Biographies
Edward Albee (Playwright) first earned international acclaim at age 30 with his controversial one-act play The Zoo Story (1959). His first full-length play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, earned him a Tony Award in 1962. The master playwright’s achievements include A Delicate Balance (1966 Pulitzer Prize), Seascape (1974 Pulitzer Prize), Three Tall Women (1994 Pulitzer Prize), A Delicate Balance revival (1996 Tony Award), The Play About the Baby (2001 Pulitzer nominee) and The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? (2002 Tony Award). Albee’s other plays include The Death of Bessie Smith (1959), The Sandbox (1959), The American Dream (1960), Tiny Alice (1964), All Over (1971), Listening (1975), Counting the Ways (1975), The Lady from Dubuque (1977), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981), an adaptation of Nabokov’s Lolita (1981), Finding the Sun (1982), Marriage Play (1986), Fragments (1993), Occupant (2001), and Me, Myself and I (2007). At Home At The Zoo (formerly titled Peter & Jerry) adds a first act to Albee’s 1959 play The Zoo Story; this new first act, titled Homelife, revolves around the marriage of Peter and Ann and ends with Peter leaving to go read a book in Central Park. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980 and was a recipient of the 1996 Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts, and in 2005 he was honored with a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theater. Albee is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and president of The Edward F. Albee Foundation.
Dennis Začek (Director) has held the position of artistic director for 30 years, and recently accepted the Actor's Equity Association's (AEA) Spirit Recognition Award. The Spirit Award is given to institutions that "have made non-traditional casting a way of life." He also received the 2005 Jeff Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chicago Equity Theatre. He, his wife Marcelle McVay, and the theater are co-recipients of the 2001 Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theatre. He is also the recipient of the 2004 Artistic Leadership Award from the League of Chicago Theatres. Mr. Zacek and Ms. McVay received the 1999 Rosetta Lenoire Award from Actors’ Equity and the 1998 Sidney R. Yates Arts Advocacy Award from the Illinois Arts Alliance Foundation.
He has directed more than 250 productions in his career, including, most recently, the Chicago premiere of Blackbird by David Harrower, the world premiere of Jeffrey Sweet’s Class Dismissed, James Sherman’s Relatively Close, the Midwest premiere of A Park in Our House by Nilo Cruz, the world premieres of Cynical Weathers by Douglas Post, Denmark by Charles Smith, the inaugural production at Victory Gardens’ new home at the Biograph, Symmetry by David Field, The Family Gold by Annie Reiner, Affluenza! and The Old Man’s Friend by James Sherman, Unspoken Prayers by Claudia Allen, The Action Against Sol Schumann and Flyovers by Jeffrey Sweet, and others.
Additional projects include Marisha Chamberlain’s Scheherazade (National Winner of the FDG/CBS competition), John Olive’s Clara’s Play (production and direction award, Academy of TheaterArtists and Friends), and James Sherman’s Mr. 80% (direction award, Academy of Theater Artists and Friends). Mr. Zacek directed Arthur Cantor’s production of James Sherman’s Beau Jest at the Lambs Theater in New York, where it holds the record as the longest-running show in the history of the theater. Other New York credits include Lonnie Carter’s The Sovereign State of Boogedy Boogedy, presented by Woody King’s New Federal Theater, and Charles Smith’s Jelly Belly, which was produced by the New Federal Theater. Mr. Zacek is a professor emeritus of Loyola University and was included in 2005 in Utne magazine’s first-ever list of “Artists Who Will Shake the World.”
Tom Amandes (Peter) returns to Victory Gardens Theater where he performed in Working Magic directed by Sandy Shinner, and Douglas Post's political drama Cynical Weathers staged by At Home At The Zoo director Dennis Začek. After growing up in Richmond and Crystal Lake, Amandes graduated from the Goodman School of Drama as it became the Theater School at DePaul University. He began his acting career as an ensemble member of the late, great Body Politic Theater, performing in such productions as Translations (his 1982 debut) and The Playboy of the Western World. Other notable Chicago theater includes Candida, What the Butler Saw and The Mystery Cycle (Court Theatre) and Free Advice from Prague and The Courtship of Carl Sandburg (Northlight). Tom is best known to TV audiences as Eliot Ness in The Untouchables, Dr. Harold Abbott in Everwood, Dr. Pelikan in Parenthood, and Jack Schmitt in the Tom Hank's produced From the Earth to the Moon. His films include The Long Kiss Goodnight, Brokedown Palace, and the upcoming Gil Cates Jr. black-comedy Lucky. Tom is the middle of eleven talented children, and has three of his own: Meg, Nia and Ben. He is married to actress Nancy Everhard.
Annabel Armour (Ann) is an Artistic Associate of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company where she has appeared in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Philadelphia Story, Fiction, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, The Best Man, Power, Aren’t We All, Humble Boy, Hidden Laughter, Money, Top Girls, Hapgood, Road to Mecca, Heartbreakhouse and Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance (After Dark Award). She has previously appeared under the direction of Dennis Začek and Sandy Shinner at Victory Gardens in Chekov in Yalta, Spinning into Blue, Before My Eyes, and The End of the Tour¸ among others. She appeared as Mrs. Potts in the Writers' Theatre production of Picnic, directed by David Cromer and featuring Marc Grapey. At Writers’ Theatre she was also seen in Booth, Fallen Angels and Dear Master. She has participated several times in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s First Look Series, where she played in Joel Drake Johnson's Blameless Life and Tranquillity Woods. Other theater credits include working with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Organic Theatre Company (formally known as Organic/Touchstone Theatre), Cincinnati Playhouse and Ford’s Theatre (Washington D.C.). Armour is the recipient of Joseph Jefferson Awards for Angels in America Parts I & II directed by David Cromer (Journeyman Theater) and After Play directed by Steve Scott (Organic Theater Company). She also appeared in Angels in America Parts I & II, Before My Eyes and After Play at Organic Theater (After Dark Awards). She appeared on the big screen as Edith the Realtor in The Amityville Horror and recently finished filming on the upcoming movie Convictions with Hillary Swank, Sam Rockwell and Minnie Driver, directed by Tony Goldwyn.
Marc Grapey (Jerry) returns to Victory Gardens for the first time since Class Dismissed. As an actor, Marc most recently appeared in Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) and Picnic (Writers’ Theatre) where he appeared with his Zoo co-star Annabel Armour. Other Chicago credits include Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Funny Girl (Drury Lane Oakbrook), the world premieres of: Eric Bogosian’s Griller, Noah Haidle’s Vigils (Goodman Theatre); and Early and Often (Famous Door Theatre Company). Regionally he appeared at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in The As If Body Loop (Actors Theatre of Louisville). In 2005 Mr.Grapey made his Broadway debut opposite Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. Television credits include Arrested Development, The West Wing, Law & Order: SVU, Two and a Half Men, The Comeback and Sex and the City. Film credits include Ali, While You Were Sleeping, The Company, The Daytrippers, Superbad, Adventureland, Chicago Overcoat and Public Enemies. He has collaborated with David Cromer at Famous Door Theatre Company as a director on Suburban Motel and The Cider House Rules (Joseph Jefferson Award – Best Direction and Production).