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Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Description
Since their first appearance in a tiny Paris theatre in 1953, Samuel Beckett’s iconic down-and- outs Vladimir and Estragon have rarely been off the stage. Nearly every evening, somewhere on the globe, they show up for their dubious appointment with a savior named Godot who never comes, filling time with games and musing aphoristically on existence. Hilarious and heartbreaking, Waiting for Godot is the modern theatre’s indispensable document of rootlessness, uncertainty, and perpetually postponed deliverance. Godot will be directed by Arin Arbus (Resident Director, TFANA) whose critically acclaimed productions for the company include her OBIE Award-winning staging of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth. This production will reunite actors Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks, who last worked together for TFANA in Ionesco’s The Killer, directed by Darko Tresnjak in 2014.
Design by Paul Davis Studio / Mo Hinojosa
View the Seating Chart
By
Samuel Beckett
Featuring
Michael Shannon as Estragon
Paul Sparks as Vladimir
and
Toussaint Francois Battiste as a boy
Jeff Biehl as Lucky
Ajay Naidu as Pozzo
Directed by
Arin Arbus
Scenic Designer
Riccardo Hernández
Costume Designer
Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer
Chris Akerlind
Sound Designer
Palmer Hefferan
Choreographer
Byron Easley
Movement Consultant
Bill Irwin
Voice Director
Andrew Wade
Properties Supervisor
Jon Knust
Dramaturg
Jonathan Kalb
Fight Director
J. David Brimmer
Production Stage Manager
Shane Schnetzler
Artist Bios
toussaint francois battiste
A BoyToussaint Francois Battiste (a Boy). Most recently Toussaint (“T”) appeared as Travis Younger, opposite his father in the critically acclaimed, Lucille Lortel winning revival of A Raisin in the Sun at The Public Theater, directed by Robert O’Hara. Based with his family in Sacramento, CA, Battiste is in the 6th grade.
jeff biehl
LuckyJeff Biehl (Lucky) Broadway: Machinal (Roundabout). Off-Broadway: The Unbelieving (The Civilians), The Merchant of Venice (TFANA), Life Sucks (Drama Desk Nom. Outstanding Actor, Wheelhouse), Catch as Catch Can (Page73), Charles Francis Chan Jr’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery (NAATCO), 10 Out of 12 (Soho Rep), Poor Behavior (Primary Stages), Burning (New Group), Isaac’s Eye (EST). Regional: world premieres at Yale Rep, Denver Center, Woolly Mammoth, and Humana Festival. Film: Relay (upcoming), Worth, A Master Builder, Ricki and the Flash. TV: The Path, Vinyl, Mysteries of Laura, Forever, Southland, all Law & Orders. Juilliard.
ajay naidu
PozzoAjay Naidu (Pozzo) A veteran of many theatre productions, Naidu has been working with Theater Complicité, where credits include Measure for Measure, The Master and Margarita and The Kid Stays in the Picture. He is a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company. His film credits are extensive, and he is known for playing “Samir” in the cult hit Office Space and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Rick Linklater and Eric Bogosian’s SubUrbia. His directorial debut Ashes won him best actor awards at the London Asian Film Festival and the New York Indian Film Festival. He has appeared in many notable television shows.
michael shannon
EstragonMichael Shannon (Estragon) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Tony Award nominated actor. This is his third show at TFANA, having previously performed in Ionesco’s The Killer, directed by Tony Award winner Darko Tresnjak, and Denis Johnson’s Des Moines, directed by Arin Arbus. He also collaborated with Arbus in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune on Broadway, alongside Audra McDonald. Shannon recently wrapped his film directorial debut, Eric LaRue, based on the Brett Neveu play that debuted at A Red Orchid Theatre (of which Shannon is a founder) in Chicago in 2002. Shannon recently starred opposite Jessica Chastain in Showtime/Paramount+ limited series George & Tammy. He is currently filming Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, marking Shannon’s eighth re-team with Nichols, with previous collaborations including Loving, Hank the Cowdog, Midnight Special, Take Shelter, Mud, and Shotgun Stories.
paul sparks
VladimirPaul Sparks (Vladimir) Broadway: Grey House, Hedda Gabler, Take Me Out. Off-Broadway: The Killer (TFANA), Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo, Buried Child, Dusk Rings a Bell, Essential Self Defense, Landscape of the Body, Orange Flower Water, Blackbird, Coyote on the Fence. Film: Upcoming: The Bikeriders, Eric LaRue, Lost on a Mountain in Maine. Recent: The Lovebirds, Thoroughbreds, The Greatest Showman, Midnight Special. Television: Physical, Joe Pickett, Waco, Castlerock, The Night Of, Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, The Girlfriend Experience, Sweetbitter. Six Drama Desk nominations in addition to Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel, and Emmy nominations. Winner of SAG and Independent Spirit Awards.
arin arbus
DirectorArin Arbus is a resident director at TFANA, where she directed Waiting for Godot, Denis Johnson’s Des Moines, The Merchant of Venice starring John Douglas Thompson as Shylock (also at The Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC and The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh), Winter’s Tale, Skin of Our Teeth (Obie), repertory productions of Strindberg’s The Father and Ibsen’s Doll’s House, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, and Othello. She directed Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Tony nom. for best revival) with Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon on Broadway and Abe Koogler’s Deep Blue Sound for Clubbed Thumb. She has also directed at Canadian Opera Company, Houston Grand Opera, Chicago Lyric, Woodbourne Correctional Facility in association with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, and at Ristona Refugee Camp for The Campfire Project.
Season Sponsors
Deloitte is the 2023-2024 Season Sponsor.
Principal support for Theatre for a New Audience’s season and programs is provided by the Bay and Paul Foundations, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Fund in the New York Community Trust, The SHS Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Thompson Family Foundation.
Theatre for a New Audience’s season and programs are also made possible, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities; Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.