TAPA Announces cast of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
The Tillamook Association for the Performing Arts (TAPA) is thrilled to announce the cast of Edward Albee’s award-winning classic WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? which opens on September 20, 2024 and closes on October 6, 2024.
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? was first staged in October 1962 and examines the complexities of the marriage of the middle-aged couple George and Martha, portrayed by TAPA veterans Jason Hovey and Kristi Hanson (this is their third time acting alongside each other). George, a professor at a small college, and his wife, Martha, have just returned home drunk from a university faculty party. Martha announces, amidst general profanity, that she has invited a young couple to stop by for a nightcap – an opportunistic new professor Nick, portrayed by TAPA newcomer Jacob Merwin and his shatteringly naïve new bride Honey, portrayed by Mackenzie Wingate. The charade begins the very moment they arrive. The drinks flow and suddenly inhibitions melt. The young couple are drawn into the bitter and frustrating relationship between Geroge and Martha who have spent their entire marriage masking their pain and sorrow behind seething anger, and mind games in a constant power struggle. George and Martha’s inhuman bitterness toward one another is provoked by the enormous personal sadness that they have pledged to keep to themselves: a secret that has seemingly been the foundation for their relationship. In the end, the mystery in which the distressed George and Martha have taken refuge is exposed, once and for all revealing the degrading mess they have made of their lives. WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? is funny, uncomfortable, and moving…often at the same time.
Performances will be held at The Barn Community Playhouse in Tillamook. Friday and Saturday performances will be held on September 20, 21, 27, 28, October 4, 5 at 6:30PM and Sunday matinee performances will be held on September 22, 29 & October 6, 2024 at 2:00PM. Doors open one half-hour prior to curtain. FRIDAY and SATURDAY night performances will indeed begin promptly at 6:30PM – doors will open at 6:00PM. Late arrivals will not be admitted. Tickets are on sale now at tillamooktheater.com or call the TAPA box office at (503) 812-0275 to purchase tickets, ask questions or if you need assistance. As always, opening night is Gala Night where each ticket holder receives one free beverage and complimentary Hors D’oeuvres. TAPA also has a concessions counter serving snacks, desserts, soft drinks, coffee from Blue Star Espresso, assorted beer, including Pelican Brewery beer and wine including Casa Luna Winery.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–1963 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play. It is frequently revived on the modern stage. The film adaptation was released in 1966, written by Ernest Lehman, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis. The Tillamook Association for the Performing Arts is honored to present this celebrated piece. The three-act play normally takes just under three hours to perform, with two 10-minute intermissions. The title is a pun on the song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” from Walt Disney‘s Three Little Pigs (1933), substituting the name of the celebrated English author Virginia Woolf. Martha and George repeatedly sing this version of the song throughout the play. TAPA is thrilled to announce this incredibly talented cast and can hardly wait for our debut performance this September!
Jason Hovey is originally from North Carolina and has lived in the area for 9 years. He works at Jacobsen Salt in Netarts. You may remember him from his performances in ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING, Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, ON GOLDEN POND, LOVE, LIES & THE DOCTORS DILEMMA, and most recently as the unforgettable Ms. Tequila Mockingbird in FOUR OLD BROADS ON THE HIGH SEAS. Jason is also a TAPA Board Member.
Kristi Hanson has lived in Tillamook County since 2021, after trying out 12 other states in the past 35 years. Her debut on TAPA’s stage was portraying Ethel in the 2022 production of ON GOLDEN POND, followed by LOVE, LIES & THE DOCTORS DILEMMA. Kristi is also a TAPA Board Member; she has produced, and stage managed as well. Kristi has embraced her old hippie soul and prefers to spend her time in her art studio in Netarts, making books and paper.
Jacob Merwin was Born and raised in New York. Jacob graduated from CUNY Brooklyn with a Bachelors in Theatre. Shortly afterwards he left New York and lived abroad in the Republic of Ireland where he worked as an actor in local shows and developed an interest in sword-fighting. He graduated from the University of Galway with a Masters of Theatre Production. After two years he moved back to the United States where he lived in Portland and then Phoenix before moving to the Oregon Coast. Since settling in Tillamook he has performed with the Riverbend Players in 12 ANGRY JURORS, the Ten-Fifteen Theatre in MACBETH, and with the Coaster Theatre Playhouse in PROOF. It has been Jacob’s goal to perform for all four local theatres on the Oregon Coast and he is happy that with his casting in TAPA’s WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? he has completed that goal.
Mackenzie Wingate was born and raised in Tillamook County. She started theater in 2010 at Nestucca High School, with roles in BYE BYE BIRDIE, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and CINDERELLA. Mackenzie has always had a fondness for acting, theater, and music, competing in performative events on the high school speech and debate team, and participating in band and choir classes starting from late elementary school and continuing throughout high school. Mackenzie’s first role in a TAPA production was earlier this year in DIAL M FOR MURDER, where she played Poppy Smith, the witty reporter & radio broadcaster. She is thrilled with the opportunity to continue her involvement in another theatrical production.
