About The Play
All fifteen-year-old David wants is to be a typical teenager, angry with everyone, especially his parents - two therapists who treat David like another patient. But in this world even therapists have therapists, and with David’s rage mounting, and his parents’ marriage on the rocks, every member of the family finds themselves in treatment, and no one is getting any better. When David secretly tapes his father’s sessions with a troubled girl from David’s school and uses his knowledge to begin a budding romance – lives collide, therapists become patients, parents act like children and two teenagers must decide whether big problems can be solved by friendship alone. Heartbreaking, hilarious and perceptive, The Family Room, takes an incisive swipe at the dizzying revolving door of therapists in therapy, and the moments of true intimacy that stop us cold.
“A searching new play about the psychiatric profession and its discontents. The play’s authentic outrage and raw irony can’t be stifled.” - Los Angeles TimesPerformances are Thursdays – Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm
with an additional performance on Wednesday, October 19 at 8pm.
Tickets are $18 and can be purchased online at www.BrownPaperTickets.com
or by calling 1-800-838-3006.
Train access via the #1, 2, 3, B or C to 72nd Street.
Meet The Cast...
DAVID
Tyler
Lea
15. Prototypical American youth. Rebel with a cause, with a penchant for delinquent activities. The i-Generation. He’s disillusioned with school, life and his two therapist parents. He’s the problem they can’t fix.
Some credits include: Leo in The Little Foxes, Ed in You Can’t Take It With You, Oliver Brown in Harpers Ferry, Robert Livingston in 1776 directed by John Langs and musically directed by Kevin Stites, Robin Starveling in Gerald Freedman and the Winston-Salem Symphony’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he received his B.F.A. in acting. Tyler is excited to be making his New York stage debut. Please visit www.tylerlea.com for info and updates.
DR. CAMPBELL
David M.
Pincus
40s. Male. Professional. A Child Psychiatrist, and David’s father. A dedicated workaholic. Cerebral. Too cerebral. He has a hard time seeing past the clinical. As someone who advertises about being able to help troubled teens, nothing is more embarrassing to his practice and his reputation than the behavior of his own son.
Among his NYC acting credits, David has appeared in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM as Demetrius, Thisby and Flute, for Theater for a New Audience at Lincoln Center; performed the one-man play, JOEY'S JIVE, at Manhattan Class Company; played the Blind Messenger in MEDEA, for Target Margin at St. Marks Ontological-Hysterical; and Reb Eli in GOD OF VENGEANCE at Show World/NADA. At the WorkShop Theater Company, David recently appeared in critically acclaimed productions of WHEN IT RAINS and INTERCHANGE; and also acted with and directed Olympia Dukakis in staged readings of RULES. David currently serves on Manhattan Community Board 4 as Co-Chair of the Quality of Life Committee (which has many theater related issues on its agenda), as well as serving on CB4’s Land Use Committee. David has produced Country music in Nashville, bungee jumped off the highest bridge in New Zealand and scuba dived The Great Barrier Reef. Thank you Caraid O’Brien. Go Niners!
DR. TATE-
CAMPBELL
Nancy
Stone
40s. Female. Professional. A Child Psychologist and David’s mother. Hyphenated. Indecisive. Incomplete. Without even realizing it she lets her husband make the calls. She’s cut off from herself and doesn’t know it yet.
Nancy Stone recently moved to New York from Los Angeles and THE FAMILY ROOM marks her NYC theatrical debut. West Coast audiences know her best from the improvisation stage of Bay Area Theatresports (SF) and The Actors’ Gang (L.A.) productions of Alagazam!, Embedded (tour), Tartuffe, and Love's Labor's Lost. Nancy’s on-camera work includes Big Love, Greek, E.R., American Pie 2, Nash Bridges and indies By Hook or By Crook (Sundance 2002) and Corner of Your Eye.
DR.
GOODWIN
Coco
Medvitz
Late 20s. Young Woman. Eager. Ironic. Just starting her own Psychiatry practice post graduate school. She struggles with being “too textbook”, and inexperienced. Despite her fears of being “too green” she may be the best therapist you’ve ever had.
A few of Coco’s favorite past theatre projects include playing Kate in Taming of the Shrew at Indiana Repertory Theatre, Lisa in Collected Stories (opposite Lois Nettleton) at Pennsylvania Center Stage, Lady Anne in Richard III at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and Phoebe in As You Like It at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Most recently, however, Coco has concentrated her artistic efforts in co-creating and fronting an art-punk band called Future in Plastics, performing at CMJ, NXNE, the Coney Island Mermaid Ball, and featured on WB-11. Coco holds an MFA in Acting from Penn State University.
DR. SCHWARTZ
Jonathan
Tindle
40s plus. Psychologist. Cocky. Sure of himself. A rock star in his own mind who has lots of luck with the ladies. He also has a keen instinct, a lot of experience and knows how to help his patients. Addicted to pain killers. Workaholic. Ego-aholic.
Jonathan Tindle was last seen as Graham in Mind The Gap’s acclaimed Under The Blue Sky (Kraine Theatre). Recent NYC credits include Henry in Stoppard’s The Real Thing (Walker St Theatre); machiavelian Father Perosi in The Last Castrato (Connelly Theatre); the solo character in Tennyson’s Maude ~ The Madness, co-adapted and directed by Niegel Smith (June Havoc Theatre), for which he received an Innovative Theatre Award nomination; Pentheus in Chuck Mee’s The Bacchae 2.1, with Rude Mechanicals (Flea); the mad Doctor in Lloyd Suh’s Not All Korean Girls Can Fly (Ensemble Studio Theatre); After Darwin, (Impetuous Theatre); Mushroom Pickers (Alloy); Welcome To Our City (Mint); Wolfpit (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble); Limbs (HERE). His numerous regional roles include Susan, the alcoholic vicar’s wife, in the US premier of Alan Bennett’s Bed Among The Lentils (Helen Hayes Award nomination); eighteen separate characters including Narrator in Craig Wright’s The Pavilion; 8yr old Ann and evil judge Fortin in Heather MacDonald’s Available Light; the swan in Elizabeth Egloff’s The Swan (Theatre Lobby Award, Helen Hayes Award nom’); Major Swindon, opposite Richard Dreyfuss in a radio production of The Devil’s Disciple; the elf in Santaland Diaries, Solyony in Three Sisters, Frank in Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Helen Hayes nom’) Dionysus in The Bacchae. Film/TV: Law & Order, Wired City, Second Born, All My Children, The Hunley, The Pitch, The Day Lincoln Was Shot, The Gentleman, Full Moon Fables (SAG Peer Award, Best Actor). Mr Tindle is recipient of an NEA grant for 'significant contribution to the arts' and once wrote a play Watching Fire which featured Dolf Lungren. Reel: www.vimeo.com/7106243.
DR. DURANT
Jacqueline
Sydney
60s plus. Psychologist. Salt of the Earth. No nonsense. She’s seen it all and she’ll tell you straight. Grandmother-esque. A fighter. Ferocious. Dying. She struggles to analyze her own life, her relationship with her children, and her impact in the face of terminal cancer.
Dear Harvey, (FringeNYC – 2010 Best Ensemble Acting Award-Diversionary Theatre); The Kitchen Table (NYIT Award Nominee Best Supporting Actress – Emerging Artists Theatre); And Sophie Comes Too (FringeNYC & Fringe Encore); Blood Grass (Universal Theatre Festival & Samuel French Fest); Postcards From A Dead Dog (EAT & Samuel French Fest); The Children’s Hour (APAC); The Conjugality Test (Midtown Festival); The Mission (EAT & Fresh Fruit Fest); UnEmbalmed (EAT); Burying Mom (EAT); Life Among The Natives (Milk Can Theatre); Vile Affections (FringeNYC); Carcass (New Worlds Theatre) and Machinal (Synapse). Feature Film: Filmic Achievement; Uncle Stephanie; Confess. TV: As The World Turns; Another World, One Life To Live. Currently starring in: SIMPATICO the interactive web series (www.simpaticosite.com)
JENNIFER
Leah
Barker
15. Bi-polar disorder. Emotional disorder. Connective disorder. Disordered. Her blasé demeanor is a cover up for a deep well of hurt. You knew Jennifer. She went to your high school. She was the one in the corner hiding behind her hair. A little too wired. Stand offish. A loner in deep need of a friend.
Leah Barker is a recent NYU Tisch alum, where she studied at the Experimental Theater Wing and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Before graduating, she wrote, directed, choreographed and acted in her own show, "The Fancies." Most recently, she performed at the Midtown International Theater Festival in the short play "Lost and Found."