Theresa Rebeck Named Latest Ingram New Works Fellow at Tennessee Rep

Theresa Rebeck-the Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright whose latest comedy, Dead Accounts (starring Norbert Leo Butz and Katie Holmes) opens on Broadway November 29-has been named as the newest Ingram New Works Fellow at Tennessee Repertory Theatre.

Rene Dunshee Copeland, Tennessee Rep's producing artistic director made the announcement prior to curtain during opening night festivities for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Johnson Theatre. Rebeck joins a list of illustrious contemporaries including John Patrick Shanely, David Auburn and Steven Dietz as Ingram New Works Fellows.

Rebeck, who created NBC's Smash, was Pulitzer Prize-nominated for her play Omnium Gatherum and is also known for The Bells, The Scene and The Understudy, as well as Seminar, which debuted on Broadway last season. She is a past recipient of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award, the Peabody Award and the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award. She is a board member of the Dramatists Guild and has taught at both Brandeis and Columbia universities.

During her Ingram fellowship at Tennessee Rep, she will work with emerging playwrights who are part of the company's playwright development program, while she works on a new script herself.

Dead Accounts, her latest work, begins previews on Broadway on Saturday, November 3, with its official opening night set for Thursday, November 29 at the Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45^th Street. Dead Accounts is directed by three-time Tony Award-winner Jack O'Brien and, in addition to Butz and Holmes, also stars Judy Greer, Josh Hamilton and two-time Tony Award nominee Jayne Houdyshell.

Rebeck's new comedy tackles the timely issues of corporate greed, small town values, and whether or not your family will always welcome you back…with no questions asked.

In Dead Accounts, Jack's (Norbert Leo Butz) unexpected return throws his family into a frenzy, and his sister Lorna (Katie Holmes) needs answers. Is he coming home or running away? Where is his wife (Judy Greer) everyone hates? And how did he get all that money? 

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 25 years. He is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theatre in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors, held during Labor Day Weekend, which honor oustanding theater artists in Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors. Midwinter's First Night, held the first Sunday in January after New Year's Day, honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. Further, Ellis directed the Nashville premiere of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show, with Ellis honored by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror.

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