Catherine Roman

Guthrie Theater Sample Press Release

 Before being offered my internship with the Guthrie Theater, I was asked to craft a sample press release for them. The parameters of the assignment were simple: Create a press release for the world premiere of NICE FISH. This is what I created.

Contact: Catherine Roman                                                                                                                               For Immediate Release Tel. 262-510-5624                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Email: roman127@umn.edu

Guthrie Theater Presents World Premiere of Nice Fish

10 January, 2013

Nice Fish, a collaboration between two-time Tony award winner Mark Rylance and renowned poet Louis Jenkins, will premiere during the Guthrie Theater’s 50^th Anniversary Season.

Opens April 6, 2013; Playing through May 18, 2013

Proscenium Stage at the Guthrie Theater

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) The world premiere of Nice Fish, created by two-time Tony award winner Mark Rylance and Duluth based poet Louis Jenkins, will open at the Guthrie Theater on April 6, 2013. This new play combines Jenkins’ renowned prose poetry with original text written by the actor. Nice Fish also features original music composed by Claire van Kampen who co-directs alongside her husband, co-creator, co-director, and staring actor, Mark Rylance.

According to The Guthrie Theater’s official description, “Nice Fish centers on two men who have gone ice fishing on the last day of the season; the ice is melting and the DNR is watching. They are hoping for something essential, immortal, when a construction worker roars across the ice on his snowmobile, spear, dynamite and fancy dress in hand! And the last blizzard of the season is about to begin...”

Nice Fish marks the first official collaboration between Jenkins and Ryland, though they are hardly strangers to each other’s work. On both occasions Rylance won a Tony award, he chose to forgo a traditional acceptance speech in favor of reciting two of Jenkins’ poems, The Back Country (2008) and Walking through a Wall (2011). "There's something unique about America that I find Louis expresses, “Rylance told the New York Times.

This particular collaboration has been several years in the making. According to Jenkins in an interview featured on MN artists.org, “the whole thing was Mark’s idea, his story, his dramatic action. When he first suggested this piece, I thought ‘My poems as a play? That’s not going to work.’ But when Mark put on a one-night, one-act performance of the play in New York in December 2008, I liked it, and the audience seemed to like it.” Since that precursory performance, many changes have been made to adapt his poetry into a full-length play. According to Jenkins, “Mark has the final say on the structure of the play, but together we have worked out the plot, characters, etc. I’m hoping the finished product will be a surprise and please the audience.”

Nice Fish, titled after a collection of Jenkins’ poetry, marks Rylance’s fourth performance at the Guthrie Theater. He previously toured with the Shakespeare’s Globe productions of Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure. His most recent performance was Peer Gynt in 2008.