For immediate release:
Press contact: Bill Largess
E-mail: pr@stageguild.org
(202) 900-8788
Washington Stage Guild concludes its 2019-2020 Season with
Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with André the Giant by Gino DiIorio
Opens March 19, Runs Through April 12
Press Performance: Sunday, March 22 at 2:30 p.m.
3 March 2020: The Washington Stage Guild brings its season of great writers to a close with the Washington premiere of Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with André the Giant by Gino DiIorio. One of the unlikeliest of friendships began when an aspiring writer, an Irish expatriate in France, gave a young man (whose remarkable size made him the object of derision) rides to school each day, and through the years they discuss playwriting, pro wrestling, and where their lives would lead them. The New York Times said, “Fans of professional wrestling and absurdist drama have a show to call their own…an affectionate tribute to a stage goliath and a grappler built like a butte.” These two titans of the 20th Century are embodied by two of DC’s most intriguing actors – Alan Wade as Sam (Beckett) and Scott McCormick as André (the Giant) – under the direction of Stage Guild Associate Artistic Director Steven Carpenter.
“I’m proud to be directing these two stalwart actors as they both make their return to DC stages. And Gino’s Absurdist-inspired script, with these icons forging a comically unexpected friendship and pondering the marks they might leave on the world, delivers both giant-sized laughs and moments of quiet rumination,” says Carpenter. “It’s a perfect match for the clever, thoughtful, and nuanced performances that Alan and Scott are crafting.”
The Cast
Scott McCormick (André) has been a professional actor and voice artist for over 25 years in the Washington area. He has appeared on stages large and small in the D.C. region, including Studio Theater (The Russian National Postal Service), Woolly Mammoth (Big Death, Little Death), Folger Theatre (As You Like It), Round House (Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Catalyst Theater (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Ensemble, Resident Play), Theatre Alliance (Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde), Forum Theatre (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot), and Rorschach Theatre, where he has been a company member for over 15 years and has appeared in more than a dozen productions including The Skin of Our Teeth and Neverwhere. He currently works full-time as a director and adaptor of audiobooks for the Rockville-based GraphicAudio, where he continues to work as a voice actor and narrator. He is a veteran of tours 49 and 50 of the National Players, where he was directed by the amazing Alan Wade in a production of Of Mice and Men. Thanks to Steven Carpenter and the folks at Washington Stage Guild for the role of a lifetime. He lives in Kensington, Maryland, with his wife and too many action figures.
Alan Wade (Sam) played the title character in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in the Stage Guild’s inaugural production in 1986. He appeared subsequently at the Guild in five productions and directed five others including Beckett’s Happy Days featuring June Hansen. Mr. Wade’s one-man show I, from the prose of Samuel Beckett, premiered at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre in 1977, and was then performed in Baltimore and Boston. He appeared last season in Olney Theatre Center’s production of The Comedy of Tenors, and will appear this summer at New York’s Atlantic Theatre II in new work by Paula Vogel, Neil Labute, and others as part of PTP/NYC’s summer repertory. His latest audiobook narration (with Rosie O’Toole) for Audible is A Man Called Smith by Tanya E. Williams. This year Mr. Wade celebrates 42 years of marriage, his daughter’s 50th birthday, his granddaughter’s 10th birthday, and officiating his son’s wedding in October. Happy Days! alan-wade.com
Sam and Dede, Or My Dinner with André the Giant is directed by Steven Carpenter. He has over 20 years’ experience as a professional actor and director in the greater Washington, D.C., area. A longtime company member of the Washington Stage Guild and now their associate artistic director, he has directed Resolving Hedda, Inventing Van Gogh, Red Herring, Opus, and The Underpants, among others. Other area productions include God of Carnage at Compass Rose, The Cripple of Inishmaan at 1st Stage; The Price, Mauritius and ‘ART’ at Bay Theatre; Barrymore, Hysteria, Trumbo, and Mrs. Farnsworth for Rep Stage; and The Chosen at Theater J. He received a Helen Hayes nomination for his production of Thief River at Theatre Alliance and is a past recipient of the Mary Goldwater Award for Excellence in Directing. This season he appeared on stage at the Guild in Bloomsday and Hard Times and has also been seen here in Pygmalion (Henry Higgins), Summerland, Widowers’ Houses, Alabama Story, and The Philanderer (Helen Hayes nomination). His third Helen Hayes nomination came for providing all of the onstage live sound effects for the Guild’s It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Steven also narrates books for the blind with nearly 400 books to his credit, including The Grapes of Wrath, and Infinite Jest, and is a recipient of the Alexander Scourby Narrator of the Year Award for Multilingual Nonfiction by the American Foundation for the Blind. He is the proud father of a prize-winning chess player and baseball-loving son, Sam, who shares a birthday with his namesake in this play, Mr. Beckett.
Designers
Set designers are Resident Designer Carl Gudenius and Jingwei Dai. Other design elements are provided by Frank DiSalvo with sound, Marianne Meadows with lighting; and Resident Designer Sigrid Johaessdottir with costumes.
