Steppenwolf Theatre Company stage director and actor Yasen Peyankov

Yasen Peyankov received a Joseph Jefferson award for Steppenwolf’s Morning Star. Other memorable appearances at Steppenwolf include The Wheel, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Hysteria and The Duel, produced in association with European Repertory, the Chicago company Yasen co-founded. His translation of Chekhov’s Ivanov, produced by European Repertory, was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Adaptation and is published by Ivan R. Dee. Yasen was born in Varna, Bulgaria and trained at the The National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts of Sofia, Bulgaria. He is an Associate Professor and Director of Theatre Studies at the Performing Arts Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

(Steppenwolf Theatre Company bio)

 

His Awards and credits in the U.S 

Film

The Company; Novocaine; U.S. Marshalls; Payback

Theatre

European Repertory Company: Co-founder; Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead; Ivanov; Scenes from an Execution; Agamemnon; Caligula The Goodman: The Odyssey Court Theatre: Hamlet; Piano; Twelfth Night American Theatre Company: Medea Director Rushforth Productions in Los Angeles: Ladybird University of Illinois at Chicago: We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!, Featuring Loretta; Balm in Gilead; The Seagull European Repertory Company: Macbeth; Out at Sea; Roberto Zucco; Uncle Vanya; Stars in The Morning Sky; SLAVS!; Go Away Go Away Adaptor/Translator The Seagull(University of Illinois at Chicago); Uncle Vanya; Ivanov (published by Ivan R. Dee); Zoyka’s Apartment; Stars in the Morning Sky; Go Away

Television

The Beast (A&E);E-Ring(NBC); The Evidence(ABC); The Unit(CBS) The Practice (ABC); Karen Sisco(ABC); Alias (ABC); Walker: Texas Ranger (CBS); Early Edition (CBS); Turks (CBS)

Awards

2002-2003 Fox Fellowship; Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Supporting Actor (Morning Star); Joseph Jefferson Nomination for Best Actor

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Yasen Peyankov was born and raised in Bulgaria where he graduated from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia . He was trained in the traditions of the Russian naturalistic theatre and the system of K.S. Stanislavski.

 

Since his arrival In Chicago in 1990 he co-founded the European Repertory Company in 1992 and has worked as an actor in some of the finest theatres in the city—Steppenwolf, Goodman, Court, Next, American Theatre, and many others. His role as Greenspan In “Morning Star” at Steppenwolf earned him a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also received a nomination for Best Adaptation for his translation/adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov, which was consequently published by Ivan R. Dee.

 

Since 2002, he has been a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble, where he has appeared in Time to Burn, The Time of Your Life (also In Seattle and San Francisco), Berlin Circle, Hysteria, Morning Star, Frankie and Johnny In the Clare De Lune (also In Dublin), Cherry Orchard, Lost Land, The Pillowman, Diary of Anne Frank. He has also directed for University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), European Repertory Company, and Rushfort in Los Angeles , and translated and adapted plays by Anton Chekhov, Mikhall Bulgakov, Nikolal Kolyada, and Vaslly Slgarev. Mr. Peyankov has also appeared on film in The Company directed by Robert Altman, Gifted Hands, Payback , US Marshals, Novocain, Lana’s Rain, and in television shows such as The Beast, The Unit, The Evidence, Alias, Numb3rs, The Practice, Early Edition, and others.

 

Most recently Mr. Peyankov appeared in the World Premiere of Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts at Steppenwolf and directed his own translation of Anton Chekhov’s Seagull at UIC and the Glass Menagerie for Steppenwolf. In May Mr. Peyankov traveled with a group of UIC students to Sofia, Bulgaria to participate in a Theatre Workshop taught by some of the best theatre artists currently working in Sofia.

 

Mr. Peyankov has been teaching acting at UIC since 2000, and accepted the position of Master Actor in the fall of 2007. He has also taught at The Steppenwolf Summer School, Steppenwolf West, Act One Studio, and the University of Chicago. He is a recipient of a 2002 Walter and Eva Fox Fellowship.

 

In September of 2009 Yasen Peyankov made his Broadway debut reprising the role of Max Tarasov in Tracy Letts’ newest play Superior Donuts.

 

(UIC bio) 

Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude, National Theatre London

I love Eugene O’Neil

Scenes from the Bigger Picture

I just saw a very good production of Eugene O’Neil’s Strange Interlude at the National Theatre in London. As you’d expect from O’Neill, it’s massively ambitious, encompassing several decades in the life of Nina, a woman who is unusually self-possessed and sexually assertive (for a female character in a 1920s American play, anyway…).

The play is also formally experimental, using asides to present the inner thoughts of  the characters. The ensuing contrast between what people say and what they’re thinking is often very funny, but the cumulative effect is to create the impression that in some ways O’Neill is trying to reverse engineer Shakespeare.

Shakespeare in his earlier plays took the inner self and externalised it, not only through the use of soliloquies but also, and more interestingly, by personifying human emotions. Hence, jealousy took the form of the villain John the Bastard in Much Ado, who in turn…

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Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

 

 

 

this a great mystery with a twist you will not see coming a mile off!

 

When multi-millionaire Simeon Lee unexpectedly invites his family to gather at his home for Christmas, the gesture is met with suspicion by many of the guests. Simeon is not given to family sentiment, and not all of the family are on good terms with one another. To make things worse, he has invited the black sheep of the family, Harry, and Simeon’s granddaughter, Pilar, whom none of them has ever met before. Simeon is intent on playing a sadistic game with his family’s emotions. An unexpected guest – Stephen Farr, son of Simeon Lee’s former partner in the diamond mines – means that the house is full of potential suspects when the game turns deadly.

Galway Alliance Against War statement re Niall Farrell Limerick 1st of Augustr Farrell will surrender himself to the Gardaí today @ 1pm

GALWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST WAR

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

GALWAY PEACE ACTIVIST DEMANDS POLITICAL STATUS

 

 

Niall Farrell of the peace group Galway Alliance Against War has written to the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, demanding that he be treated as a political prisoner when he starts a two week sentence on Friday.

 

Mr Farrell was arrested on two occasions along with Margaretta D’Arcy as they held a peaceful protest on the runway at Shannon airport. They are opposed to the US military’s use of the airport as a forward base in the illegal wars of Washington and its proxies.

 

In his letter to Minister Fitzgerald, Niall Farrell argues that his “actions at Shannon airport were specifically to oppose the continuing criminality taking place there…. Indeed, as I write, cargoes of death that have travelled freely through Shannon airport or Irish airspace are raining down in an act of genocide on the helpless people of Gaza. It is not I who is the criminal, rather those in the Irish state who have willingly been an accessory to these crimes against humanity carried out via Shannon airport and Irish airspace by the US war machine and its proxies.”

 

Mr Farrell concludes the letter to the Minister stating: “By sending me to Limerick Prison to serve this sentence the Irish state is attempting to criminalise my peaceful political actions. I cannot and will not accept this. I demand the right to be treated as a political prisoner and if I am not, I will not conform while in jail.”

 

The Galway Alliance Against War will hold a peace event at 1pm this Friday, August 1st , at the Liam Mellows’ statue on Eyre Square, Galway before Mr Farrell surrenders himself to the Gardaí. 

 

Below a copy of the letter to the Minister for Justice from Niall Farrell

 

30th July 2014

 

Dear Frances Fitzgerald,

 

I am writing in relation to my impending imprisonment in Limerick Gaol for having apparently “interfered with the proper use” of Shannon airport last Sept 1st (2013). On Friday by telephone the Garda Warrants’ Office in Galway informed me that there is a warrant for my arrest to serve two weeks imprisonment as a result of my conviction at Ennis District Court in June 2014. I have arranged to be arrested this coming Friday on my return from having been abroad.

 

I wish to make it clear that my so-called offence was political, not criminal. I am therefore calling on you to have me treated as a political prisoner, while I am very briefly in jail. By sending me to Limerick Prison to serve this sentence I believe the Irish state is not only trying to criminalise me, but also criminalise the Peace Movement in Ireland.

 

My actions at Shannon airport were specifically to oppose the continuing criminality taking place there. On a daily basis for some 13 years the US military has transported millions of troops and unknown quantities of weaponry to warzones – the result has been the deaths of at least one million innocent people and the destruction of once successfully functioning societies. Indeed, as I write cargoes of death that have travelled freely through Shannon airport or Irish airspace are raining down in an act of genocide on the helpless people of Gaza.

 

It is not I who is the criminal, rather those in the Irish state who have willingly been an accessory to these crimes against humanity carried out via Shannon airport and Irish airspace by the US war machine and its proxies.

 

I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: “Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.”

 

Judge Patrick Durcan, who was the trial judge, did not see any relevance in the Nuremberg Principles. But, of course, he wouldn’t , would he? Judge Durcan has good Fine Gael pedigree: a former FG Senator, the election agent of Michael Ring at the last general election, even a former running mate of Enda Kenny, who – lo and behold – elevated him to the bench months after Fine Gael took power.

 

So, not only was the “offence” committed by Margaretta D’Arcy and myself political, but the judge who tried us, Patrick Durcan, stems from the very Fine Gael elite that allows the criminality at Shannon to continue unimpeded.

 

In other words, this case for which I am being imprisoned for two weeks is top to bottom political. By sending me to Limerick Prison to serve this sentence the Irish state is attempting to criminalise my peaceful political actions. I cannot and will not accept this. I demand the right to be treated as a political prisoner and if I am not, I will not conform while in jail.

 

Yours,

 

Niall Farrell

 

 

 

WE’RE STILL HERE… – MY SON’S NOT RAINMAN

http://www.mysonsnotrainman.com/blog/were-still-here

New Editing and Media Updates Are Here

Gary Sinise, Steppenwolf Theatre Company co-founder

 

Gary Sinise is a co-founder of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He is a three-time Tony-nominee, twice for acting in Steppenwolf’s productions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Grapes of Wrath and once for Best Director of Buried Child. Gary has also directed some of Steppenwolf’s most notable productions, including Orphans, the Viet Nam veteran drama Tracers and Sam Shepard’s True West, which he later performed with John Malkovich in Steppenwolf’s New York debut and received an Obie award for directing. He’s appeared in many films including Apollo 13, Ransom, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting actor for Forrest Gump. On the small screen he’s won the Emmy for Best Actor in George Wallace and a Golden Globe for Truman, and appeared in CSI: New York. He plays electric bass in his band, The Lt. Dan Band, and is committed to Operation International Children, a grassroots program he co-created with author Laura Hillenbrand that sends school supplies to our troops which are then distributed to children in the conflict areas where they are deployed. In 2008 he was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal for his humanitarian work, the second highest honor an American can receive.

Some of his credits and awards 

Film

Actor The Big Bounce; The Human Stain; A Gentleman’s Game; Imposter; Mission to Mars; Reindeer Games; The Green Mile; It’s the Rage; Bruno; Snake Eyes; Ransom; Albino Alligator; Apollo 13; The Quick and the Dead; Forrest Gump; Jack the Bear; Of Mice and Men; A Midnight Clear. Director Of Mice and Men; Miles From Home.

Television

Fallen Angel (Hallmark); That Championship Season (Showtime); George Wallace (TNT); Truman(HBO); The Stand (ABC).

Awards

Golden Globe (Truman); Obie Award (True West); Tony Award nomination (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Grapes of Wrath; Buried Child); Screen Actors Guild Award, Emmy Award and Cable ACE Award (George Wallace and Truman); National Board of Review Award (Forrest Gump); Academy Award nomination (Forrest Gump). Presidential Citizen Medal (2008)

Alan Ayckbourn’s A Small Family Busines kids week august

Kids Week is all about introducing children to the magic of London theatre during the month of august 

Alan Ayckbourn’s A Small Family Business, a riotous exposure of entrepreneurial greed, returns to the National where it premiered in 1987.

What if all your in-laws are outlaws?

Jack McCracken: a man of principle in a corrupt world. But not for long. Moments after taking over his father-in-law’s business he’s approached by a private detective armed with some compromising information. Jack’s integrity fades away as he discovers his extended family to be thieves and adulterers, looting the business from their suburban homes. Rampant self-interest takes over and comic hysteria builds to a macabre climax.

Well, that’s one down, isn’t it. Nine to go. Next! Thou shalt not kill. What about that then? Let’s have a crack at that one next, shall we?

 

A child aged 16 or under can go free to these performances when accompanied by an adult paying full price

This offer is subject to availability, cannot be used in conjunction with any other discounts and does not apply to tickets previously purchased.

 

 

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, Situations Vacant, Jobs in Galway – Irish Jobs | Galway Advertiser

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, Situations Vacant, Jobs in Galway – Irish Jobs | Galway Advertiser.

Positive Trans Visibility Matters at GAZE Film Festival

EILE Magazine

Phillipa from ‘I Am‘. [Image: TENI] Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) are hosting a special free event that is taking place as part of this year’s GAZE film festival.

The screening of My Transgender Journey will take place on Friday, August 1 at 2.45pm in the Red Room, at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield.

This will be followed by a panel discussion, and we are delighted to announce that panelists include the documentary’s producer Cat Steel; Sam and Louise who were featured in the film; and Broden Giambrone, Chief Executive of TENI, who will discuss the importance of trans visibility. TENI’s Aoife O’Driscoll will Chair proceedings. 

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