A NUMBER

by Caryl Churchill

October 1-4, October 8-11
Thursday- Saturdays at 7pm
Sundays at 3pm
Saturday, October 10 at 2pm & 7pm

with
Drew Ledbetter
John Wojda

Sarah Edkins, scenic design
Matthew Adelson, lighting design
Alicia Austin, costume design
Liam Bellman-Sharpe, sound design

directed by
Jeffrey Mousseau

A beguiling hour-long psychological thriller that blends topical scientific speculation with a stunning portrait of the relationship between fathers and their sons. The story, set in the near future, is structured around the conflict between a father and his three sons–two of whom are clones of the first. The play addresses the subject of human cloning and identity, especially nature versus nurture and, ahead of its time, glimpses at life in AI. With all three sons portrayed by the same actor, the play’s inquiry about the uniqueness of an individual’s identity is dramatically rendered. Many critics over the years have lauded A Number, arguing Churchill created a work of significant intellectual depth with a potent economy of style.

"Rarely in my theatre going experience has a new play conveyed such a disturbing or enthralling impression of domestic weirdness.... An astonishing event.'' - Evening Standard

“Magnificent.... Contains more drama, and more ideas, than most manage in a dozen full-length works.... It combines elegant structural simplicity with an astonishing intellectual and emotional depth.... What a tremendous play this is, moving, thought-provoking and dramatically thrilling.'' – Daily Telegraph

"Churchill's power to grip an audience is an extraordinary thing. Her plays perform a pincer-movement on your attention. Their ear for a subject of real concern ... has always been acute, and often prescient.'' – The Observer

CARYL CHURCHILL was born on 3 September 1938 in London and grew up in the Lake District and in Montreal. She was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Downstairs, her first play written while she was still at university, was first staged in 1958 and won an award at the Sunday Times National Union of Students Drama Festival.

Caryl Churchill’s plays include: Owners, Traps, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Cloud 9, Top Girls, Fen, Serious Money, Ice Cream, Mad Forest, The Skriker, Blue Heart, This is a Chair, Far Away, A Number, Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?, Seven Jewish Children, Love & Information, Here We Go and Escaped Alone. Music theatre includes Lives of the Great Poisoners and Hotel, both with Orlando Gough. Caryl has also written for radio and television.

DREW LEDBETTER: Off-Broadway: Williston (Miranda Theater Company), A Persistent Memory (Theater Row), Richard 2x1 (Red Bull Theater) Regional: Constellations (Ancram Center for the Arts), Hamlet (Pittsburgh Public Theater), Fly (Alabama Shakespeare Festival),King Lear (Trinity Rep), Melena (B/T Playwright’s Rep), She-Wolf (Amphibian Stage Company, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company). Numerous workshops with New York Theater Workshop, New Georges, New Dramatists, Chautauqua Theater Company, The Drama League, and Red Bull Theater. Film: Love and Everything In Between; WordPlay Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (The New Book Press). TV: The Blacklist (NBC), Succession (HBO) MFA: Brown University/Trinity Rep. www.drewledbetteronline.com

JOHN WOJDA has performed on Broadway in The Nap, Present Laughter, Two Shakespearean Actors, The Merchant of Venice and MacBeth, and his extensive off-Broadway credits include an ensemble Obie award for Ecstasy at The New Group.  He's toured nationally in Spring Awakening, internationally in West Side Story, and played dozens of leading roles in resident repertories including four seasons at Canada's Stratford Festival.  His television credits include Dr. Death, FBI Most Wanted, Manifest, Madam Secretary, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Mr. Robot and all of the Law and Order shows, and on film he played the lead in Amir Naderi's Manhattan by Numbers.