughout the U.S. Awards: 1994 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, 2000 and 2004 IRNE Awards for Best Actor, 1997 Los Angeles DramaLogue Award (for title role of Shlemiel the First). Television: Julie Taymor’s film Fool’s Fire (PBS American Playhouse), "Unsolved Mysteries," "Del and Alex" (Alex, A&E Network). Film: Mystic River (directed by Clint Eastwood), The Pink Panther II. He is on the faculty of the A.R.T. Institute, teaches acting at Harvard University and Emerson College, and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

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Grass/Freddie

John Bottoms

Grass/Freddie

John Bottoms

Nurse Walker/Lynette

Diane D'Aquila

Nurse Walker/Lynette

Diane D'Aquila

Title role in Dido, Queen of Carthage. A.R.T.:  The King Stag (created the role of Angela), The Changeling (Beatrice-Joanna), Gillette (Brenda), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Stepdaughter), Love's Labour's Lost (Rosaline), Robert Wilson's the CIVIL warS (Young Woman) and Alcestis (title role, also toured to France), and the world premiere of Paula Vogel's Hot n' Throbbing (Woman). Associate artist of the Stratford Festival of Canada, credits include: King Lear (Goneril), Antony and Cleopatra (Cleopatra), Richard III (Elizabeth), Romeo and Juliet (Nurse), The Alchemist (Doll Common), Oedipus Rex (Jocasta), King John (Constance), Elizabeth Rex (Elizabeth), The Swanne Parts I, II, and III (Scarecrow). Recipient of 2004 ACTRA for outstanding female performance and 2004 Gemini for best performance by an actress in a televised dramatic program for Elizabeth Rex.

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Dr. Phelps/Gary

Rodney Scott Hudson

Dr. Phelps/Gary

Rodney Scott Hudson

Nurse Baker/Jolene

Carmen Lavallade

Nurse Baker/Jolene

Carmen Lavallade

Dr. Bazelon/Manville

Harry S. Murphy

Dr. Bazelon/Manville

Harry S. Murphy

Harry S. Murphy, who returns to play Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew and Collie Couch in In the Jungle of Cities, spent many seasons at the American Repertory Theater and appeared in over a dozen productions here, including The King Stag, Angel City, Platonov, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, As You Like It, The School for Scandal, Alcestis, The Balcony, Sganarelle, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and The Marriage of Figaro. His Broadway credits include Macbeth, Othello, Big Time, and The Good Times are Killing Me. He also appeared in such musicals as The Boys from Syracuse and Happy End (at the A.R.T ), as well as Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well . . . and Good Sport. Other resident credits include Room Service, Henry V, Hedda Gabler, Phaedre, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night. Mr. Murphy appeared in the feature films Calendar Girl, Eddie Macon's Run, and The Return, and his television credits include Cosby, Law and Order, Spenser for Hire, True Blue, and New York Undercover.

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Orderly/Maid

Gayle Keller

Orderly/Maid

Gayle Keller

Orderly/Desk Clerk

Charles Weinstein

Orderly/Desk Clerk

Charles Weinstein