Boston-area premiere of Frozen to be staged at New Repertory Theatre
December 29, 2005
Frozen, last season’s Broadway hit, receives its area premiere this January at New Repertory Theatre. Directed by Elliot Norton Award winner Adam Zahler, Frozen stars Nancy E. Carroll, Adrianne Hewlett, and Bates Wilder. Frozen begins performances on January 22 and opens for the press on Monday, January 23, 2006 at 7:30 PM, playing through February 12, 2006.
“Frozen is a beautiful piece of writing that plumbs the depths of a very dark subject – the loss of a child – and from that crafts an incredibly graceful, moving story,” explains Rick Lombardo, Producing Artistic Director. “I’m honored to welcome artists of such extraordinary sensitivity to work on this project, many of them New Rep favorites. Recently, Bates Wilder and Nancy Carroll have been seen in comic roles by New Rep audiences, though both have also presented wonderful dramatic performances on our stage, and our good friend Adam Zahler returns to direct.”
Nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Play, Frozen explores the intersection of three shattered lives, all of them connected by the death of a child. When Rhona, a ten-year-old girl, goes missing on a walk in an English suburb, her mother Nancy (Nancy E. Carroll) retreats into a state of emotional paralysis, unable to comprehend her daughter’s disappearance. Twenty-five years later, Rhona’s death has been confirmed and her killer has been convicted, but Nancy finds herself still unable to move past the tragedy of her daughter’s murder. Eventually, Nancy agrees to meet Agnetha (Adrianne Hewlett), an American psychiatrist completing her dissertation: “Serial Killing: A Forgivable Act?” However, Agnetha’s dispassionate academic theories are shaken after confronting the magnitude of Nancy’s grief and when she comes face to face with Rhona’s killer, Ralph Wantage (Bates Wilder). In haunting and lyrical terms, Frozen offers a meditation on the possibilities of forgiveness and the extraordinary persistence of human compassion, even under the darkest of circumstances.
Frozen, with sets by Richard Wadsworth Chambers, costumes by Frances Nelson McSherry, lights by Karen Perlow, and sound/original music by Jeffrey Alan Jones, opens for the press on January 23, 2006 and plays through February 12. For more information, contact the box office at 617.923.8487.
New Repertory Theatre presents provocative and intelligent works of both established and emerging playwrights in an intimate setting that involves and engages the audience. New Rep has earned a reputation for dynamic productions that honor the writers and feature talented professional actors from the New England theatre community as well as guest artists from around the U.S. New Rep has received Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for outstanding acting, scenic design, direction, and production. Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, with additional support by Bank of America.