The Late Great Henry Boyle
By David MacGregor
Photos by Danna Sergrest,
courtesy of The Purple Rose Theatre Company
HOMEGROWN ROMANTIC COMEDY BLOSSOMS AT THE PURPLE ROSE THIS SPRING
Livonia-Native Playwright Creates Magical Story of Love in the Age of Mass Media
This spring, The Purple Rose Theatre Company is proud to announce the Midwestern Premiere of a smart romantic comedy titled The Late Great Henry Boyle by David MacGregor. The production will run from Thursday, April 6 through Saturday, June 3, 2006.
Seven previews of The Late Great Henry Boyle will be performed from Thursday, April 6, through Thursday, April 13, with Press Opening Night on April 14, 2006. Regular performances for the duration of the engagement are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm with Saturday matinees at 3:00 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm. (Editor’s Note: Please find a daily performance calendar, including ticket prices and added performance dates, on page 3). All performances are held at The Purple Rose Theatre Company, 137 Park Street, Chelsea, Michigan.
In this charming love story, audiences will meet the endearingly befuddled Henry Boyle, an intensely sincere and private professor of medieval studies recently ditched by his wife. A complete social misfit who doesn’t even watch television, Boyle camps out in his tiny office and tries to rebuild his familiar and comfortable life. With the encouragement of his colleague, Dr. Winslow Saxonhouse, Boyle develops an impressive absinthe habit and writes a novel that inexplicably makes him an overnight pop culture sensation. Despite his psychotic ex-military literary agent, intense media scrutiny and recurring hallucinations about giant rodents, a chance meeting with a damsel named Rachel just might be the only thing that can pull Boyle back from the edge.
Originally titled Mainstream, The Late Great Henry Boyle was first presented as a staged reading by Heartlande Theatre for the 1999 TreeTown Theatre Festival, Performance Network’s summer guest season. In 2001, the script was selected as one of eleven finalists for the prestigious Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2002, The Late Great Henry Boyle received its first professional production at Timothy Busfield’s The B Street Theatre in Sacramento, California.
Directed by PRTC Artistic Director Guy Sanville, the cast of The Late Great Henry Boyle features Randall Godwin (Guest Artist, The Underpants), Paul Hopper (And The Winner Is, Bus Stop), John Lepard (Bus Stop, The Mystery of Irma Vep), Wayne David Parker (And The Winner Is, Duck Hunter Shoots Angel) and Inga R. Wilson (Bus Stop, Across The Way). (Editors’ Note: Cast interviews are available for hometown stories by calling 734.433.PRTC).
This production of The Late Great Henry Boyle includes set design by Daniel C. Walker, lighting design by Dana White, costume design by Darcy Elora Hofer, prop design by Danna Segrest and sound design by Quintessa Gallinat. The stage manager is Amy Hickman with Katie M. Doral and Brian Papendick as assistant stage managers.
This production is exclusively underwritten by THE MOSAIC FOUNDATION (of Rita & Peter Heydon) based in Ann Arbor.
Ticket reservations can be made by calling the PRTC Box Office at 734.433.ROSE; PRTC Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
PREVIEW PERFORMANCES
Thursday, April 6* 8:00 pm $20.00
Friday April 7* 8:00 pm $25.00
Saturday, April 8* 3:00 pm $20.00
Saturday, April 8* 8:00 pm $25.00
Sunday, April 9* 2:00 pm $20.00
Wednesday, April 12 8:00 pm $20.00
Thursday, April 13 8:00 pm $20.00
* Talk back following performance
REGULAR SCHEDULE
Friday, April 14 8:00 pm $35.00 Press Opening Night
Saturday, April 15 3:00 pm $30.00
Saturday, April 15 8:00 pm $35.00
Sunday, April 16 CANCELLED Easter Sunday
Wednesday, April 19 3:00 pm $25.00 Added Performance
Wednesday, April 19 8:00 pm $25.00
Thursday, April 20 8:00 pm $25.00
Friday, April 21 8:00 pm $35.00
Saturday, April 22 3:00 pm $30.00
Saturday, April 22 8:00 pm $35.00
Sunday, April 23 2:00 pm $30.00
Wednesday, April 26 3:00 pm $25.00 Added Performance
Wednesday, April 26 8:00 pm $25.00
Thursday, April 27 8:00 pm $25.00
Friday, April 28 8:00 pm` $35.00
Saturday, April 29 3:00 pm $30.00
Saturday, April 29 8:00 pm $35.00
Sunday, April 30 2:00 pm $30.00
Wednesday, May 3 8:00 pm $25.00
Thursday, May 4 8:00 pm $25.00
Friday, May 5 8:00 pm $35.00
Saturday, May 6 3:00 pm $30.00
Saturday, May 6 8:00 pm $35.00
Sunday, May 7 2:00 pm $30.00
Sunday, May 7 7:00 pm $25.00
Wednesday, May 10 3:00 pm $25.00 Added Performance
Wednesday, May 10 8:00 pm $25.00
Thursday, May 11 8:00 pm $25.00
Friday, May 12 8:00 pm $35.00
Saturday, May 13 3:00 pm $30.00
Saturday, May 13 8:00 pm $35.00
Sunday, May 14 2:00 pm $30.00
Wednesday, May 17 8:00 pm $25.00
Thursday, May 18 8:00 pm $25.00
Friday, May 19 8:00 pm $35.00
Saturday, May 20 3:00 pm $30.00
Saturday, May 20 8:00 pm $35.00
Sunday, May 21 2:00 pm $30.00
Sunday, May 21 7:00 pm $25.00 Added Performance
Wednesday, May 24 3:00 pm $25.00 Added Performance
Wednesday, May 24 8:00 pm $25.00
Thursday, May 25 8:00 pm $25.00
Friday, May 26 8:00 pm $35.00
Saturday, May 27 3:00 pm $30.00
Saturday, May 27 8:00 pm $35.00
Sunday, May 28 2:00 pm $30.00
Wednesday, May 31 3:00 pm $25.00 Added Performance
Wednesday, May 31 8:00 pm $25.00
Thursday, June 1 8:00 pm $25.00
Friday, June 2 8:00 pm $35.00
Saturday, June 3 3:00 pm $30.00
Saturday, June 3 8:00 pm $35.00 Closing Night
Meet the Playwright
David MacGregor
David MacGregor was born in Detroit and is a lifelong Michigander. He has sold or optioned numerous screenplays and won screenwriting awards from the American Cinema Foundation and Fade In Magazine. On the theatrical side, his one-act and full-length plays have been performed throughout North America and Europe. He is an occasional actor, and his short films have appeared in various festivals and on PBS. He plays soccer year round and writes film articles and short fiction when the fit is upon him. His photographic history of Livonia, Michigan, was published in 2005. He is currently an adjunct professor at Wayne State University, teaching courses in Film and American Studies. He lives in Livonia with his wife Louise and their two children, Torin and Kelsey.
Meet the Director
Guy Sanville
Guy Sanville has been Artistic Director of The Purple Rose Theatre Company since 1996. He has directed over twenty productions for the PRTC; his favorites include Across The Way and Escanaba in da Moonlight by Jeff Daniels, Book of Days and Rain Dance by Lanford Wilson and Bus Stop by William Inge. He has received the Detroit Free Press Excellence in Theatre Award for Best Director four times. He has appeared in seven PRTC plays, most recently in Born Yesterday and Boomtown. He is a proud member of The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild; he also currently serves as Great Lakes Regional Vice President of the Literary Managers & Dramaturgs of the Americas. He resides in Chelsea with his wife Nancee and daughter Rose.