Gulf View Drive, the third and final play in Arlene Hutton’s romantic trilogy portraying married life in the mid-20th Century, explores the lives of Raleigh and May Brummett, who met by chance during World War II, married in haste and faced the challenges of finding their own way. It is now 1953 and Raleigh’s published stories have gained success. But success brings new challenges as both mothers-in-law and a sister descend on the couple. Along the way, each adjusts to the meaning of “family life” in his or her own way and faces an America beginning to confront its racial divide. If you’ve followed the story of Raleigh and May over the past two seasons, you owe it to yourself to see the surprising conclusion. If you didn’t, you’ll recognize these characters and their real life dilemmas right away and feel invested in the outcome.
Returning is the critically acclaimed cast of last season’s See Rock City, named one of the best of 2018 by the Washington Post’s Nelson Pressley.
Lexi Langs
Lexi Langs (May) has appeared on numerous regional stages. Since last season’s See Rock City here at WSG, she has appeared as Babe in Crimes of the Heart at the Virginia Rep. Other notable roles include Frankie Addams in The Member of the Wedding (River City Rep and Virginia Rep); and Becky/Molly in Circle of Friends (American Girl Place Theatre, NYC). She has also appeared with Zoetic Stage; Cotuit Center for the Arts, MA; Mad Cow Theatre and GableStage.
Wood Van Meter
Wood Van Meter (Raleigh) is a 2018 Helen Hayes award nominee for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Joseph in Toby’s Dinner Theatre production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He has also appeared at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Imagination Stage, Rep Stage, and Signature Theatre.
Laura Giannarelli
Laura Giannarelli (Mrs. Brummett), a founding member of the Washington Stage Guild, returns as Raleigh’s mother, first seen in last season’s See Rock City. She has appeared in more than forty WSG productions, most recently as film star Claire Morgan in this season’s All Save One. Laura has also acted with many other area theatres over the years and has directed several productions at WSG (including Shaw’s Widowers’ Houses and It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play). She has also directed for Quotidian Theatre Company in Bethesda.
Lynn Steinmetz
Founding Member Lynn Steinmetz also reprises her role as May’s warmhearted mother, Mrs. Gill, having introduced the character in last season’s See Rock City. Other recent WSG appearances were multiple roles in all three productions of Shaw’s epic Back to Methuselah and as Hazel in Tiny Island. Over the past 40 years, she has performed in a variety of venues in the Washington-Baltimore area, including Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Olney Theater Center, Round House Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian and others.
Chelsea Mayo
Chelsea Mayo joins the cast as Raleigh’s sister Treva. Last seen in Don Juan and Henry VI Part 3 at the Taffety Punk Theatre Co., other DC area appearances include roles in Hamlet and Twelfth Night at Shakespeare Theatre Co., as Irina in The Three Sisters at Annapolis Shakespeare Theatre and as Sister James in Quotidian Theatre Company’s Doubt.
