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Press contact: Lucy Pollak
[email protected] (818) 887-1499 (for media only)

 

‘BLOOD’ is back beginning Oct. 14
 

Glenne Headly, James Kyson join cast when acclaimed play
about 1980s ‘Japanese Tainted Blood Scandal’ re-opens at The Complex
 

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 15, 2016) — Glenne Headly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy, Mr. Holland’s Opus) and James Kyson (NBC’s Heroes, voted one of “Hollywood’s 25 Hottest” by TV Guide) join the cast when The Garage re-opens its acclaimed world premiere production of BLOOD. Written and directed by Obie and New York Outer Critics Circle Award-winner/ DGA Award, two-time Golden Globe and five-time Emmy Award nominee Robert Allan Ackerman, BLOOD returns to the The Complex in Hollywood beginning Oct. 14.

Inspired by true events, BLOOD is a political thriller with music about the 1980s ‘Japanese Tainted Blood Scandal’ in which 2,000 people died of AIDS after the U.S. knowingly sold contaminated blood to Japan. Over a dozen rave reviews for the production when it premiered last spring include the Los Angeles Times (“dazzling… a formidable display of small-theater invention”), Stage Raw (”lively, haunting, provocative and funny”), BroadwayWorld (“smart, involving, totally wrenching”) and ArtsMeme (“heady Stuff… a witty treatment of a subject that matters so much”).

For this return engagement, Headly will take on the role of the American reporter who uncovers a conspiracy to cover up the Japanese government-sanctioned sale of HIV-contaminated blood products, and Kyson will portray the Korean-Japanese lawyer who heads up the investigation. Also in the cast are  Kazumi Aihara, Miho Ando, Takuma Anzai, Peter Chung, Andrew Dits, Anthony Gros, Takaaki Hirakawa, Tomoko Karina, Andrew Nakajima, Daryl L. Padilla, Mika Santoh, Shinichiro Shimizu and Michael Yama.

BLOOD features original music and songs by “The Virgins” bassist Nick Ackerman and “Jet” drummer/vocalist Chris Cester. The creative team includes set and costume designer Dona Granata, projections designer Hana S. Kim, lighting designer Donny Jackson and sound designer Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski.

Headly’s film work includes Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Mortal Thoughts, 2 Days in the Valley, What’s The Worst That Could Happen, Breakfast of Champions, Around The Bend, The Amateurs, The Comeback Season, The Joneses and Don Jon. She can next be seen opposite Bill Paxton and Emma Watson in James Ponsoldt’s The Circle, featuring Tom Hanks. She just wrapped Katherine Dieckmann’s Strange Weather. Television roles include the live theatrical presentation of On Golden Pond for CBS as well as recurring roles in ER, Monk and And The Band Played On. She was nominated for an Emmy for two different mini-series: Lonesome Dove and Bastard Out of Carolina and also appeared in the telefilms Pronto, My Own Country and Women Vs. Men. Most recently wrapped was Hulu’s Future Man with Josh Hutcherson, produced by Seth Rogan. You can see her currently on HBO’s hit miniseries The Night Of. Glenne is currently filming Villa Capri with Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones. On stage, she recently wrapped Sarah Ruhl’s Stage Kiss at the Geffen and appeared on stage in Larry David’s Broadway show, Fish in the Dark opposite Larry David and then Jason Alexander. Prior to that she starred in the 2013 New Group production of The Jacksonian, with Ed Harris, Amy Madigan and Bill Pullman, which was originally presented at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Other stage roles include Aunt Dan & Lemon ( Almeida Theatre, London ), My Brilliant Divorce ( Druid Theatre, Galway, Ireland), Detachments ( Tiffany Theatre, Los Angeles ) as well as Circle in the Square’s Arms and the Man, Manhattan Theatre Club’s The Philanthropist and the Steppenwolf production of Balm in Gilead at Circle Rep. A former member of the Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble, she appeared in Chicago in Say Goodnight, Gracie, The Miss Firecracker Contest, The House, Coyote Ugly,  Absent Friends, Mother Courage, Born Yesterday and Balm in Gilead. She was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson award for each of those roles and won for four.

Voted by TV Guide as one of “Hollywood’s 25 Hottest,” Kyson recently finished filming NCIS:LA (CBS), the new HBO show Animals, the new sitcom School of Rock (Nickelodeon), and a recurring role on the FX drama Justified. He is currently filming FOX’s hit series Sleepy Hollow, recently appeared in Hawaii Five-O on CBS, and is beloved to many for his four-year run on NBC’s Heroes as “Ando.” James will be in two feature films released later this year: the romantic comedy Another Time and a thriller, The Livingston Gardener. He also recently wrapped the feature Banana Season, for which he spent six weeks training as a mixed martial arts fighter. Other TV credits include CSI, NBC’s Las Vegas, The West Wing, Heist, ABC’s Threat Matrix and CW’s All About The Andersons.

Ackerman’s directing credits are almost too numerous to list. In New York, he directed the Tony-nominated Broadway production of Martin Sherman’s Bent starring Richard Gere and David Dukes; Slab Boys starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Val Kilmer; Oscar Wilde’s Salome starring Al Pacino; Legs Diamond starring Peter Allen; and William Mastrosimone’s Extremities starring Susan Sarandon, for which he received the Outer Critics Circle Award. As a resident director of Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival, he directed Thomas Babe’s A Prayer for My Daughter (Obie Award for direction); Taken in Marriage starring Meryl Streep and Colleen Dewhurst; Fathers and Sons starring Richard Chamberlin and Dixie Carter; Salt Lake City Skyline starring John Lithgow and Fred Gwynne; O’Neill and Carlotta starring Jason Robards, Colleen Dewhurst and Madeline Kahn; and David Henry Hwang’s Family Devotions. London credits include West End productions of Strangers On A Train; Extremities starring Helen Mirren; Torch Song Trilogy starring Sir Antony Sher; A Madhouse in Goa starring Vanessa Redgrave; Burn This starring John Malkovich and Juliet Stevenson; Our Town starring Alan Alda and Robert Sean Leonard; When She Danced starring Vanessa Redgrave; and the world premiere of Manuel Puig’s Mystery of the Rose Bouquet starring Gemma Jones at the Donmar Warehouse. In Los Angeles, he directed Holiday starring Kevin Kline, Sally Kellerman and Maurice Evans (Ahmanson Theatre); Mystery of the Rose Bouquet starring Anne Bancroft and Jane Alexander and Scenes from and Execution starring Frank Langella and Juliet Stevenson (Mark Taper Forum); and Noel Coward’s The Vortex starring Rupert Everett (Doolittle Theatre). While living in Tokyo, he directed numerous theater productions including Angels in America, for which he won the coveted Yomiuri Award; served as artistic director of The Company in Tokyo; and directed films including The Ramen Girl starring Brittany Murphy and Sohee Park. Other film credits include Safe Passage starring Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard (Beatrice Wood Film Award); Life with July Garland: Me and My Shadows starring Judy Davis and Victor Garber (Television Critics Association and Broadcast Journalists Awards, as well as Emmy, DGA and Golden Globe nominations); Tennessee Williams’ The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone starring Helen Mirren and Anne Bancroft (Emmy nomination); The Reagans starring James Brolin and Judy Davis; the Emmy Award-winning David’s Mother starring Kirsty Alley, Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston; Forget Me Never starring Mia Farrow; Mrs. Cage with Anne Bancroft and Hector Elizondo; Double Platinum starring Diana Ross and Brandy; and Edith Wharton’s The Reef starring Timothy Dalton and Leslie Caron. He was an executive producer on HBO’s My House in Umbria starring Maggie Smith, for which he received a Producer’s Guild Award as well as Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

Performances of BLOOD take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., Oct. 14 through Dec. 18. General admission is $35; students with valid ID are $25. The Complex is located at 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038. To purchase tickets, call (323) 960-7745 or go to www.plays411.com/blood.

 

Details for Calendar Listings
‘BLOOD’

WHAT:
BLOOD — Back by popular demand! Glenne Headly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy, Mr. Holland’s Opus) and James Kyson (NBC’s Heroes, Voted one of “Hollywood’s 25 Hottest” by TV Guide) join the cast when the Garage re-opens its acclaimed world premiere production. A political thriller with music about the 1980s ‘Japanese Tainted Blood Scandal’ in which 2,000 people died of AIDS after the U.S. knowingly sold contaminated blood to Japan, BLOOD is written and directed by Obie and New York Outer Critics Circle Award-winner/ DGA Award, two-time Golden Globe and five-time Emmy Award nominee Robert Allan Ackerman.

WHO:
• Written and directed by Robert Allan Ackerman
• Original music and songs by “The Virgins” bassist Nick Ackerman and “Jet” drummer/vocalist Chris Cester
• Starring (in alphabetical order): Kazumi Aihara, Miho Ando, Takuma Anzai, Peter Chung, Andrew Dits, Anthony Gros, Glenne Headly, Takaaki Hirakawa, Tomoko Karina, James Kyson, Andrew Nakajima, Daryl L. Padilla, Mika Santoh, Shinichiro Shimizu, Michael Yama
• Presented by The Garage

WHEN:
Oct. 14 – Dec. 18
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 14, 21, 28; Nov. 4, 11, 18, 25; Dec. 2, 9, 16
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 15, 22, 29; Nov. 5, 12, 19. 26; Dec. 3, 10, 17
• Sundays at 3 p.m.: Oct. 16, 23, 30; Nov. 6, 13, 20, 27; Dec. 4, 11, 18

WHERE:
The Complex
6476 Santa Monica Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90038

HOW:
(323) 960-7745 or www.plays411.com/blood
• Visit us on facebook: www.facebook.com/TheGarage.Sawtell
• Follow us on twitter: @TheGarage042314

TICKETS:
General admission: $35
Students with valid ID: $25

PARKING:
Ample street parking

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