by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthurAdapted by Michael HealeyDirector Graham AbbeyWorld première commissioned by the Stratford Festival
This production has extensive use of herbal cigarettes, gunshots, and haze and fog effects. The play contains strong adult language and profanity.
IT TAKES A WISE GUY TO GET THE TRUTH
Star reporter Hildy Johnson has had it with the newspaper business – until he finds himself harbouring a death row escapee with a tale to tell. Hildy’s challenge now is to outwit corrupt cops and rival journalists to get the scoop of a lifetime – without losing the love of his life.
Written by two former Chicago reporters, this twentieth-century classic is a powerful and timely drama of civic corruption and journalistic truth-telling.
House Program: The Front Page
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Production support is generously provided by Nona Macdonald Heaslip
Support for the 2019 season of the Festival Theatre is generously provided by Daniel Bernstein and Claire Foerster.
2019 publicity photography by David Cooper.
2019: Brabantio in Othello, Pistol in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Fife in The Front Page. 12th season. Stratford (selected): Bob Ewell (To Kill a Mockingbird), Sir John Franklin (The Breathing Hole), Capulet (Romeo and Juliet), Lucky (Waiting for Godot), Antigonus (The Winter's Tale), Senex (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Richard Voss (The Physicists). Elsewhere: Leading roles at the Belfry Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Citadel Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Canadian Stage, Segal Centre, Neptune Theatre, Soulpepper, Tarragon, Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Alberta Theatre Projects, Centaur Theatre, Blyth Festival, National Arts Centre and many others. Film/TV: Randy has worked extensively in television, film and radio. Awards: Nominated for eight Dora Mavor Moore Awards, three Edmonton Sterlings, one Calgary Betty Mitchell, three Vancouver Jessies and one Gemini. Randy has won one of each award. Et cetera: Gratitude and love to Melissa, Georgina and Harvey.
2019: Othello in Othello, Mr. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Diamond Louis in The Front Page. Eighth season. Stratford: The Tempest, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, Tartuffe, Macbeth, All My Sons, Twelfth Night, King Lear, Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Three Musketeers, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado, Henry V, Merry Wives. Elsewhere: Lincoln, Topdog/Underdog (Arts Club); James, Superior Donuts (Coal Mine); Beast/Prince, Beauty and the Beast (Theatre Aquarius); MLK, Mountaintop (Theatre Kingston); Edmund, King Lear (Theatre Calgary/Bard on the Beach); Simba, The Lion King (Mirvish/Disney); Othello, Othello (Bard on the Beach); Clybourne Park (Citadel); Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet; Eilif, Mother Courage; Nativity, A Christmas Carol (NAC); Gratiano/Morocco, Merchant of Venice (SITR); Mitch, Spelling Bee (Belfry/Arts Club); Orlando, As You Like It (Soulpepper); Rock and Roll (Canadian Stage); Wilbur County Blues (Blyth). Film/TV: Expanse, Senior Trip, YTV Rocks, Degrassi. Training: National Theatre School of Canada, Soulpepper Academy, St. Michael's Choir School. Online: @samo_crown.
2019: Lodovico in Othello and The Mayor in The Front Page. 17th season. Stratford: Paradise Lost, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, Treasure Island, The Breathing Hole, A Chorus Line, A Little Night Music, Henry V, Much Ado, The Misanthrope, Twelfth Night, Kiss Me, Kate, Evita, Bartholomew Fair, Three Sisters, All's Well, Shrew, As You Like It, Hamlet, Dracula, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Man of La Mancha. Elsewhere: Nine (Podium Concerts); The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Bob Kills Theatre); Cabaret, Philadelphia Story, Light in the Piazza (Shaw); Madonna Painter (Factory); New Brain, Piazza (Acting Up Stage); It's a Wonderful Life, Goodnight Desdemona, Much Ado (Canadian Stage); Cymbeline, The Three Musketeers, Hecuba (Chicago Shakespeare); Blithe Spirit, An Ideal Husband (Citadel); Love's Labour's Lost (NAC); The Producers (Mirvish). Training: BFA, U of A. Awards: Dora, Gemini, Jeff, Ovation, Carbonell.
2019: Senator in Othello, Bardolph in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Alderman Dwight D. Willoughby in The Front Page. 11th season. Stratford: The Tempest, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, The Changeling, Timon of Athens, Macbeth, As You Like It, Pericles, The Alchemist, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Richard III, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, Caesar and Cleopatra. Elsewhere: Shakuntala (Premiere Dance Theatre); The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God (Mirvish); Twelfth Night, Donut City (Canadian Stage); Pusha Man, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Passe Muraille); Top Gun the Musical (Factory Theatre/N.Y.C.); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare in Action); Founding Member of Obsidian Theatre Company. Film/TV: Assassin's Creed Origins, Killjoys, Dark Matter, Watch Dogs 2, 12 Monkeys, Jean of the Joneses, Saving Hope, Murdoch Mysteries, Nikita, The Firm, ReGenesis, Owning Mahowny, The Incredible Hulk, MVP, Warehouse 13, Nurse.Fighter.Boy, XIII. Training: MFA, York University. Awards: Tyrone Guthrie Award. Dora nominations: Twilight Café, The America Play.
2019: Naval Officer, Herald Cypriot Soldier in Othello, John in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Endicott in The Front Page. Sixth season. Stratford: Walter Cunningham Sr., To Kill a Mockingbird; Caius Ligarius, Julius Caesar; Lt. Brannigan, Joey Biltmore, Guys and Dolls; Apothecary, Romeo and Juliet; Doctor, Macbeth; Oliver, As You Like It; Deuxfois, The Hypochondriac; Marcellus, Fortinbras, Hamlet; Boyet, Love's Labour's Lost; René Descartes, Christina, The Girl King; Red Knight/Walrus, Alice Through the Looking-Glass. Elsewhere: Marley, A Christmas Carol; Jaques, As You Like It; Cassius, Julius Caesar; Lucio, Measure for Measure (Citadel); Slim, Of Mice and Men (Canadian Stage/Theatre Calgary); Tybalt/Friar Laurence, Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Calgary); Everard, Age of Arousal (ATP); Milan, Rock 'n' Roll (Canadian Stage/Citadel); Kent, King Lear; Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Twelfth Night (Freewill). Training: BFA Acting, University of Alberta. Awards: Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award, Measure for Measure. Et cetera: Former Artistic Director, Freewill Shakespeare Festival (Edmonton). All my love to Breanna and Aidan.
2019: Simple in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Woodenshoes Eichorn in The Front Page and appears in Othello. Seventh season. Stratford: The Comedy of Errors, Napoli Milionaria!, The Tempest, Timon of Athens, The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Changeling, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Aeneid, The Taming of the Shrew, Love's Labour's Lost, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Beaux' Stratagem, Mary Stuart, Measure for Measure, Othello. Birmingham Conservatory: Twelfth Night (Robin Phillips); Private Lives (Christopher Newton); Hamlet (Stephen Ouimette); Love's Labour's Lost (Martha Henry). Elsewhere: Henry VI: Wars of the Roses, Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Timon of Athens (Vancouver's Bard on the Beach); The Exquisite Hour (Relephant); The Wizard of Oz, Seussical (Carousel); The Emperor's New Threads (Axis). Training: Birmingham Conservatory, Studio 58, Canadian National Voice Intensive. Awards: Jessie Award; Sydney J. Risk Award. Online: Twitter: @josuelaboucane.
2019: Iago in Othello, Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Kaplan in The Front Page. 13th season. Stratford (selected): James Tyrone Jr. (Long Day's Journey Into Night), God the Son (Paradise Lost), Pentheus (Bakkhai), Laurent (Tartuffe), Fabian (Twelfth Night), Biondello (The Taming of the Shrew), Williams (Possible Worlds), Scrub (The Beaux' Stratagem), Andrei (Three Sisters), Apollodorus (Caesar and Cleopatra), Roderigo (Othello), Flaminius (Timon of Athens). Elsewhere: A&R Angels (Crow's Theatre); Pride and Prejudice, Robin Hood (Globe Theatre); A Doll's House (Montgomery/TNB). Film/TV: Dmitri in the award-winning miniseries Fargo (Season 1; Best Miniseries: Emmy, Golden Globe), Suits, Republic of Doyle, The Ron James Show, Warehouse 13, Lost Girl. Training: National Theatre School of Canada; Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Awards: Tyrone Guthrie Award (2003, 2007, 2018), John Hirsch Award (2004) and the inaugural recipient of the Richard Monette Travel Grant (2009).
2019: Cassio in Othello, Rugby in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Earl Williams in The Front Page. Fourth season. Stratford: Francisco in The Tempest, Lieutenant in Coriolanus, Amedeo in Napoli Milionaria!, Hotspur in Breath of Kings: Rebellion, Valere in Tartuffe. Elsewhere: Charlie Breathing Corpses (Coal Mine Theatre). Film/TV: Rookie Blue (Global TV), The Animal Project (principal), Relative Happiness (lead), What We Have (lead), Kidnap Capital (lead). Training: Ryerson Theatre School (2010), Norman Jewison Canadian Film Centre Actors' Conservatory. Awards: Lou Taube Memorial Award, 2013 Toronto International Film Festival Rising Star, John Hirsch Memorial Award. Online: Instagram: @Jsous29. Et cetera: Thanks to Alicia Jeffery, my family, friends, coaches, and my wife, Brittany, for encouraging me every step of the way. Special thank-you to Ian Watson for your friendship, guidance and constant support.
2019: Gratiano in Othello, Justice Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Roy V. Bensinger in The Front Page. Ninth season. Stratford: Paradise Lost, Timon of Athens, The Changeling, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Shakespeare in Love, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Aeneid, Taming of the Shrew, Possible Worlds, Beaux' Stratagem, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, Richard III, Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Bartholomew Fair, Shakespeare''s Universe.Elsewhere: The Fourth Graders Present An Unnamed Love Suicide (Tiny Room); Jerusalem (Outside the March/Company Theatre); Silence, Art (Grand Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Western Canada Theatre); Hound of the Baskervilles, Robin Hood (Globe Theatre); The Castle (Storefront); Pitmen Painters, Boeing Boeing (Theatre Aquarius); Vigil, Lawrence and Holloman (Prairie Theatre Exchange); Having Hope at Home (Neptune); Twelfth Night, The Tempest (Hartford Stage); Pride and Prejudice (Theatre Calgary/NAC); The Lonely Diner (Blyth Festival); Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night (NAC); Macbeth, Othello (NAC/Citadel); Einstein's Gift (Citadel).
2019: Mrs. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, appears in Othello and understudy in The Front Page. 14th season. Stratford: Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, School for Scandal, Macbeth, As You Like It, Hypochondriac, Pericles, Alchemist, Swanne, All's Well, Quiet in the Land, Hunchback, Count of Monte Cristo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending (Stratford, MTC, Mirvish), Merchant of Venice, The Comedy of Errors, An Ideal Husband, Three Sisters, Bartholomew Fair, Peter Pan, Grapes of Wrath, King John, Christina, Mother Courage. Elsewhere: Agamemnon (Next Stage); Narcisse Mondoux (Grand); Come Back to the Five and Dime… (Grand/Five & Dime Productions - Dora nomination); Enron (Theatre Calgary); The Merry Wives of Windsor, Glorious, Man of La Mancha (TBTB); The Ballad of Stompin' Tom, Another Season's Harvest (Blyth); The Odd Couple (Segal). TV: Harriet Sims, The Campbells (four seasons). Film: Beyond Innocence, Anne of Avonlea, The Marriage Bed, Echoes in the Darkness, Lustre. Online: Twitter @HOOPOOHEART.
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