SIMPATICO

Written by SAM SHEPARD

Directed by DAVID ZAYAS JR.

4 WEEK OFF-BROADWAY ENGAGEMENT

JUNE 6 – 29th, 2024 AT THE CHAIN THEATRE

 CHAIN THEATRE is pleased to announce the Off-Broadway return of Sam Shepard’s SIMPATICO, directed by DAVID ZAYAS JR. A quintessential Shepard dark comedy that expertly explores film noir, loyalty, and restitution, SIMPATICO  will play a limited engagement at Off-Broadway’s The Chain Theatre (312 West 36th Street, New York, NY). Performances begin Thursday, June 6 and continue through June 29th. Opening Night is Saturday, June 8 (7 p.m.). 

SIMPATICO launches the audience into the netherworld of horse racing, where high society meets the low life and the line between winners and losers is as treacherously thin as a razor blade. Carter ought to be managing his thoroughbred business in Kentucky. Instead, he is in a desolate room in Cucamonga, Nowheresville, U.S.A., trying to get back in the good graces of ex-best friend Vinnie, the one man who has the power to destroy him. 

The production stars Kirk Gostkowski (World Premiere Garbageman/Off-Bway) as Carter, Brandon  Hughes (Charles Whitman on A Crime to Remember/Investigation Discovery) as Vinnie, Pete Mattaliano (The Boom Boom Room/Off-Bway) as Simms, Elizabeth Bays (The Butterfly Girl/ Off-Bway) as Cecilia, Christina Elise Perry (This G*d Damn House/Off-Bway) as Rosie, and Monica Park (CPR/Off-Bway) as Kelly. 

The production features scenic design by Jackson Berkley, costume design by Debbi Hobson, lighting design by Michael Abrams, and dramaturgy by G.D. Kimble. The producer/managing director is Rick Hamilton. The production is stage managed by Nicole Amaral with assistant stage manager Gabby Macallister. The production assistant is Uma Rao-Labrecque. Publicity by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.

Running Time: 2 hours 15 minutes (ten minute intermission)  

Chain Theatre extends a special thanks to the New York State Council on the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Photographs and Poster Art by David Zayas Jr.

BIOGRAPHIES

SAM SHEPARD (Playwright)  had his first New York plays, Cowboys and The Rock Garden, produced by Theatre Genesis in 1963. For several seasons, he worked with Off-Off-Broadway theatre groups including La MaMa and Caffe Cino. Eleven of his plays have won Obie Awards including Chicago and Icarus’ Mother (1965); Red Cross and La Turista  (1966); Forensic and the Navigators and Melodrama Play (1967); The Tooth of Crime (1972); Action (1974); and Curse of the Starving Class (1976). Shepard was awarded a Pulitzer Prize as well as an Obie Award for his play Buried Child (1979). Fool of Love (1982) received the Obie for Best Play as well as for Direction. A Lie of the Mind (1985) won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award in 1986 and the 1986 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play. A revived Buried Child  under the direction of Gary Sinise opened on Broadway in April 1996 and was nominated for a Tony Award.  Kicking a Dead Horse  (2007) and Ages of the Moon (2009) both received their world premieres at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Kicking a Dead Horse transferred to The Public Theater in New York and to the Almeida Theatre in London, and Ages of the Moon received its US premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in 2010. Shepard’s latest play, Heartless, premiered in 2012 at Signature. Shepard wrote the screenplays for “Zabriskie Point”; Wim Wenders’ “Paris, Texas”; and Robert Altman’s “Fool for Love”, a film version of his play of the same title. As writer/director, he filmed “Far North” and “Silent Tongue” in 1988 and 1992 respectively. As an actor he has appeared in the films “Days of Heaven”, “Resurrection”, “Raggedy Man”, “The Right Stuff”, “Frances”, “Country”, “Fool for Love”, “Crimes of the Heart”, “Baby Boom”, “Steel Magnolias”,” Bright Angel”, “Defenseless”, “Voyager”, “Thunderheart”, “The Pelican Brief”, “Safe Passage”, “Hamlet” and, most recently, “Don’t Come Knocking”, also co-written with Wim Wenders. In 1986, Shepard was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1992, he received the Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy, and in 1994, he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

DAVID ZAYAS JR. (Director) makes his Off-Broadway directorial debut with Simpatico. He most recently directed the Jesus Hopped the A Train staged reading starring Common, John Ortiz, and David Zayas. David also directed LABs 30th Anniversary and the Barn Series, which included three New Works in progress by Stephen Adly Gurgis. A Bronx Native, theater and film Director, Actor, and Photographer, David is a member of The Actors Studio’s Playwright/Directors Unit and LAByrinth Theater Company. He has directed with Planet Connections, Actors Theatre of NY, NY Theater Festival, Samuel French OOB Festival, and Chain Theatre along with award winning films in over 20 festivals. 

CHAIN THEATRE (Producer) is a critically-acclaimed (NYT critic’s pick macbitches) premiere Off-Broadway producing organization located in midtown Manhattan. Chain Theatre produced the World Premiere of ​Garbageman​ by Emmy-nominated Keith Huff (A Steady Rain, Mad Men, House of Cards) and has also collaborated with Tony Award winner David Rabe (Hurlyburly, In The Boom Boom Room), and Eric Bogosian (An Evening With Eric Bogosian). Most recent hit World Premiere productions include: This G*d Damn House (ScreenCraft Grand Prize Winner), A Will to Live, and What Passes for Comedy. 

Chain Theatre is always seeking to reflect and react to the world around us. Culturally. Politically. Socially. Audiences can find investment in the work at the Chain, because the work is about them, no matter what it might be. It’s a place where artists and audiences can expand their perspectives.