WILMA THEATER PRESENTS THE CHERRY DOCS PANEL DISCUSSION - MAY 7, MODERATED BY CITY PAPER EDITOR DAVID WARNER
For Immediate Release: April 6, 2000
Contact: Damian J. Sinclair, 215.893.9456 x107
Philadelphia, PA - The Wilma Theater will host a panel discussion about
the U.S. premiere production of CHERRY DOCS on Sunday, May 7 at 7:30pm.
The panel discussion, moderated by City Paper Editor David Warner, will
feature the author of the play David Gow, noted stage and screen star
David Strathairn, who will play the role of Danny in the production and
Jason Field, who will play Danny's opponent, Mike. This discussion will
focus on hate, racism and the skinhead movement in today's society, a
central theme of the play, and will cost $10 for the general public and
$7 for students, seniors and Wilma Subscribers.
CHERRY DOCS follows Mike, a Neo-Nazi skinhead on trial for murder, defended by a Jewish legal-aid lawyer. In this explosive play, David Gow explores the nature of hate. Danny, a lawyer who prides himself on his liberal tolerance, must come to terms with the feelings Mike unearths in him. And Mike's life is suddenly in the hands of a man whom he wishes were dead. As both men reluctantly agree to work together, they realize that more than their beliefs are on the line. In this confrontation, their very lives hang in the balance. CHERRY DOCS asks the simple, but harrowing, question: can we eliminate hate?
David Gow has spent fifteen years in the theater and performing arts. He studied performance at Concordia University and holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Playwriting with studies at the graduate level in psychology from York University. Gow has performed in major theaters across Canada including The National Arts Center, The Centaur, Alberta Theatre Projects, Neptune Theatre, The Blyth Festival and others. He acts regularly in film and television, played the author Donald Ogden Stewart in Mrs. Parker & The Vicious Circle produced by Robert Altman and can be seen as the mathematics teacher, Mr. Potter, in the Children's series My Hometown. Other plays by David Gow include Bea's Niece, The Friedman Family Fortune and The Flight of Peter Pumpkin-eater.
David Strathairn is an accomplished stage and screen actor who previously collaborated with Mr. Zizka on the US premiere of Havel's Temptation at the Public Theater. On the big screen he has appeared in Return of the Secaucus 7, Eight Men Out, Memphis Belle, A League of Their Own, Passion Fish, Sneakers, Lost In Yonkers, The Firm, The River Wild, Dolores Claiborne, LA Confidential, A Map of the World and Limbo. He has developed a great relationship with filmmaker John Sayles, appearing in 7 of his movies. He is also an accomplished stage actor. On Broadway he starred in Ashes, Harold Pinter's most recent play, and was also seen in Einstein & the Polar Bear at the Broadhurst Theater. Off-Broadway and regionally, he has been seen in productions including Hapgood, Lie of the Mind, Salonika, The Tempest, A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Boys Next Door, A Doll's House, I'm Not Rappaport, A Midsummer Night's Dream and recently in Sally's Gone, She's Left Her Name at The People's Light and Theater Company.
Jason Field has been seen in New York in Outlaws and The Treasures of the Collier Brothers. Jason is making his Wilma Theater debut, but was last seen in Philadelphia as Sergeant Al in Birdy at the Philadelphia Theater Company. His other regional credits include The Last Night of Ballyhoo at GeVa Theater, The Real Thing at Two Rivers Theater, Uncle Bob at the Asylum Theater in Los Angeles, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth at the Three River Shakespeare Festival, and I Hate Hamlet at the Weathervane Playhouse. He appeared as Joey in the film Boys on the Side.
CHERRY DOCS begins previews on May 3 and opens May 10. Tickets to the symposium and to the play are available at The Wilma Theater box office, (215) 546-7824 or online at www.wilmatheater.org.
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