by Brian Friel

Directed by Sidonie Garrett

April 25-May 18, 2008
PREVIEWS April 23 & 24

Featuring Mark Robbins, Merle Moores and Bruce Roach

Talk back performances April 29, May 4 & 6

Meet someone before the show to talk with after

Singles Night May 1

6:30 Reception $5

7:30 Show Regular Priced Ticket

Call for reservations.

This mesmerizing play about faith and devotion centers on Francis Hardy who has spent a lifetime peddling hope through the decayed villages of Scotland and Wales. The tales of his journey and his fateful return home to Ireland are told in separate, often contradictory, confessions from his agent, mistress and Frank himself. Questions of who we trust and why we believe arise as the characters explore whether Frank has a true gift or is simply a con man.

The Reviews are in...

Kansas City Star--Posted on Sun., April 27, 2008
Review: 'Faith Healer' balances darkness, beauty  (May require registration)

By ROBERT TRUSSELL 

 

 

Other Press...

Kansas City Star--Posted on Sat., April 26, 2008
‘Faith Healer’ asks a lot of players — to face the audience solo onstage  (May require registration)

By ROBERT TRUSSELL 

 

InfoZine--Posted on Sun., April 13, 2008
All Star Local Cast in Brian Friel's Mesmerizing Irish Play Faith Healer

(Click for Story)

 

Kansas City Star--Posted on Sat., Aug. 25, 2007
EARLY WARNING:  Top Three  (May require registration)

By ROBERT TRUSSELL 

 

 

Brian Friel’s Faith Healer was written in 1979 and was revived on Broadway in 2006 and was awarded a Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play. Unicorn Theatre produced his play Molly Sweeney in 1997.  Some of his other acclaimed works include Translations (originally written in 1980 and revived on Broadway in 2007), The Enemy Within, Dancing at Lughnasa and countless others.  In 1989, BBC Radio devoted a six-play season to his work, the first living playwright to be so distinguished. He co-founded Field Day Theatre Company in Derry, Ireland.

Sidonie Garrett previously directed Thanatos, SubUrbia, The Waiting Room, Light/Damage (with Cynthia Levin), Slight Defect, Santaland Diaries, Spinning Into Butter, Omnium Gatherum, The Retreat from Moscow and Iron Kisses at Unicorn Theatre.  She is the Producing Artistic Director of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, for which she directed Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, King Henry V, and Romeo and Juliet.  Sidonie directed Thanatos (NYC), and for Fourth Wall Productions co-directed Tony & Tina's Wedding (KC & St. Louis), and Aunt Chooch's Birthday Party, (KC & NYC).  At the Coterie Theatre she directed Mr. A's Amazing Maze Plays, Of Mice and Men, Little House by the Shores of Silver Lake, Playing for Time, After Juliet, and In Spite of Thunder: The Macbeth Project. She was director for Greater Tuna and Rose’s Dilemma at American Heartland Theatre.  Sidonie also co-produced and directed Widow's Blind Date; Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and Serenading Louie for Ground Zero Productions. With the Kansas City Symphony, Sidonie was staging director for the ‘Magic of Christmas’ and staged The Marriage of Figaro and Falstaff for Civic Opera Theatre.  In summer 2008, Sidonie will direct Othello, the Shakespeare Festival’s 16^th season production.

 

 

Mark Robbins (Frank) was last seen on the Unicorn Stage in The Retreat from Moscow.  Since then he has directed Unicorn’s  A House With No Walls, Orson’s Shadow and Next of Kin. During the summer he directed Private Lives and performed in Dinner With Friends and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, all three productions for Actors Theatre Kansas City. Earlier in 2007 he played the title role in Sherlock Holmes' Final Adventure at Kansas City Rep. Last Fall he began teaching Theatre courses for Park University.

 

 

 

 

Merle Moores (Grace) celebrates her 11^th appearance at Unicorn Theatre in another one of those brilliant, wild, unexpected, poetic Irish plays.  Other brilliant Unicorn productions include The Retreat From Moscow, The Memory of Water, Angels in America I and II, An American Daughter, The Sisters Rosensweig, A Perfect Ganesh and Quills.  Some favorite roles at KC Repertory Theatre are Arkadina in Checkov’s The Seagull, Jocasta in Oedipus The King and Gertrude in Hamlet.  Merle has performed in Julius Ceasar, Richard III and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, and many roles at the American Heartland Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Kansas City and New Theater Restaurant.  Merle has three children who also reside in K.C.  She has every intention of being “Auntie Mame” to her fabulous new grandson Lakota Pai.

 

 

 

Bruce Roach (Teddy) is delighted to return to the Unicorn Stage where he appeared in The Lieutenant of Inishmore earlier this season and as Kenneth Tynan in last seaon's Orson’s Shadow. Local audiences have also seen him recently in Much Ado About Nothing, king Henry V and Romeo and Juliet at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and To Kill A Mockingbird at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Bruce's directing credits include the New York Premiere of Virtuosa in September and The Little Dog Laughed this winter here at the Unicorn. His work as an actor, director and educator has taken him across the U.S. and abroad and he is particularly happy to be back in Kansas City's diverse and talented theatre community.

 

Buy Faith Healer tickets online NOW!

Call 816-531-PLAY x 10

Box Office Hours:

Monday-Friday 10-5pm

Saturday 12-4pm (During the run of the show)

 

 Unicorn Theatre offers $5.00 off for senior citizens and full-time students (with valid I.D.). Group rates are available, and students with valid I.D. can purchase Rush Tickets for $7.00 five minutes before curtain (based on availability)

SPECIAL THANKS
to those who generously donated their time, talents and services to this production:

The Kansas City Irish Fest Grant Fund

Financial assistance has been provided by Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.