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Roundabout50: Reed Birney In 'The Humans'

Joan Marcus
Reed Birney as Erik Blake in Stephen Karam's The Humans.

  The Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year and we are highlighting its work this week.

Roundabout produces work both on and Off-Broadway and at its Off-Broadway theater, The Laura Pels, Roundabout is currently presenting The Humans, a new play by Stephen Karam. Directed by Joe Mantello the show has announced a move from off to on Broadway next Spring -- with its current ensemble cast intact.

In the play, we join The Blakes - a solid Scranton family - as they celebrate Thanksgiving in their youngest daughter’s apartment in New York City. The family dynamic is strained and real. Karam’s writing is crisp, emotional, flip, and funny. The matriarch and patriarch of the family are played by Jane Houdyshell and Reed Birney, respectively.

Reed Birney is an actor of great range and dedication -- evidenced by his 2006 Obie Award for for Sustained Excellence in Performance and his 2011 Special Drama Desk Award honoring his career as an actor. He plays Representative-turned-Vice President Donald Blythe on the Netflix hit, House of Cards. He has more than 20 Off-Broadway credits and his Broadway credits include Roundabout’s 2013 revival of William Inge’s Picnic, and last year’s Casa Valentina by Harvey Fierstein. He also worked with Roundabout Underground in Tigers Be Still and The Dream of the Burning Boy.

Sarah has been a public radio producer for over fifteen years. She grew up in Saranac Lake, New York where she worked part-time at Pendragon Theatre all through high school and college. She graduated from UAlbany in 2006 with a BA in English and started at WAMC a few weeks later as a part-time board-op in the control room. Through a series of offered and seized opportunities she is now the Senior Contributing Producer of The Roundtable and Producer of The Book Show. During the main thrust of the Covid-19 pandemic shut-down, Sarah hosted a live Instagram interview program "A Face for Radio Video Series." On it, Sarah spoke with actors, musicians, comedians, and artists about the creative activities they were accomplishing and/or missing.
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