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Evanston Salt Costs Climbing
by Will Arbery
directed by Danya Taymor
October 25, 2022
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater The Pershing Square Signature Center 480 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036
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Overview
Winters keep getting worse in Evanston, IL where salt truck drivers Peter and Basil battle the ice and snow and pass the time with jokes and stories. But what’s with this creeping sense of dread? Is it because their boss Maiworm has noble visions of new green technology that would make their jobs obsolete? Or is there a more terrifying warning calling out from under these roads? At least they have each other, right?
Pulitzer Prize finalist Will Arbery confronts humanity’s darkest fears with humor, warmth, and the fortitude of municipal public servants in this play about climate and change.
Directed by Danya Taymor (Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery, “Daddy” with The New Group), Evanston Salt Costs Climbing features Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Ruined, Marys Seacole), Jeb Kreager (HBO’s Mare of Easttown, Heroes of the Fourth Turning), Ken Leung (HBO’s Industry, Lost) and Rachel Sachnoff (Evanston Salt Costs Climbing at White Heron Theatre).
Cast
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Quincy Tyler Bernstine
CastTheater: Marys Seacole (Lortel Award); Our Lady of 121st Street; The Amateurs; As You Like It; Small Mouth Sounds; Peer Gynt; Grand Concourse; 10 out of 12; The Nether; Mr. Burns; Neva; We Are Proud to Present a Presentation…; born bad; Ruined (2009 OBIE, Derwent, Audelco Awards); In the Next Room; The Misanthrope. Film: The Tender Bar, White Noise, Manchester By The Sea, Still Alice, Rachel Getting Married. TV: Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Evil, The Equalizer, Julia, Power Book II: GHOST, Power, Ray Donovan, Modern Love, High Maintenance, The Leftovers, Chappelle’s Show. Education: Brown, UCSD. 2019 OBIE for Sustained Excellence in Performance, Cullman 3rd Award for Extraordinary Creativity (LCT, 2019); 2015 Lilly Award, Bowden Award (New Dramatists).
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Jeb Kreager
CastThe New Group: Evanston Salt Costs Climbing. Broadway: Oslo. Off-Broadway: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Obie Award), Oslo (Obie Award), The Sister. Select regional: Frozen (Barrymore Award), The Aliens, True West, Mr. Marmalade, Recent Tragic Events. TV: Mare of Easttown, Mindhunter, The Undoing, Marvel’s The Punisher, One Dollar, For Life, Outsiders, Boardwalk Empire, The Good Fight, and more. Film: Armageddon Time, The Creator, Hell House LLC, Funny Bunny, Animal Husbandry. Jeb is a founding member of the Obie Award-winning New Paradise Laboratories (Philadelphia, PA) with whom he has co-created and performed in 15 original works. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech and studied at Teatro Piccolo Orologio (Reggio Emilia, Italy) and Circle in the Square (NYC).
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Ken Leung
CastKen Leung can currently be seen starring in HBO’s Industry. Other TV credits include ABC’s Lost, HBO’s The Sopranos and High Maintenance, and Netflix’s upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender. Films include Rush Hour, Keeping the Faith, Sucker Free City, Old, and Sony’s upcoming Missing.
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Rachel Sachnoff
CastRachel Sachnoff is thrilled to be making her off-broadway debut with The New Group. She originated the role of Jane Jr in the world premiere of Evanston Salt Costs Climbing at White Heron Theatre. She has developed new work at Playwrights Horizons, Clubbed Thumb, The Bushwick Starr, The O’Neill, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark, and Mabou Mines. Originally from Chicago Rachel has studied improv with Second City, UCB and is a graduate of Kenyon college where she was the recipient of the Joanne Woodward award for best actress. rachelsachnoff.com
Creative Team
Matt Saunders
Scenic DesignRecent Off Broadway: Catch As Catch Can (Playwright’s Horizons), Daddy (New Group & Vineyard) *Drama Desk Award, Pipeline (Lincoln Center), Venus (Signature), Futurity (Soho Rep and Ars Nova), Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry and the Public), The Tempest (Public Theater / Delacorte). Over 100 regional credits including: Guthrie, Mark Taper Forum, Huntington Theatre Company, Long Wharf, Berkeley Rep, Yale Rep, Wilma Theater and Kennedy Center. Training: MFA, Yale School of Drama. Saunders is a Pew Fellow and a Hodder Fellow, Princeton Univeristy. Associate Professor of Design at Swarthmore College. www.mattsaunders.net
Sarafina Bush
Costume DesignBroadway: For Colored Girls… (Tony Award Nominee), Pass Over. Off-Broadway: To My Girls (2nd Stage), Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Obie Award: Playwrights Horizons), Broadway Bounty Hunter (Greenwich House), Plot Points, Pass Over (LCT3). Regional: How to Dance in Ohio (Syracuse Stage), Life After (Goodman Theatre), Afterwords (5th Avenue), Nina Simone: Four Women (Berkshire Theatre Group), Slow Food (Geva Theatre), Cry It Out and The Royale (Kitchen Theatre Company. Education: BA, Adelphi University.
Isabella Byrd
Lighting DesignWith Will Arbery: Corsicana, Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons), and PLANO (Clubbed Thumb.) additionally with Danya Taymor Endgame (Gate, Dublin) DADDY: A Melodrama (New Group, Almedia, Vineyard.), Everybody (Juilliard). Select designs: Cabaret (West End, Olivier nomination), Lighting Shining in Buckinghamshire, (New York Theatre Workshop.) Epiphany (Lincoln Center). Awards: Obie, Lortel, and Henry Hewes, Critics Circle. Nominations: Olivier, Drama Desk. Proud union member (USA829) and pay equity advocate. www.isabellabyrd.design
Mikaal Sulaiman
Sound DesignBroadway: Thanksgiving Play, Fat Ham, Death of a Salesman, Cost of Living, Macbeth, Thoughts of a Colored Man. Off-Broadway: The Half-God of Rainfall (NYTW), Primary Trust (Roundabout) Des Moines (TFANA), Sanctuary City (NYTW), Fairview (Soho Rep), Rags Parkland (Ars Nova), Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova). Recipient: Obie Award, Creative Capital Award, Henry Hewes Award, and CTG Sherwood Award. www.mikaal.com
Gigi Buffington
Voice, Text & Dialect CoachBroadway: Cost Of Living, The Minutes, Clyde’s, Slave Play (remount), Pass Over, Linda Vista, Straight White Men, King Kong; Selected off Broadway: Evanston Salt Costs Rising, Downstate, Catch As Catch Can, Corsicana, The Devil Wears Prada, OnSugarland, Prayer For The French Republic, Heroes Of The Fourth Turning, The Thin Place, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, Mary Page Marlowe; Six seasons Steppenwolf Theater Company; One season Royal Shakespeare Company; Text consultant for Spike Lee and Ron Wimberly’s screenplay, Prince Of Cats; Arts Professor,Tisch Drama, NYU.
Ann James
Intimacy Coach & Sensitivity SpecialistAnn has an extensive career in international stage direction and theater education spanning three decades. James recently made her debut as the first Black Intimacy Coordinator of Broadway for Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over. She served as Intimacy Director and Sensitivity Specialist® for the Off-Broadway productions of Moises Kaufman’s Seven Deadly Sins by Tectonic Theatre Project, Seize the King produced by Classical Theatre of Harlem, Twilight Los Angeles:1992 at Signature Theater and ART, F*cking A at Fordham University and most recently for Dominique Morisseau’s Confederates also at Signature Theater. Mx. James is pleased to be working on several new shows slated for the 2023 Broadway season.
Tilly Evans-Krueger
Movement CoordinatorTilly Evans Krueger hails from Madison, WI. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wright State University with her BFA in Dance. She is currently a swing with the company of Moulin Rouge! Broadway. They have choreographed for numerous artists including but not limited to; Joshua Henry and Kat Cunning. Choreography for short films; Mover, Jackson Jarvis, BoyHoarder, directed by Gabrielle Carrubba and “Elle,” Kyle Morrison. Tilly was a chosen choreographer for Dance Lab New York’s March 2021 cycle of Nexus Lab. They are now the Associate Choreographer of “The Outsiders,” a new musical premiering at La Jolla Playhouse in March 2023.
Evan Cook
Additional Sound DesignJudy Henderson, CSA
CastingJudy Henderson has been honored as one of the top 20 US Film Casting Directors. Highlights: Emmy Award, 6 Artios Awards. 9 Artios nominations. Select Film credits: L.I.E. (6 Spirit Award Nominations), Before Sunrise. Select TV credits: Homeland (Emmy Award and 2 Artios Awards), City On A Hill. Broadway: Barefoot In The Park, Anna Karenina (4 Tony Nominations). Off-Broadway: Forever Plaid (MAC Award for best cast album), Invasion (Obie Award), Lie of the Mind, The Kid (5 Drama Desk Nominations), Hurlyburly and "Daddy". Member of CSA and the Teamsters Theatrical Union. New Group CD since the beginning.
Rachel Denise April
Production Stage ManagerRACHEL DENISE APRIL (They/She) (Production Stage Manager) is a Guyanese-American Stage Manager, who has studied Theatrical Design and Stage Management at the City College of New York. Select Credits include: soft (MCC) Chicken and Biscuits (Queens Theatre), Retreat Workshop (National Black Theatre), The Big Green Theater Festival (SuperHero Playhouse) The Hole (Zhailon Levingston), Neptune (Timothy DuWhite), The Genesis Plays (The In[heir]itance Project), Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell (MTWorks), and The Fire This Time Festival 2015 (The Kraine Theater). Rachel has worked on projects throughout the United States and internationally and is a Creative Partner of Different Translation.
Stephen Michael Varnado
Assistant Stage ManagerOff-Broadway: Thomas Bradshaw’s The Seagull, Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, Black No More: The Musical, Wallace Shawn’s The Fever, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice: The Musical, A Jewish Joke, Blue Man Group. NY Theatre: The Rise of Mediocrity, Talent is Sexy, The Ladies of Glen Ross, Plan G. Love to Blake, Mom, Dad, Charles, Markus & Brandon.
Candi Adams PR
PressBroadway: Freestyle Love Supreme with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail (Special Tony Award; National Tour); The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino; Man of La Mancha; Fortune’s Fool; Fiddler on the Roof; Jane Eyre. Other: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish directed by Joel Grey; NY Stage & Film; 54 Below; Richard Nelson Plays. Press for award-winning Public Theater: Hamilton, Fun Home, Hair, Latin History for Morons with John Leguizamo, Eclipsed with Lupita Nyong’o, Seawall/A Life with Jake Gyllenhaal, Dry Powder with Claire Danes and John Krasinski, Hamlet with Oscar Isaac, Grounded with Anne Hathaway, Privacy with Daniel Radcliffe, The Library directed by Steven Soderbergh, Sting’s The Last Ship, David Byrne’s Here Lies Love.
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Will Arbery
PlaywrightWill Arbery is a playwright from Texas + Wyoming + seven sisters.
His play CORSICANA will be having its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons in the summer of 2022 in a production to be directed by Sam Gold.
His play Heroes of the Fourth Turning premiered at Playwrights Horizons in Fall 2019 and was a Finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and winner of numerous awards, including the 2020 Obie Award for Playwriting, the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play and the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Playwriting Award. Arbery also won the Whiting Award for Drama in 2020.
In addition to Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, Heroes of the Fourth Turning and Corsicana, Will’s other plays include: Plano (Clubbed Thumb), You Hateful Things (NYTW Dartmouth Residency), and Wheelchair (3 Hole Press). He’s currently under commission from Playwrights Horizons, MTC, and Audible. He’s a member/alum of New Dramatists, The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Page 73’s Interstate 73, Colt Coeur, Youngblood, and Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers Group. His plays have been developed at Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, The Vineyard, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Cape Cod Theater Project, The New Group, EST/Youngblood, The Bushwick Starr, Alliance/Kendeda, and Tofte Lake Center.
In television, he is a writer on HBO’s Succession.
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Danya Taymor
DirectorDanya Taymor is an Obie-award winning New York based director. Recent direction includes the Broadway production of Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s PASS OVER at the August Wilson Theater. Other recent work: Will Arbery’s HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING (Playwrights Horizons, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Lortel Outstanding Play), Samuel Beckett’s ENDGAME (Gate, Dublin), Jeremy O. Harris’ “DADDY” (Almeida, London + New Group/Vineyard), Korde Arrington Tuttle’s GRAVEYARD SHIFT (Goodman Theater), PASS OVER (Lincoln Center + Steppenwolf, Lortel Outstanding Play), Danai Gurira’s FAMILIAR (Steppenwolf), Martyna Majok’s QUEENS (Lincoln Center Theater), Justin Kuritzkes’ THE SENSUALITY PARTY (The New Group), Susan Soon-He Stanton’s CYGNUS (Women’s Project), Brian Watkins’ WYOMING (Lesser America) and MY DAUGHTER KEEPS OUR HAMMER (The Flea), and Sarah Gancher’s THE PLACE WE BUILT (The Flea). Her production Antoinette Nwandu’s PASS OVER was filmed in collaboration with Spike Lee and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Awards and fellowships include the Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity from Lincoln Center, Joe A. Callaway Award for Outstanding Direction, Time Warner Directing Fellowship at Women’s Project, 2050 fellowship at New York Theatre Workshop, Van Lier Directing Fellowship; Gates Foundation Grant, Rough Draft Residency at the Drama League and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab.
Upcoming work includes: THE OUTSIDERS at La Jolla Playhouse (Book by Adam Rapp, music + Lyrics by Jamestown Revival + Justin Levine)
Group Sales
Interested in bringing a group of 10 or more? Please contact Anthony Colòn, our Manager of Ticketing and Audience Services at [email protected]
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The Pershing Square Signature Center is wheelchair accessible. Please email our box office at [email protected] with any questions.
Box OFfice Hours
The New Group’s Box Office is available by phone Tuesdays-Thursdays from 12 PM – 5 PM.
Closed Saturday-Monday.
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Gallery
Support for Evanston Salt Costs Climbing is provided by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation. Generous support for The New Group is provided by The Shubert Foundation and The Howard Gilman Foundation.
Evanston Salt Costs Climbing is supported in part by National Endowment for the Arts. The New Group’s productions are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The New Group’s productions are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Production photography by Monique Carboni.
World Premiere Production Presented by White Heron Theatre Company, New Neighborhood, Jay Alix & Una Jackman and Rebecca Kitt Lynne Bolton & Rolin Jones, Artistic Director Michael Kopko, Managing Director
Evanston Salt Costs Climbing was developed at the 2017 Ojai Playwrights Conference: Robert Egan, Artistic Director/Producer