(l/r) Shaun Patrick Tubbs as Mark, Mark Hess as Brian, Verity Branco as Beverly, Photo by: Mark Rutkowski
Written by Michael Cristofer
Directed by Lucien Douglas
Performances: April 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 at 8:00 PM
April 6, 12, 13 at 2:00 PM
Oscar G. Brockett Theatre
Tickets: $16 adults, $13 UT faculty & staff, $10 students available online at www.utpac.org or by phone at 477-6060.
Media and Resources:
- Cast List
- Director Information
- Playwright Information
- Costume renderings by Ariana Schwartz
- Synopsis
- Press and Reviews
“The Shadow Box” interweaves the lives of three dramatically different terminally ill hospice patients and their loved ones to give a dynamic, well–rounded perspective of death and dying. They struggle to find meaning in their last moments on Earth, to leave legacies, to reassure themselves their lives were actually worth living. The play shows that even though death is a personal struggle, all human beings are bound together by the same fear of death. It's how each character deals with that fear that separates them.
Born Michael Procaccino in Trenton, New Jersey, Michael Cristofer attended the Catholic University of America from 1962 to 1965, before dropping out to begin his acting career. In 1967, Cristofer performed with the Arena Stage in Washington, DC, and the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia, where he staged his first play, “Mandala.” In 1968 and 1969 he was in the Beirut Repertory Company in Lebanon working on his acting career. He is also known for writing a number of plays prior to “The Shadow Box,” such as “Plot Counter Plot” (1971) and “Americomedia” (1973). He began to earn respect as a skillful and stimulating dramatist for the “The Shadow Box.” He wrote it as a result of his two friends dying of cancer and it premiered in 1975 in The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. It then moved to Broadway, opening on March 31, 1977 in the Morosco Theatre. “The Shadow Box” received a Tony and Pulitzer Prize for Drama that same year. After “The Shadow Box,” he continued to write plays such as “Black Angel” (1978) and “The Lady and the Clarinet” (1980) amongst others, none receiving the same critical acclaim. In the 80‘s he began to focus his career more on film. His most memorable contributions to the field have been the screenplays for “The Witches of Eastwick” (1987) and the HBO movie “Gia” (1998). Today he continues to write screenplays and direct movies, playing a limited role in theatre.
Director: Lucien Douglas
Lucien Douglas has enjoyed a 30–year career as an actor, including featured roles on Broadway, Off–Broadway, New York's Roundabout Theatre, The Kennedy Center, various regional theatres, film and television. His work has received critical acclaim in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Backstage, and Women's Wear Daily. Recent films include Miss Congeniality, Man of the House, and he has just completed work on Sno Cone Stand.
Douglas is currently an Associate Professor of Acting & Directing at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received the 2000 Texas Excellence Teaching Award for the College of Fine Arts. He has been a guest director/instructor at The Juilliard School; North Carolina School of the Arts; New York University Graduate Acting Program; Penn State University; the Clarence Brown Company at the University of Tennessee; the University of Wyoming; Southwestern University; and St. Edward's University. Lucien Douglas holds a Ph.D. in Theatre from Michigan State University, a B.F.A. in Dramatic Arts from the University of Connecticut, and a certificate of professional training from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. He is a member of Texas Educational Theatre Association Adjudicators' Organization, Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors' Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. (read full bio)
- Michael Sullivan as Joe
- Melissa Recalde as Maggie
- Mark Hess as Brian
- Shaun Patrick Tubbs as Mark
- Verity Branco as Beverly
- Marlane Barnes as Agnes
- Kate DeBuys as Felicity
- J.M. Specht as The Interviewer
- Michael Bowman as Steve
