Director: Mark A. Rhea
Music Director: David Jourdan

Featuring: David Jourdan, Sheri Herren, Kevin Adams, Joe Baker, and Carolyn Agan

Arlington, VA , December 11, 2007- As part of its 10th Anniversary season, The Keegan Theatre will present Brendan Behan’s The Hostage.  Irish playwright Behan wrote three famous full-length plays before his untimely death in 1964 at age 41. The Keegan Theatre is pleased to announce they will present the best-known of the triumvirate, The Hostage, opening on February 21, 2008, at the Church Street Theater in Washington, DC .

The Hostage, first written in Irish Gaelic in 1957 as An Giall, was translated into English in 1958. That version premiered in London the same year with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop at Theatre Royal. The Hostage was the last of Behan’s plays to be staged during his lifetime.

In The Hostage, the IRA takes an innocent British soldier hostage in a bawdy Dublin lodging-house. The hostage is to be shot if the British government goes through with the execution of an Irish youth they have arrested in Belfast . What follows, though, is a truly comic approach to both life and art - a circus of music, flamboyant color and theatre styles.

"This is 1958, and the days of the heroes are over this forty years past. Long over, finished and done with. The IRA and the War of Independence are as dead as the Charleston ." -The Hostage, Act One

“I am pleased we are able to bring back one of Keegan’s all time audience favorites,” director Mark A. Rhea noted. “The Hostage, a tragic-comedy rich with traditional Irish music, was an instant favorite back in 2003 when we first presented the piece in Arlington . It will certainly provide some fun nights in February and March at Church Street!”

The show features many Keegan favorites, including Joe Baker, Carolyn Agan, Kevin Adams, Sheri Herren, Susan Marie Rhea, and Dave Jourdan (who is also the music director).

". . . a rebellious snorting smirk of a play . . . a swaggering and careening piece . . . it gives you everything an Irish bender ought to -- except a hangover." -The New York Times 
 

Where:	Church Street Theater 1742 Church Street, NW Washington, DC 20009
Press Night:	TBD
Performances:	February 21-March 29, 2008 Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8 PM Sunday matinees at 2 PM
Tickets:	$30- General admission Senior and student discounts and group rates available.
Box Office:	703-892-0202 boxoffice@keegantheatre.com
Web Address:	www.keegantheatre.com

Bio of key performers in The Hostage by Brendan Behan

Mark A Rhea (Director) -  Founder and Producing Artistic Director of The Keegan Theatre.  Directing credits include: 1776; Faith Healer; Bold Girls; The Beauty Queen of Leenane; The Playboy of the Western World, An Island of No Land at All the Story of O’Malley of Shanganagh (World Premiere); The Hostage; Precious Lam’ (World Premiere); Waiting for the Slow Dance (World Premiere); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (USA/IRL); Man of La Mancha; Synge with Yeats; Translations (Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Director); Pump Boys and Dinettes; The Field; The Notebook of Trigorin; and Dancing at Lughnasa (2000 Theatre Lobby Mary Goldwater Award Outstanding Production).

Dave Jourdan (Pat) - Keegan credits include: 1776 (Rutledge); Pump Boys & Dinettes (LM), Streetcar Named Desire (Steve); Dancing at Lughnasa (Michael); Twelve Angry Men (Juror #3 - Helen Hayes Nomination); Man of La Mancha (Don Quixote); and Death of a Salesman (Charlie). Dave is also the Music Director for The Hostage.

Sheri S. Herren (Meg) – Agnes of God (Dr. Martha Livingstone); Portrait of a Madonna (Miss Lucretia Collins); Suddenly Last Summer (Violet Venable); Romeo and Juliet (Lady Capulet); Synge with Yeats (Cathleen, Nora, Bridget); Dancing at Lughnasa (Agnes); A Streetcar Named Desire (Eunice); Hamlet (Horatio); and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena).

Kevin Adams (Monsewer)—Keegan credits include: 1776 (Dickinson); A Man for All Seasons (Norfolk); Death of a Salesman (Ben); Side Man (Gene); The Playboy of the Western World (Old Mahon); True West (Saul Kimmer); Tattoo Sky (Taylor); The Crucible (Thomas Putnam); Man of La Mancha, (Innkeeper); Dancing at Lughnasa (Father Jack); Twelve Angry Men (Juror #4); Keegan/Fountainhead collaborations: A Lie of the Mind (Baylor), and Buried Child (Father Dewis).

Joe Baker (Leslie) – Keegan credits include: Alone it Stands (ensemble); The Tempest (Ferdinand); A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Caller); The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Ray Dooley); Waiting for the Slow Dance (Cor); Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio); The Notebook of Trigorin (Sasha); and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Lacey).

Carolyn Agan (Teresa)—Keegan credits include: 1776 (Martha Jefferson); Bold Girls (Deirdre). She is currently a Junior Theatre For Youth major at Shenandoah Conservatory where she was recently in The Little Prince (The Snake) and in Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Germaine).