Pre- #MeToo comedy by Theresa Rebeck gets revival directed by Thomas G. Waites.
January 17 - February 14 at The Gene Frankel Theatre
"Full of tart wit, feminist insight, and quirky detours of plot." – Time Magazine
Rosenfelt Productions will present a timely revival of Theresa Rebeck’s 1992 pre- #MeToo comedy SPIKE HEELS. Directed by Thomas G. Waites (Awake and Sing!with Frances McDormand, Al Pacino’s King Richard III), previews begin January 17 at The Gene Frankel Theatre. Opening is slated for Thursday, January 24.
Pygmalion goes awry in this contemporary comedy of manners, which explores misplaced passion and the possibility of a four-sided love triangle. The combatants are a sexy, volatile young woman and three Boston Back Bay types circa 1992: a writer, a lawyer, and a fiancée in sensible shoes. SPIKE HEELS delves into issues of sexual harassment, the control and use of women, self-determination and identity, and the changing expectations of men in a feminist era.
“Relationships between the sexes have never been more confusing or dangerous, especially in the workplace, in light of the Kavanaugh/Ford hearings and allegations of sexual harassment most know to be true,” notes director Thomas G. Waites. “This play deals with this crisis between men and women in the workplace. What is consent? What is harassment? Is Harvey Weinstein the only man in the workplace lacking perspicuity?”
SPIKE HEELS stars Kate Billingsley, Ellisa Klie, Judah Tobias, and Will Rosenfelt with set by Alex Hang, lighting and sound by Dean Denmon, and costumes by Al Malonga and Charlotte Lily Gaspard.
Theresa Rebeck is the most Broadway-produced female playwright of our time. New York productions of her work include Bernhardt/Hamlet, Dead Accounts (starring Katie Holmes); Seminar (starring Alan Rickman); Mauritius (starring F. Murray Abraham), all on Broadway; Downstairs (starring Tim Daly and Tyne Daly) at Primary Stages; The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels at Second Stage; Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House at Playwrights Horizons; The Understudy at Roundabout Theatre Company; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop. Other notable plays include Poor Behavior, Omnium Gatherum (co-written), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2013, and What We’re Up Against, which was written in 1992 and revived last year against the backdrop of the #timesup movement. In television, Rebeck created the NBC showbiz drama “Smash,” and has written for “Canterbury’s Law,” “LA Law,” NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Dream On,” Brooklyn Bridge,” and many more. Her produced feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and Seducing Charlie Barker, an adaptation of her play, The Scene. Her awards include a GLAAD Award, the National Theatre Conference Award, the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, the Athena Film Festival Award, an Alex Award, and a Lilly Award. In 2011, Rebeck was named one of the 150 Fearless Women in the World by Newsweek.
Thomas G. Waites is an American actor, director and acting instructor. He founded the TGW Acting Studio in 2000, coaching countless actors including Alfred Molina, Vinnie Pastore, Vinessa Shaw, and Oliver Hudson. As an actor, he starred opposite Daryl Hannah in the film The Clan of the Cave Bearas well as in ...And Justice For All, The Thing, Light of Dayand The Warriors. Waites made his Broadway debut in Teaneck Tanziopposite Deborah Harry and Andy Kaufman. Other Broadway credits include Awake and Sing!with Frances McDormand and Harry Hamlin, King Richard IIIstarring Al Pacino, and Howard Korder's Search and Destroy. Off-Broadway he appeared in Clifford Odets' Paradise Lostopposite Geraldine Page, Alan Bowne's Forty-Deuce, and David Mamet's American Buffalo. On TV he has been seen in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “The Equalizer,” “Kojak,” and “Miami Vice.” He has directed numerous Off and Off-Off Broadway plays including the long-running hit Six Goumbas and a Wannabe. Waites directed Joe Mantegna and Frances Fisher in the short film, “Pandora's Box,” for which he won Best Director in the Atlantic City Film Festival.
SPIKE HEELS runs January 17 – February 14, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm with an additional performance Tuesday, January 22 at 8pm. The Gene Frankel Theatre is located at 24 Bond Street, between Bowery and Lafayette -- accessible from B,D,F,M trains at Broadway/Lafayette or the #6 at Bleecker. Tickets are $25, available at www.EventBrite.com.