“I swooned for Grand Horizons, which for all its plot about a marriage’s unforeseen implosion has another matter urgently on its mind…Wohl’s play is a powerful argument for the full humanity of women in our culture – a matter that’s not as settled as we might like to think.”
- The New York Times
- The New York Times
ABOUT
GRAND HORIZONS
BY BESS WOHL
DIRECTED BY JOSH SHORT
JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 21
Fifty years into their marriage, Bill and Nancy want a divorce. While they seem unfazed by the decision, their two adult sons are shaken to the core, forced to reexamine everything they thought they knew about their parents' outwardly happy lives. In Bess Wohl's emotional powder keg of a play, familial tensions are revealed and comedy is mined from the barbed comments that only people who truly know each other can launch.
As the family grapples with their new reality, each must reckon with their own imperfect past and how their collective love for each other might express itself in new and unlikely forms. Directed by Artistic Director Josh Short and featuring Phyllis Kay and Richard Donelly as Nancy and Bill, Grand Horizons is the supremely funny and sharp show that ponders the possibly not-eternal nature of love and how its end might have repercussions for more than just the couple involved.
As the family grapples with their new reality, each must reckon with their own imperfect past and how their collective love for each other might express itself in new and unlikely forms. Directed by Artistic Director Josh Short and featuring Phyllis Kay and Richard Donelly as Nancy and Bill, Grand Horizons is the supremely funny and sharp show that ponders the possibly not-eternal nature of love and how its end might have repercussions for more than just the couple involved.
Phyllis Kay*
as Nancy |
Richard Donelly*
as Bill |
Dave Rabinow
as Ben |
Jason Cabral
as Brian |
Gabrielle McCauley*
as Jess |
Ethan Clarke
as Tommy |
Margaret Melozzi
as Carla |
GRAND HORIZONS was originally co-commissioned by the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where it premiered in July 2019. It then debuted on Broadway at the Hayes Theater in January, 2020. The Wilbury Theatre Group production is made possible with support from The Florence Family Fund, and audience members like you.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Bess Wohl is a playwright and filmmaker. Her plays have been produced on and off Broadway, regionally, and internationally and her feature film debut, BABY RUBY, starring Noémie Merlant and Kit Harington, premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures. She also wrote for the Apple TV+ series, “Extrapolations,” created by Scott Z. Burns.
Recently, her play LIBERATION (Outer Critics Circle Winner, Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel noms.) had an extended run at Roundabout Theater Company and she made her West End debut with a sold out run of BARCELONA starring Lily Collins. Other plays include GRAND HORIZONS (Tony Nominations for Best Play & Best Featured Actress, Outer Critics Circle Honor, Drama League Award nom); MAKE BELIEVE (NYTimes Critic Pick, Best of 2019, Outer Critics Circle Honor); CAMP SIEGFRIED; CONTINUITY; SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (John Gassner Outer Critics Circle Award, top ten lists in The New York Times, The New York Post, The Guardian); AMERICAN HERO; TOUCHED; IN; CATS TALK BACK and the musical PRETTY FILTHY with composer/lyricist Michael Friedman and The Civilians (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical).
Wohl’s plays have been produced or developed at theaters including Second Stage, Manhattan Theater Club, Ars Nova, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodman Theater, The Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light and Theatre Company, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Vineyard Arts Project, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, Northlight Theater, Ojai Playwright's Conference, the Cape Cod Theatre Project and PlayPenn. Awards and honors include the Sam Norkin special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater,” multiple Outer Critics Circle honors, the Georgia Engell Comedy Playwriting Award from the Dramatists Guild, the Athena Award for her screenplay VIRGINIA, MacDowell Fellowships and inclusion on Hollywood’s Black List of Best Screenplays.
Wohl is an associate artist with The Civilians, an alumna of Ars Nova’s Play Group, and the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center and Williamstown Theatre Festival. In her previous life as an actress, she appeared onstage in New York and regionally, and in numerous films and TV shows where she has given birth, solved crimes, committed crimes, been wrongly accused, and come back from the dead. She is a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama.
Recently, her play LIBERATION (Outer Critics Circle Winner, Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel noms.) had an extended run at Roundabout Theater Company and she made her West End debut with a sold out run of BARCELONA starring Lily Collins. Other plays include GRAND HORIZONS (Tony Nominations for Best Play & Best Featured Actress, Outer Critics Circle Honor, Drama League Award nom); MAKE BELIEVE (NYTimes Critic Pick, Best of 2019, Outer Critics Circle Honor); CAMP SIEGFRIED; CONTINUITY; SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (John Gassner Outer Critics Circle Award, top ten lists in The New York Times, The New York Post, The Guardian); AMERICAN HERO; TOUCHED; IN; CATS TALK BACK and the musical PRETTY FILTHY with composer/lyricist Michael Friedman and The Civilians (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical).
Wohl’s plays have been produced or developed at theaters including Second Stage, Manhattan Theater Club, Ars Nova, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodman Theater, The Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light and Theatre Company, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Vineyard Arts Project, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, Northlight Theater, Ojai Playwright's Conference, the Cape Cod Theatre Project and PlayPenn. Awards and honors include the Sam Norkin special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater,” multiple Outer Critics Circle honors, the Georgia Engell Comedy Playwriting Award from the Dramatists Guild, the Athena Award for her screenplay VIRGINIA, MacDowell Fellowships and inclusion on Hollywood’s Black List of Best Screenplays.
Wohl is an associate artist with The Civilians, an alumna of Ars Nova’s Play Group, and the recipient of new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center and Williamstown Theatre Festival. In her previous life as an actress, she appeared onstage in New York and regionally, and in numerous films and TV shows where she has given birth, solved crimes, committed crimes, been wrongly accused, and come back from the dead. She is a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE
2026/27 SEASON
Learn more about the 2026/27 Season at Providence's home for groundbreaking artists and adventurous audiences! The World Premiere of Same Difference by Don Mays, Regional Premieres of Seagulls by Beth Hyland and Teeth with book/music by Anna K. Jacobs and book/lyrics by Michael R. Jackson, and the professional Rhode Island premieres of Grand Horizons by Tony Award winner Bess Wohl and The Antipodes by Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker.
ABOUT
An award-winning, not-for-profit professional theatre company, the Wilbury Theatre Group engages our community in thought-provoking conversation through new works, reimagined classics and adventurous playmaking. We are idealistic, ambitious, and stubborn in our resolve to create theatre that entertains, enlightens, and inspires.
