Award-winning two-part epic runs September 1 – November 6
PROVIDENCE, RI: Trinity Repertory Company begins its 2022-23 Season with the Tony and Olivier Award-winning plays The Inheritance Parts 1 and 2 by Matthew López. Presented as two plays running in rep, both shows will be directed by resident company member Joe Wilson, Jr. The Inheritance Part 1 starts its run on September 1 and closes November 5. The Inheritance Part 2 begins on September 22 and ends its run November 6. Tickets for each show start at $27, and more information is available at trinityrep.com/inheritance.
The Inheritance weaves together the story of three generations of gay men in New York City attempting to forge a future for themselves amid a turbulent and changing America, decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic. Eric Glass is a political activist engaged to his writer boyfriend, Toby Darling. When two strangers enter their lives—one older and one younger— their plans for marriage come to a screeching halt as they veer in opposite directions into uncharted waters. This fascinating and epic two-part drama is inspired by E.M. Forster’s classic Howards End, and received the 2020 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2019 Olivier Award for Best Play.
“Matthew López has created a brilliant theatrical event with his plays, The Inheritance Parts 1 and 2,” Trinity Rep Artistic Director Curt Columbus said. “The plays are unforgettable for their vivid characters, their glorious language, and their remarkable insight into the American experience of the last half century. Audiences will be swept away by the epic nature of the work, and also by the great, small moments of humanity contained within them.”
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Joe Wilson, Jr. joined Trinity Rep’s resident artistic company in 2004, and has appeared in numerous productions as a performer since. His recent directing credits include last year’s A Christmas Carol and black odyssey (co-directed with Jude Sandy) at Trinity Rep, as well as An Octoroon at The Gamm Theatre.
“As a middle-aged, African-American, gay man who came into an understanding and subsequent acceptance of his sexuality at the end of the AIDS crisis, this show is very personal to me,” Joe said. “The Inheritance is uniquely Trinity Rep in scope and scale, with its beautifully poetic language, creating a moving, sweeping, theatrical event. This play, and the author of the novel from which it is inspired, asks us to “only connect” not in terms of the quantity of our relationships, but their quality. This message is especially poignant as we emerge from a global pandemic, and as we continue to grapple with all that continues to divide us as a nation and world.”
Joe will work alongside Michael McGarty (set design), Liza Alexis (costume design), James Horban (lighting design), Peter Sasha Hurowitz (sound design), Rachael Walshe (dramaturg), and Jackie Davis (intimacy choreographer).
The production’s cast features an ensemble primarily of actors local to New England. Cast members include resident company members Jackie Davis, Taavon Gamble, Mauro Hantman, and Stephen Thorne; Brown/Trinity Rep students Ross Barron, David Mattar Merten, Chingwe Padraig Sullivan, and Tobias Wilson; Brown/Trinity Rep alumni Jack Dwyer, Michael Jennings Mahoney, and Rodney Witherspoon II; and guest artists Andrew Holder and Adrian Peguero.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Matthew López is the author of The Whipping Man, one of the most celebrated and widely produced new American plays of the last decade. The Manhattan Theatre Club production received Obie, Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle awards including the John Gassner New Play Award. It has since been produced at over 100 U.S. theatres as well as internationally. The Legend of George McBride premiered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and ran off-Broadway at MCC Theatre in a production that received multiple Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle nominations, including Best Play. Other plays include Somewhere (Old Globe, world premiere), Reverberation (Hartford Stage Company, world premiere), The Sentinels (London’s Headlong Theatre Company), and Zoey’s Perfect Wedding. Matthew holds commissions from Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Harford Stage Company, where he recently served as their AETNA New Voices Fellow. For the past two seasons, he has been the Inaugural Playwriting Fellow at the Denver Center Theatre Company. Matthew was a writer on the HBO series “The Newsroom” and has recently adapted Javier Marias’ “Your Face Tomorrow” trilogy for the screen as well as the biopic “Dr. Q” for Disney.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Trinity Rep is dedicated to keeping our artists, staff, and audiences safe, and will monitor the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic throughout the season. Details about Trinity Rep’s current health and safety protocol can be found at trinityrep.com/health.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Several community partners dedicated to serving the Rhode Island LGBTQ+ community will have tables in the theater lobby throughout the run of The Inheritance, including Youth Pride RI and Project Weber/RENEW. These groups will play a pivotal role in the production’s run, onstage and off. The Providence Public Library will also uplift the work of its Rhode Island LGBTQ+ Community Archive during the production, including the AIDS Project RI Archives. Some of these archives will be on display in the theater lobby as well. Additional community partners will be announced at a later date.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Continuing Trinity Rep’s tradition of offering affordable tickets for all, the theater will hold discounted previews of The Inheritance Part 1 and 2. Thursday, September 1 and Thursday, September 22 are the Pay What You Wish performance dates of The Inheritance Part 1 and The Inheritance Part 2, respectively. Pay What You Wish tickets go on sale on the day of the performance at 2:00 pm in-person or on the phone, and are limited to one per person.
Open Captioned performances of Part 1 will be held October 19, 23, 29, and 30 at 2:00 pm as well as October 20, 22, 26, 28 and November 3 and 5 at 7:30 pm. Open Captioned performances for Part 2 will be held October 22 and 26 and November 5 and 6 at 2:00 pm as well as October 19, 21, 27, and 29 and November 2, 4, and 6 at 7:30 pm. The Sensory-Friendly performance of Part 1 is on Wednesday, October 12, and The Sensory-Friendly performance of Part 2 is on Wednesday, October 19.
The supporting sponsor for The Inheritance is James DeRentis, The Providence Real Estate Guy. Trinity Rep’s 2022-23 Season is sponsored in part by the Rhode Island State Council on The Arts (RISCA). 110 Grill is Trinity Rep’s Opening Night Sponsor, and Southwest Airlines is the Official Airline of Trinity Rep.
TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY
Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater, Trinity Rep has created unparalleled professional theater for and with its community since its founding in 1963. Trinity Rep strives to facilitate human connection and has been a driving force behind the creativity that fuels and defines the region for more than 50 years.
Trinity Rep is committed to reinventing the public square and inspiring dialogue by creating emotionally-stimulating live productions that range from classical to contemporary and innovative education programs for all ages and abilities. Its annual production of A Christmas Carol has brought families together for more than four decades and made memories for over a million audience members.
The 2022-23 Season launches in September and runs through June 2023, and includes productions of The Inheritance, A Christmas Carol, By The Queen, The Inferior Sex, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. For more information, visit Trinity Rep’s website at www.TrinityRep.com.
AT A GLANCE
The Inheritance
Part 1 and Part 2
Part 1: September 1 – November 5, 2022
Part 2: September 22 – November 6, 2022
Director Joe Wilson, Jr.
Set Designer Michael McGarty
Costume Designer Liza Alexis
Lighting Designer James Horban
Sound Designer Peter Sasha Hurowitz
Dramaturg Rachael Walshe
Intimacy Choreographer Jackie Davis
Stage Manager R. Christopher Maxwell
Assistant Stage Manager Polly Feliciano
Cast: The cast of this production features resident company members Jackie Davis as Margaret, Taavon Gamble as Toby Darling/Young Man 10, Mauro Hantman as Henry Wilcox, and Stephen Thorne as Morgan/Walter Poole. Joining them are Brown/Trinity Rep students Ross Barron (Young Man 5/Charles Wilcox/Peter/Toby’s Agent), David Mattar Merten (Young Man 7/Jasper/Paul Wilcox), Chingwe Padraig Sullivan (Young Man 1/Adam McDowell/Leo), and Tobias Wilson (Young Man 6/Tristan); Brown/Trinity Rep alumni Jack Dwyer (Eric Glass/Young Man 9), Michael Jennings Mahoney (Young Man 4/Young Henry/Tucker/Other Agent), and Rodney Witherspoon II (Young Man 2/Jason 1/Doorman 1); and guest artists Andrew Holder (Young Man 3/Young Walter/Clinic Worker/Dealer) and Adrian Peguero (Young Man 8/Jason 2/Doorman 2).
The Inheritance Part 1 Opening Press Night | Wednesday, September 7 at 7:30 pm
The Inheritance Part 2 Opening Press Night | Wednesday, September 28 at 7:30 pm
Invitations and RSVP instructions coming soon
Part 1 Pay What You Wish September 1 at 7:30 pm
Part 2 Pay What You Wish September 22 at 7:30 pm
Part 1 Open Caption Performances October 19, 23, 29, and 30 at 2:00 pm; October 20, 22, 26, 28 and November 3 and 5 at 7:30 pm.
Part 2 Open Caption Performances October 22 and 26 and November 5 and 6 at 2:00 pm; October 19, 21, 27, and 29 and November 2, 4, and 6 at 7:30 pm.
Part 1 Sensory Friendly Performance October 12 at 7:30 pm
Part 2 Sensory Friendly Performance October 19 at 7:30 pm
Website www.trinityrep.com/inheritance
Ticket Office (401) 351-4242; 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI 02903
Group Sales (401) 453-9238; discounts for groups of 10 or more
Ticket Prices Starting at $27
Supporting Sponsor James DeRentis, The Providence Real Estate Guy
Season Sponsor RISCA
Official Airline of Trinity Rep Southwest Airlines
Opening Night Sponsor 110 Grill