Written and Directed by Leigh Fondakowski
On April 20, 2010, the massive DEEPWATER HORIZON oil rig, leased by BP, and owned and operated by Transocean, exploded and burned off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers and triggering the largest oil spill in history. For 87 days, millions of gallons of environmentally damaging oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico.
SPILL is based on over 200 hours of interviews collected in the aftermath of this spill. This theatrical event goes beyond the headlines to tell vivid personal stories from all sides of the country’s greatest environmental disaster.
Featuring Michael Cullen*, Vince Gatton, Alex Grubbs*, Ronald Alexander Peet, Molly McAdoo, Maurice McRae, Kelli Simpkins, and Greg Steinbruner
Writer/Director: Leigh Fondakowski | Scenic Designer/Dramaturg: Sarah Lambert | Lighting Designer: Nick Francone* | Costume Designer: Suzanne Chesney* | Composer: Gary Grundei | Sound Designer: Lee Kinney | Projection Designer: David Bengali | Props Master: Claire Rufiange | Production Stage Manager: Carly Levin | Assistant Stage Manager: Sara Stevens
Leigh Fondakowski is a playwright/director and a veteran member of Tectonic Theater Project. Head Writer of The Laramie Project, co-screenwriter for its HBO adaptation (Emmy nomination), and co-writer of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. As playwright/director: SPILL (Swine Palace, Baton Rouge; TimeLine Theater, Chicago - Jeff Nomination, Best Ensemble; Kilroy List 2015); The People’s Temple (Berkeley Rep; American Theater Company; Guthrie Theater; Glickman Award, Best New Play 2005); I Think I Like Girls (Encore Theater, San Francisco - Bay Area Critics Circle nomination, Best Production; The Advocate’s top 10 plays of 2002).
Leigh is a 2007 NEA/TCG Theatre Resident Playwright, a 2009 Macdowell Colony Fellow, and a 2010 Distinguished Visiting Chair at the University of Minnesota. As director: national tour of The Laramie Project and Laramie: Ten Years Later; The Laramie Cycle at Brooklyn Academy of Music (co-directed with Moisés Kaufman). She has developed new work with playwrights Zina Camblin, Colman Domingo, Laura Eason, Julia Jordan, Lisa Ramirez, and Bennett Singer. She released Stories from Jonestown, her first creative non-fiction book in 2013. She is a teaching artist at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and Naropa University.
Photos by Gerry Goodstein
