Pawk, Champlin Among Cast of Off-Broadway Revival of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

Tony Award winner Michele Pawk Hollywood Arms, Losing Louie, Mamma Mia! Seussical and Donna Lynne Champlin Sweeney Todd, Hollywood Arms will be part of the cast of the Transport Group's 50th anniversary production of William Inge's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Performances begin at the Connelly Theatre on March 30, directed by Transport Group Artistic Director Jack Cummings III. Opening night off-Broadway is April 5.

In addition to Pawk and Champlin, the cast includes Patrick Boll, Paul Iacono, Liz Mamana, Colby Minifie, Jay Potter, Jack Tartaglia and Matt Yeager.

Set in a small Oklahoma town in the early 1920s, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs tells the story of a middle-class family torn apart by economic forces, social upheaval, violence and sexual trauma. The play centers on Rubin Flood, who after losing his job as a traveling salesman for a harness manufacturer, finds himself looking for new employment while trying to deal with a wife who shuns intimacy and mistakes his joblessness for stinginess, a shy teenage daughter preparing for her first dance and an introverted son who runs to his mother instead of confronting local bullies.

Inge's last major play and his most autobiographical, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs opened on Broadway in 1957 in a production directed by Elia Kazan that starred Pat Hingle, Eileen Heckart and Teresa Wright. It was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play, and ran for 468 performances.

One of the great American playwrights of the mid-century, William Inge was born in Independence, Kansas, in 1913. His plays include Come Back, Little Sheba, Bus Stop and Picnic, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. All three were adapted into major motion pictures, as was The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Inge's film work includes the screenplay for Splendor in the Grass, directed by Kazan, for which he won the 1961 Academy Award for best original screenplay. Inge committed suicide in 1973.

Transport Group has previously presented plays by Inge. In 2003, its second production, Requiem for William, was an evening of seven of his seldom produced plays, which featured a cast of 26 as well as original songs.

The scenic design for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs is by Sandra Goldmark, costume design is by Shana Albery, lighting design is by R. Lee Kennedy and sound design is by Seth Guterman.