Olivier Award-winning "Stones in His Pockets" next on the T2 stage

Wesley Hitt

Olivier Award Winner for Best New Comedy

STONES IN HIS POCKETS

by Marie Jones

Starts November 9

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS—October 25—The Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-nominated Stones in His Pockets, by Marie Jones, opens November 9 at TheatreSquared (477 W. Spring St., Fayetteville) and runs through December 18. Tickets, from $20-$54, can be purchased by calling (479) 777-7477 or by visiting theatre2.org.

Hollywood comes to rural Ireland in this hilarious multi-award winner which ran for four years in London's West End. Small-town Irishmen Charlie and Jake are hired as extras in an epic American movie, but when a famous actress takes a shine to Charlie—and tragedy strikes—chaos ensues. A hilarious clash of cultures that pits harsh reality against Hollywood endings.

Jones’ play premiered in Belfast before transferring to London’s West End, where it performed for sold-out audiences and was extended multiple times, ultimately earning the Olivier Awards for Best New Comedy. The production continued to a successful Broadway run.

The intriguing plot is enhanced by the hefty (and hilarious) weight placed on the actors by Jones’ script: just two actors will portray more than a dozen characters over the course of the play.

“‘Stones in His Pockets’ may be a two-hander, but there is a mighty array of fingers on each hand,” wrote the D. C. Theatre Scene of this feat.

“I think that’s one of the things that’s really exciting about this play—being able to see these actors do these amazing transformations on stage,” says director Amy Herzberg. Herzberg is a co-founder of T2 as well as its associate artistic director. Past directing credits at T2 include Great Expectations, One Man, Two Guvnors, Amadeus, Good People, Bad Dates, The Last Five Years, Moonlight and Magnolias and Next to Normal.

“I intend for it to be almost like a film cut —one minute you‘re looking at one character and the next, a completely different one,” she says. “I don‘t want to see the actor transform for me, I just want the character to suddenly be there.

“I think people are going to be wowed by just what is asked from these two very talented actors. I think that‘s part of the joy of it.”

Despite the side-splitting humor of the show, Herzberg says there’s a deeper meaning that attracted her to the play.

“While researching the show, I came across an interview that quoted Jones as saying that she doesn’t write comedies, she writes tragedies that people find funny,” notes Herzberg. “I think that perfectly encapsulates how this show should work. The story we want to follow is one of valuing other human beings, actually seeing people, and celebrating that everybody’s story deserves its own film.”

The acting company for this show is small but mighty: actors Jason M. Shipman and Joshua Jeffers will demonstrate their acting range by bringing more than 15 character to life throughout the play.

Shipman returns to the T2 stage where he turned in outstanding performances in Intimate Apparel and Peter and the Starcatcher. Other credits include productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Black Ensemble Theater, and Arkansas Repertory Theatre.

Jeffers was last seen on the T2 stage in A Christmas Carol. He has also worked with the New York Shakespeare Festival, New York Classical Theatre, the Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Notre Dame Shakespeare Theatre.

The creative team includes James Taylor Odom as assistant director; Shawn Irish as scenic/lights/projection designer; Ruby Kemph as costume designer; Chris Renfro as sound designer and Merit Glover as stage manager.

Tickets

Performances of Stones in His Pockets are scheduled from November 9 until December 18, with 7:30pm performances Tuesday through Saturday and 2pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday. The play is in the Spring Theatre at TheatreSquared, 477 W. Spring Street in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas. Tickets range from $20-$54. All fees are included, with no additional charges at checkout.

Subscription packages for TheatreSquared include full five-play packages starting at $125, with four-to-six-play flex packages starting at $89. Benefits for season ticket holders include savings of up to 20% on every show, free unlimited exchanges, discounted reserved parking, and same-day discounts in The Commons Bar/Café and other T2 Restaurant & Hotel Partners.

Through T2’s Lights Up! For Access program, with lead support from the Walmart Foundation and the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, SNAP benefit recipients can purchase $1 tickets, while students and patrons under the age of 30 can purchase $10 tickets. Fully subsidized, free tickets are also available for clients of a number of local community service organizations. For more information, visit theatre2.org/lights-up.

Subscription packages and single tickets can be reserved by calling TheatreSquared at (479) 777-7477 or by visiting theatre2.org/subscribe.

About TheatreSquared

TheatreSquared’s signature offering of bold new plays in an intimate setting has driven its growth to become the state’s largest theatre, welcoming more than 80,000 community members to 350 performances and events each year. The company offers a unique audience experience of immersive, professional productions in an intimate setting. Its work has been recognized with critical acclaim by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, NPR’s All Things Considered, and the American Theater Wing, founder of the Tony Awards. The playwright-led company is one of mid-America’s leading laboratories for new work, having launched more than 70 new plays. Notable collaborators have includedBryna Turner, Candrice Jones, José Cruz Gonzáles, Sarah Gancher, The Kilbanes, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Anne García-Romero, Rachel Lynett, Tony Meneses, Lisa D’Amour, Qui Nguyen, Mona Mansour, Karen Zacarías, and many others. TheatreSquared’s remarkable expansion—with a twentyfold increase in audience in just the past decade—parallels the emergence of its home region in the northwest corner of Arkansas as a booming population center and destination for American art. Offering far-reaching access and education programs and an open-all-day gathering space, The Commons Bar/Café, TheatreSquared remains rooted in its founding vision, that “theatre—done well and with passion—can transform lives and communities.”

Major funding for the TheatreSquared Season 17 is provided by the Walton Family Foundation; the Walmart Foundation; the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation; the Windgate Foundation; the Shubert Foundation; the Tyson Family Foundation; the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage; the National Endowment for the Arts; Bob and Becky Alexander; Jane Hunt; Margaret and Dick Rutherford; the Francis Lee Scott Estate; Barbara Shadden; the John & Robyn Horn Foundation; Todd Simmons and Melissa Hall Simmons; and Simmons Foods.

Marketing support for TheatreSquared Season 17 is provided by Experience Fayetteville, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Fayetteville Flyer, 3W Magazine, CitiScapes, KUAF, and MailCo USA.

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