Staged Reading - The Showing

By Wolfgang Hildesheimer

Directed by David Stein

Sunday - April 21, 2013 at  7 p.m. - Live Oak Theatre

ONE NIGHT ONLY - Pay What You Can - suggested donation $5 - $8

"The Showing", by Wolfgang Hildesheimer, directed by David Stein, in a new translation by former Actors Ensemble board member (and current resident of Hungary) David Fenerty. Two people, the "A" and "B". A is the potential buyer of a house they are both walking through. B is the potential seller of the house. A simple transaction is complicated by the mutual history between the characters, and each of their future plans.

The Showing

By Wolfgang Hildesheimer, translated by David Fenerty

directed by David Stein

Cast

Jeff Trescott	………………….	“A”
Ben Ortega	………………….	“B”

Wolfgang Hildesheimer worked as a translator at the Nuremberg trials before turning first to graphic arts and then to writing, originally as a member of the postwar German literary association Gruppe 47, his works were part of the postwar absurdist movement that also includes Beckett, Ionesco, Pinter, and early Stoppard.  In the English-speaking world he is most famous for his 1977 biography of Mozart.  The Showing was written originally as a radio play (German title: Hauskauf) and is presented for the first time in English in a new translation by David Fenerty, former board member of Actors Ensemble and current resident of Hungary.

David Stein served as president of Actors Ensemble for a number of years in the early 2000’s.  An accomplished director, he directed and/or performed in number of Actors Ensemble productions, including The Heidi Chronicles, Seduced, and two productions which utilized exterior locations – The Bacchae and Strindberg’s A Dream Play.  David is currently a core member of Ragged Wing Ensemble, where his credits include Alice in Wonderland, Persephone’s Roots, Open, Atomic Intuition, Maybe Baby and Inanna's Descent.  Last season, he conceived and directed A Fool's Errand. Most recently, he appeared in Fortune: The Complete Works. When not in a theatre, David works at the Berkeley Lab, rigs theatre lighting for special events and tells stories to 3rd Graders.

Ben Ortega has been steadily acting since moving to California in 1996, and has worked with theatres all over the Bay Area.  He was last seen as Michael in Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage at Altarena Playhouse in Alameda.  Ben studied acting at UCLA and privately with Lisa Chess.

Jeff Trescott moved to the Bay Area in 1981 with 17 acting friends who became the core of the Theatre of the Blue Rose. Over the next 15 years he learned his craft, appearing in over 60 TBR productions. Since then he has performed with various Bay Area theatres, including the Willows, Lamplighters, Lafayette Town Hall, and Shotgun Players.  With Actors Ensemble he has appeared in Heartbreak House, Richard III, and our current production of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Pay What You Can - Suggested donation $5 - $8  ONE NIGHT ONLY. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Seats are first-come / first-served.

Sunday - April 21, 2013 at  7 p.m.