The Hen Night Epiphany

Arouet in conjunction with
The Driftwood Players’ Theatre of Intriguing Possibilities present
the North American premiere of
The Hen Night Epiphany
A play by Award Winning Irish Playwright Jimmy Murphy

March 21-April 6, 2013

The Hen Night Epiphany by Jimmy Murphy (poster)Five women. One hen night. Too many secrets.

A heart lifting tale of five women who take to the countryside for a night of fun and laughter that unexpectedly leaves their lives turned upside down. A week before the wedding of her dreams, a woman wonders if some secrets should never be kept, no matter what the cost.

The Hen Night Epiphany promises to be an evening of laughter and tears with a hen night you will never forget.

The cast features Colleen Carey, Laura Crouch, Ellen Dessler, Frances Hearn, and Kelly Johnson. Directed by Roy Arauz. Read more about the cast and crew of The Hen Night Epiphany

Take a look at the rehearsal and production galleries.

What the critics had to say: Review Roundup

Jimmy Murphy is one of Ireland’s leading playwrights having written plays including Brothers Of The Brush, The Kings Of The Kilburn High Road and The Castlecomer Jukebox. In 2008 a version of The Kings Of The Kilburn High Road was produced as a feature film, Kings, and was Ireland’s official entry in the Oscars.

Definition of Hen Night: A bachelorette party, hen party, hen do, or hen night, is a party held for a woman who is about to be married. The term hen party or hen night is more common in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, while the term bachelorette party is more common in the United States. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_night

Audition Notice: The Temperamentals

The Temperamentals by Jon Marans
Directed by Roy Arauz

The Temperamentals recounts the founding of The Mattachine Society, the first sustained gay rights organization in the United States, told through the love affair between Harry Hay and Rudi Gernreich. The Temperamentals takes place in the early 1950s

Audition time: Sunday, September 30, 2012, 5:00 pm
Location: Theatre Puget Sound (Seattle Center)
Callbacks immediately follow at 6:00 pm. Please be prepared to stay if called back.

All Roles Open:

Harry Hay:
39, pushy, gruff, blustery, and imperious

Rudi Gernreich:
29, interestingly handsome, wildly charming, speaks with a trace of a Viennese accent. Actor also plays a woman.

Three Men

  • Various ages, each to play multiple roles.
  • One man plays the ukulele
  • One man plays the clarinet (ideally, but not absolutely mandatory)
  • All three men play a woman

Rehearsals:
Rehearsals begin on April 1, 2013
Mon-Thu evenings, Saturday afternoons and/or Sunday evenings

Performances: May 10-25, 2013
Compensation: Arouet is a profit-sharing company. Once production costs are covered, the profits are shared with the cast and crew. The House of Bernarda Alba was our first production where we were able to make good on this goal.

Cast And Crew of Lawfully Wedded

Cast and Crew

Roy Arauz (Director)

Roy ArauzRoy is a director, producer, and Artistic Director of Arouet. He has been thrilled about the project from the moment Danny brought the idea of “the marriage play” to the company, and is ecstatic to see it come to fruition with such a talented group of writers and actors. Most recently he directed Anna in the Tropics for Latino Theatre projects and produced and assistant-directed Arouet’s The House of Bernarda Alba. Next he’s directing The Music Man for Driftwood Players, the American premiere of The Hen Night Epiphany, a co-production of the Driftwood Players’ Theatre of Intriguing Possibilities and Arouet, and the Northwest premiere of The Temperamentals.

Mariajose Barrera (Production Assistant)

Mariajose BarreraI am a Guatemalan born and raised, have lived permanently in the U.S.A. for 12 years, a business manager and owner who came into theater by chance, when given the opportunity to write and perform a short monologue for the 2011 Latino Community fund.


Greg Bee (Poet)

Greg BeeGreg is a writer, performance poet and cat fancier who lives in Seattle. He has competed in five consecutive Seattle Poetry Slam Grand Slams, three consecutive Individual World Poetry Slams and was a member of the 2009 Seattle Poetry Slam team competing against teams from across North America. Greg has featured on stages across the U.S.A. and Canada and is the author of two chapbooks called One Lap Around and A Cautionary Tale, both of which he loves like precious kittens. When not on stage, Greg writes relationship advice through his alter ego: The Bitter Single Guy.


Jeremy Behrens (Actor)

Jeremy BehrensJeremy is thrilled to be a part of the Lawfully Wedded project. A Chicago native, Jeremy moved to Seattle in May 2011 to pursue a career as a teaching artist and actor. Currently, he works as a teaching artist for the Seattle Children’s Theatre. Previous Seattle credits include: Yellow Face (NWOAC, et al.) with ReAct Theatre; The Mormon Bird Play (Pipa) with Washington Ensemble Theatre; Trojan Women (Andromache) with quiet Productions. He also worked as properties designer for Bed Snake at Washington Ensemble Theatre. He would like to encourage everyone to vote “yes” on Referendum 74 this November in what will be a ground-breaking election, something Washingtonians should be proud of to say we are the first state to legally recognize marriage equality. Love to all his family and friends who have shown support in every decision he has made.


Everett Bowling (Director)

Everett returns to theater after an 8 year hiatus. He is pleased to be back working in theater, and to be working with such talented actors, directors, and writers. Prior to Everett’s self-imposed hiatus his work could be seen at local theater’s throughout the area. He was in Don’t Dress for Dinner and Hay Fever at Driftwood, Corpus Christi at NW Actor’s Studio, Torch Song Trilogy at Burien, The Philadelphia Story and Seven Keys to Baldpate at RCT, as well as stints at Lakewood, TLT, and New City Theater. When he was not acting he was busy running the after school drama program at Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle for 5 wonderful years. He is the Development Director for Arouet Theatre working with Daniel Cords, and Roy Aruaz to bring you new, and exciting works, as well as established pieces that have not seen the light of day in the Seattle area. He would like to thank the cast for their undying commitment to this piece! Without them, we would simply have words on pages. He would also like to give a huge shout out to Purr Cocktail Lounge, the entire staff of Purr (you now who you are!), and of course to Barbie Humphrey! Without the donation of the upstairs rehearsal space this piece would still be an idea in Danny’s head. One last shout out must go to all my friends who encouraged me to take the plunge, and get my ass back into theater! I love you all!!


Daniel Cords (Producer)

A native Seattle actor turned teacher, Daniel has a passion for education through the arts. He is excited to be a part of Arouet as it engages, challenges, and inspires audiences.


Alysha Curry (Actor)

Alysha CurryAlysha is honored to be working with Arouet for the first time. She was recently seen in Henry VIII with GreenStage, and in Amadeus and Tartuffe at SecondStory Rep. She can be seen next Spring performing in Stone Soup Theatre’s Festival of Tennessee Williams One-Act Plays. Alysha is enjoying her most exciting role to date: Bride-to-be! [Love to her fiancé, Geb.]


John Epperson (Sound Design)

John Epperson, SeattleJohn is a recording artist. His work appears on many albums, compilations and DVDs as well as television, film and video games. When not making weird noises with synthesizers, Epperson designs sound for theatre. He has previously worked with Arouet, ArtsWest, Driftwood Players, Latino Theatre Projects, Redwood Theatre and Theatre 9/12. John has a website.


Bruce Erickson (Actor)

Bruce EricksonBruce is pleased to once again be working with Roy, reunited together after his appearance in The Gene Pool for Arouet. Bruce has been most recently seen on the stage in Edmonds appearing in M*A*S*H 4077th, and Love, Sex and the IRS. He has appeared on stage in over 30 productions, up and down the I-5 corridor. “I am really pleased to be involved with this project. I believe keeping Marriage Equality front and center with help to educate and inform the voting public. It is important to stand up and be counted on such an important issue. I personally have been in a same-sex relationship going on 33 years.” Thank you to the cast and crew and eight little letters to Cliff and our son Noah!


Perry Fulfs (Musician)

Perry FulfsPerry has been playing and writing since college. Grew up in the Midwest & is founding member of Beef Curtans, which last performed at RAGBRAI bicycle rally in Omaha as the first local band (via Seattle) to play Omaha’s largest casino. In Seattle he kept writing and playing with friends just for fun. After a long hiatus, he was persuaded to return to his music for Lawfully Wedded as a songwriter/musician.


Caitlin Gilman (Playwright)

Caitlin GilmanCaitlin is delighted to be on the writing team for Lawfully Wedded. Productions include short plays J.D Salinger is My God, which won the audience favorite award at Stone Soup’s Outside the Box festival, and The Scottish Sketch, part of DramaQueen’s recent SWAN day performance. Full lengths include Pretty Girls (co-written with Opal Peachey and Elizabeth Tanner), and a staged reading of My Dear Miss Chancellor, with WET’s New Play Workshop. She is a graduate of Cornish College of the Arts, and a proud company member of Annex Theatre.


Addie Keller (Actor)

Addie KellerAddie is new to the Seattle theatre scene and is thrilled and grateful to be working with Arouet on Lawfully Wedded. She loves that she is able to pursue her passion of collaborative works of art with an amazing group of artists as well as delve into such a prevalent topic in our society today! Her previous experience includes the devised piece “US” with Western Washington U. and “The American Family” in conjunction with Tectonic Theatre Project. She also would like to thank her parents, her sister Katrina, and family and friends for their unlimited support and love in her creative endeavors.


Idalia Limón (Actor)

Idalia is grateful to be part of this project, loves to work again with Roy, Morgan and Addie. An artistic spiral. She studied drama at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in her native México, at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and at Freehold Theatre in Seattle. Her recent projects (which she is very proud of) include: Anna in the Tropics and Timepieces. She also has participated on various projects with “eSe Teatro”, local commercials and independent movies. When not acting, Idalia enjoys contorting her body with yoga and old school roller skating. Idalia wants to thank the fabulous cast and crew for their support and trust.


Morgan Ludlow (Playwright)

Morgan is new to Seattle having moved here from San Francisco 2 years ago. His work was last seen at the Ethnic Cultural Center for the Seattle Playwrights’ Collective showcase Timepieces. Morgan founded Wily West Productions in 2008 and has produced more than 20 productions. Here in Seattle Morgan has founded the Pacific Play Company with Daniel Tarker which will be devoted to new plays by local writers. Morgan has had plays performed or read at the Eureka Theatre, the Phoenix Theatre, the Exit Theatre, Stage Werx, the Marsh in San Francisco, Berkeley Rep, Virago Theatre Company, Gaia Performing Arts Center in Berkeley, Ross Valley Players in Marin County, The Pegasus Theatre in Monte Rio, Theatre Works West, Center Stage and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and at the Interborough Rep in New York City. Morgan’s play, Ruth and the Sea, was listed as one of the “top 10 Bay Area productions of 2010” by SF Bay Times and Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle chairman, Tom Kelly. His comedies, Nymph O’ Mania, Maidrid’s Bow and The Widow West have all received critical acclaim and played to sold-out houses in San Francisco. Morgan is a member of Theatre Bay Area, The Play Cafe, Theatre Puget Sound and The Dramatists Guild of America. He looks forward to seeing the Seattle premiere of Maidrid’s Bow in the spring of 2013!


Carissa Meisner Smit (Actor)

Carissa is pleased to play a part for such an important social issue. An actor, singer, and dancer, her recent credits include Chicago (Velma, Second Story Rep.), Christmas Belles (Patsy, The Phoenix Theater), Enchanted April (Rose, Adagio Players), Fuddy Meers, and The Vagina Monologues. An upcoming revue of Tom Lehrer songs, Poisoning Pigeons in the Park with Hit and Run productions promises to be a hoot! By day Carissa produces the “Theatre of Intriguing Possibilities” at The Driftwood Players. Love to my knurfjes.


Christine Mosere (Director)

Christine is a writer, actor and director and is thrilled to be working with such a talented cast and crew. She is honored to be directing this meaningful show along side Roy Arauz – whom she first met while performing with Theatre 9/12. Before moving to the lovely Pacific Northwest, she worked consistently in the New York Off and Off-Off Broadway stage with such great companies as Primary Stages, LaMaMa, Woman Seeking… a theatre company and Peccadillo. Her direction of Rachel Crothers’ Expressing Willie at The West End Theatre earned her a Best Directing OOBR award. She is proud to say that her direction has received both pans and RAVES in The Village Voice and The New York Times (and ironically she loved the pans most as reviewer’s writing seems to get much more creative when panning a show). In Seattle, her direction has be seen at The Richard Hugo House (with Woman Seeking…) and at The Phoenix Theatre in Edmonds.


Eric Olson (Actor)

Eric is proud to be a part of his first Arouet production. He’s previously worked with Arouet’s Artistic Director, Roy Arauz in These Walls Can Talk. Other local plays include Suddenly Last Summer, Everything in the Garden, and The Cherry Orchard — all at Theatre 9/12. He can also be seen in the upcoming film The Dregs. When not acting, Eric loves spending time with his beautiful wife Mary and rabidly supporting anything related to Washington State Cougar athletics.


Gabriel Sedgemore (Actor)

Gabriel SedgemoreGabriel is excited to be a part of such an enlightening and profound play. He hopes this play will help change and open hearts and minds by allowing everyone to take a glimpse into the trials and tribulations of our fellow human beings. It is an honor for him to be part of what he feels is one of the best plays he has had the privilege of being a part of. A big thank you to a wonderful dichotomy of talented directors and actors and his ever constant support group made up of Sharon Lorenzen, his Uncle Greg and brother Joel.


Lawfully Wedded is sponsored by Purr Cocktail Lounge
Purr Cocktail Lounge Logo

Lawfully Wedded is presented as part of Arts Crush, the month-long arts festival in the Puget Sound area.
artscrush red orange stacked logo

Lawfully Wedded

New plays about marriage. Or not.

Conceived by Daniel Cords
Written by: Greg Bee (poet), Perry Fulfs (musician), Caitlin Gilman (playwright), and Morgan Ludlow (playwright)
Directed by: Roy Arauz, Everett Bowling, and Christine Mosere
Featuring: Jeremy Behrens, Alysha Curry, Bruce Erickson, Addie Keller, Idalia Limon, and Eric Olson. For full profiles, visit The Cast and Crew of Lawfully Wedded.

What is love? What is marriage? What does it all mean? People have widely differing views, and that is the subject we explore in this collaborative piece. Through personal interviews, theatre, poetry, and music we will explore the topic and challenge your preconceived notions. This collaborative production is sure to speak to your heart! Don’t miss this thought provoking and relevant production.

Lawfully Wedded is sponsored by Purr Cocktail Lounge
Purr Cocktail Lounge Logo

Lawfully Wedded is presented as part of Arts Crush, the month-long arts festival in the Puget Sound area.
artscrush red orange stacked logo

What’s Next for Arouet

We are inspired after the success of Bernarda Alba. The next year brings us a work in development, a North American premiere and a Northwest premiere. Mark you calendars, it’s going to be a fun one.

The Marriage Play [working title]

What is love? What is marriage? What does it all mean? Different people have different views, and this will be the subject we explore in this collaborative piece. We have been collecting stories and conducting surveys , and together with three playwrights we will work to create a series of micro-plays and poems between 4- to 5-minutes long that take us through the different views on marriage and hopefully challenge us and our preconceived notions on the matter. Two directors and six actors will stage the show in a continuous series of scenes. The Marriage Play will perform as part of ArtsCrush in October 2012, locations and times will be announced shortly.

The Hen Night Epiphany by Jimmy Murphy – North American premiere

A co-production with the Driftwood Players’ Theatre of Intriguing Possibilities

Should secrets be kept, no matter the cost? Five women come together to clean-up a rundown cottage in the countryside for a night of fun and laughter, but as long-kept secrets are revealed their lives are turned upside-down. The Hen Night Epiphany promises to be an emotional evening of laughter and tear with a hen night (bachelorette party) you will never forget.

Jimmy Murphy is one of Ireland’s leading playwrights. In 2008 a version of The Kings of the Kilburn High Road was produced as a feature film, Kings, and was Ireland’s official entry in the Academy Awards.

Performance Dates and Locations

March 21-24, 2013
The Driftwood Players’ Wade James Theatre, Edmonds
Visit http://www.driftwoodplayers.com for more information

March 29-April 7
The Downstage Theatre (Stone Soup Theatre), Seattle
Performance details TBA

The Temperamentals by Jon Marans – Northwest Premiere

“Temperamental” was code for “homosexual” in the early 1950s, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. The play tells the story of the founding of the Mattachine Society, the first sustained gay-rights organization in the United States, and the love story of two of its founders, Harry Hay and Rudi Gernreich.

Jon Marans has been a prolific and recognized playwright since the 1990s. His plays Old Wicked Songs was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, winner of New York Drama League, L.A. Drama Logue Award, included in Otis Guernsey’s Best Plays of 1996-97; Child Child was the winner of the Preston Jones Award and the first of a trilogy (including Jumping for Joy) about the Mavin family; and Opportunity Knocks won the Backdoor Theater Award.

Performance Dates and Locations

May 11-26
The Ballard Underground, Seattle
Performance details TBA