WASTE by Carey Perloff to be Presented at Marin Theatre This Winter

Marin Theatre will kick off 2025 with Waste, a provocative Edwardian drama focused on devious behind-the-scenes political machinations, in a new production adapted and directed by Carey Perloff, artistic director emerita of American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

This fresh take on a century-old play that also shone a remarkable spotlight on reproductive rights, follows an ambitious politician on the cusp of bringing his life’s work to fruition. The flawed Henry Trebell is played by Marin Theatre Artistic Director Lance Gardner, who returns to the stage for the first time in over five years. In Waste, Trebell’s promising career is curtailed by the threat of scandal over an illicit affair which has led to dire consequences for his married partner. Rather than showing sympathy or outrage for the woman, the play cynically focuses on the insiders who scheme to use the scandal to manipulate a political outcome. Although Waste was written in 1906 by the accredited English actor, director, and playwright Harley Granville-Barker, a contemporary and colleague of G.B. Shaw, its public debut was delayed more than 20 years due to outrage over its content. Waste will be performed February 6 – March 2, 2025.
 
“I am very excited that our audiences will get to experience this remarkable play in my first season as artistic director at Marin Theatre,” said Marin Theatre Artistic Director Lance Gardner. “I look forward to returning to the stage, and collaborating with Carey Perloff who returns to direct in the Bay Area for the first time since her tenure at A.C.T.” 

Waste first premiered in 1906 in London but was swiftly censored due to its controversial subject matter and gutsy critique of societal norms. Finally presented publicly in 1936, Waste earned critical acclaim for its sharp-witted commentary and compelling drama, hailed by The Times as “Provocative. Intellectually stimulating and emotionally gripping. A masterpiece of its time.”  Nearly a century after it was written, Waste was revived Off-Broadway in 2000, where it was hailed as “A remarkable play, full of thought and life,” by The New York Post, receiving Obie Awards for playwrighting and for its star Bryon Jennings. In November 2015, a National Theatre revival was lauded by British Theatre for its “crackling dialogue” calling it “Extraordinary. By some distance the best production to grace a National Theatre stage since Rufus Norris took the reins.” 
 
For this production of Waste, Marin Theatre has assembled an exceptional cast including Lance Gardner as Henry Trebell, Liz Sklar as Amy O’Connell, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong as Frances Trebell, Joseph O'Malley as Walter Kent / Justice O’Connell, Anna Takayo as Lucy Davenport, Jomar Tagatac as Dr. Wedgecroft, Anthony Fusco as Charles Cantelupe, Daniel Cantor as Lord Horsham, and Mike Ryan as Blackborough.   
 
Director, playwright, producer, author and educator Carey Perloff will direct Marin Theatre’s production of Waste. No stranger to the work of Harley Granville-Barker, Perloff’s acclaimed production of his also prescient play The Voysey Inheritance, adapted by David Mamet, received the San Francisco Chronicle’s highest rating, which declared the production “as penetratingly comic and unsettling about business ethics as if it were written today,” and went on to laud “Carey Perloff's delightfully spirited staging” of “vital, intelligent theater – wittily written, perceptively staged and magnetically performed.” The design team bringing this production of Waste to life on stage will include Arnel Sancianco (scenic design), Kate Boyd (lighting design), Jake Rodriguez (sound design), and Maggie Whitaker (costume design). 
 

Photo credit: Alain McLaughlin

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