The Rhode Island Premiere of "Clyde's"
by Lynn Nottage directed by Jeff CHurch
In Clyde’s, a truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at redemption. Even as the shop’s callous owner tries to keep them down, the staff members learn to reclaim their lives, find purpose, and become inspired to dream by their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich.
“We are living in Greek times…The systems that control our lives—institutional racism, predatory capitalism, the prison-industrial complex—seem as powerful and implacable as gods. What can humans do about fate, [other] playwrights suggest, but submit to it and hope to preserve the story?…But Nottage’s delightful play, Clyde’s…dares to flip the paradigm. Though it’s still about dark things, including prison, drugs, homelessness and poverty, it somehow turns them into bright comedy.”
—The New York Times
“At Clyde’s, sandwiches aren’t just convenient meals served at lunch and dinner; they tell stories, hold truths and nourish dreams…the drama blossoms into a poignant story about worker solidarity and the meaning of second chances, loaded with laugh-out-loud funny jokes.”
—The Hollywood Reporter
“…[a] flavor-bomb of a comedy about survival, second chances, and digesting whatever life serves up…a subversion of familiar genres, including drawing room comedy and workplace drama, and the value judgments conventionally inherent to them. By nature of her composition, Nottage also questions which sorts of rooms and people have previously been considered worthy of sustained attention.”
—Variety
CAST & CREW
MJ Daly, CLYDE
Previous Burbage Roles
Mammalia, The Squirrels; Elizabeth Sawyer, Witch; Charles Dickens, Hannukah Schmanukkah; Three, hang, WomensWork/Burbage
Other Theatres
Mother, A Christmas Story, Prospero, The Tempest, Queen Gertrude, Hamlet, The Contemporary Theater Company; Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra, The RI Shakespeare Theater; Ensemble, What Not to Cook, Actress A, The Madwoman in the Volvo, Susan 2, My Left Breast, WomensWork Theatre Collaborative; Ensemble, Mothers of the Movement, Lady in Red, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Rose Maxon, Fences, Titania, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mixed Magic Theatre
MJ Daly is a native New Englander who began performing at an early age. After graduating as a theater major from Emerson College she spent a decade as a director and actor in Boston. After relocating to Providence she reentered the arts community in 2010 with Mixed Magic Theatre’s summer Shakespeare. Mixed Magic also gave her the opportunity to return to directing. MJ has been gifted with opportunities to develop new works, tackle classics and great contemporary pieces with some of the finest performing artists in Rhode Island and is a Founding Mum of WomensWork Theatre Collaborative.
Jason Quinn, MONTRELLOUS
Previous Burbage Roles
Casca, Julius Caesar; Aaron the Moor, Titus Andronicus; Antonio, Twelfth Night
Other Theatres
Cornelius, Hamlet, Fabian, Twelfth Night, Pete/Paul, An Octoroon, Town Drunk, A Lie Agreed Upon, The Gamm Theatre; Henry, Octet, Billy, Once, Old Bolkonsky, Natasha Pierre, and The Great Comet of 1812, Stu/Narrator, Passing Strange, Wilbury Theatre Group; Mr. I. Y Yunioshi, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Executioner, St Joan, Chief Bromden, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, 2nd Story Theatre
Jason Quinn is an Actor/ Singer / Musician from Pawtucket , Rhode Island. He is a lead singer with the acclaimed Mixed Magic Exult Choir.
Ashley Aldarondo, LETITIA
Previous Burbage Roles
Clyde's is Ashley's Burbage Theatre Co debut.
Other Theatres
Dolores, La Tierra Que Buscó Yo, Teatro Chelsea; Catalina, Lunar Rhapsody, Brown/Trinity; Mephistopheles, Fausto, Teatro En Verano; Vanessa, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Speakeasy; Angelica, Someone Will Remember Us, Trinity Rep
@ashley_almar
Arturo Puentes, RAFAEL
Previous Burbage Roles
Cousin Julio, Motherf*cker with the Hat
Other Theatres
Oswaldo, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Gamm Theatre. Don Pacheco, et al., La Broa’; u/s Bob Cratchit/Nephew Fred/Fezziwig, A Christmas Carol; Soldier, Sueño; Julio, America Too: Just Like Us (staged reading), Trinity Repertory Company. Teatro en El Verano/ RILA: Virgo/Balthasar, Much Ado About Nothing/Tanta Bulla…¿Y Pa Que?; Sebastian, The Tempest/La Tempestad; Samson/Ensemble, Romeo & Juliet, RILA/Trinity. Jesus, A Brief History of the Earth and Everything in It…, u/s Gatsby, The Great Gatsby, Claudio, Measure for Measure, Mr. Hopper, Lady Windermere’s Fan, The University of Rhode Island; Reader, National Theater Institute.
Arturo holds a BFA in Theatre with an acting concentration and a BA in English from the University of Rhode Island, as well as a ABA-Approved Paralegal Postbaccalaureate Certification from Roger Williams University. IG: @arthurpuentes
James Lucey, JASON
Previous Burbage Roles
The Liar, Alcippe; Love Song, Beane; Titus Andronicus, Chiron; The Flu Season, Man; Thinner Than Water, Benji; Polaroid Stories, Narcissus; The School for Lies, Frank; Everybody, Usher/God; Junk, Various Roles; The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong, Dennis/Perkins
Other Theatres
Ensemble, American Idiot, The Wilbury Group
James Lucey is a writer and actor based in Fall River, MA. He’s a resident artist at Burbage Theatre Company and has previously appeared in productions at The Wilbury Group, 2nd Story Theatre, and The New Place Players.
Jeff Church, Director
Directing at Burbage
An Iliad, The [One-Act] Play that Goes Wrong, Romeo & Juliet, Junk, Macbeth, Edward II, The School for Lies, Shakespeare in Love, Twelfth Night, Don't Be Evil, Titus Andronicus, Love Song, Red Light Winter (co-director), The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar, Orson's Shadow, The Liar, A Lesson in Refacilitation (Refacilitation, The Lesson), A Night with David Ives, Largo Desolato, Stalemate.
Other Theatres
Between Riverside and Crazy, Gamm Theatre
Jeff Church is the founding Artistic Director of Burbage Theatre Co having produced every production Burbage has staged since its inception in 2010. Jeff is also a proud member of the Actors' Equity Association of America, and has frequented stages including the Gamm Theatre, Trinity Repertory Co, AntiGravity Theatre, Bridge Repertory Co, Wilbury Theatre Group, Elemental Theatre Collective, Boston Theatre Co, among others.
Jeff is also a professor of theatre (Acting, Shakespeare, Directing...) at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.
Devra Levy, Stage Manager
Kelli Noonan, Assistant Stage manager
Isaiah Gamboa, Assistant Director
Trevor Elliott, Production/Set Design
Grey Rung, Production Associate/Scenic Charge
Andrew Iacovelli, Technical Director/Lighting Design
Brittany Costello, ATD/Props
EJ Caraveo, Costume Design
Alison Russo, Choreography
