SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the East Coast Premiere of Pru Payne by Pulitzer Prize nominee and Newton, MA native Steven Drukman.  

Pru Payne tells the story of Prudence “Pru” Payne, a sharp-tongued intellectual and critic who recently signed on to share her extraordinary life in an eagerly awaited memoir. But when Pru’s memory starts to fade, her son sets her up in a state-of-the-art care facility, where love takes hold just as the world she once knew begins to slip away. With wit, verve, and above all, heart, Drukman’s deeply emotional and funny play explores questions of memory, identity, and connection.   

Emmy-winner Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue) and renowned Boston actor Karen Mac Donald head an all-star Boston cast that includes Marianna Bassham, De’Lon Grant, and Greg Maraio. (Full bios on SpeakEasy’s Pru Payne Page.

Pru Payne will be directed by SpeakEasy Founder and Artistic Director, Paul Daigneault, the first of his two final productions before stepping down as the company’s leader in June 2025. A New England-based freelance director, producer, and teacher, Daigneault received the 2024 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director (Large Theater) for The Band’s Visit and the 2014 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, both presented by the Boston Theater Critics Association. Since founding the award-winning SpeakEasy Stage Company in 1992, Daigneault has produced more than 160 Boston premieres.

The SpeakEasy design team for Pru Payne includes Christopher Swader and Justin Swader (scenic design); Charles Schoonmaker (costumes); Aja Jackson (lighting); Nathan Leigh (sound), and Emme Shaw (props). Jesse Hinson is the Intimacy Coordinator.

About the Playwright:

STEVEN DRUKMAN (Playwright) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for his play Another Fine Mess (Portland Center Stage). His plays include Pru Payne (Arizona Theatre Company); Going to See the Kid (Merrimack Rep); Death of the Author (Geffen Playhouse, starring Austin Butler in his first stage role); The Prince of Atlantis (South Coast Rep); The Innocents (Asolo Rep); The Bullet Round (Arena Stage, Portland, OR); In this Corner (The Old Globe, winner of the San Diego Circle Best New Play Award); Going Native (Long Wharf Theatre); Flattery Will Get You (Connecticut Rep); and more. Drukman’s work has been developed by the Mark Taper Forum, Manhattan Theatre Club, Intiman Theatre, Sundance Theatre Lab, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, and many others. As a journalist, Drukman wrote for The New York Times for many years, as well as The Nation, The Village Voice, and International Herald Tribune. He also served as the theatre reviewer for Artforum and WNYC-FM. As an actor, Drukman has been directed by Richard Foreman, Anne Bogart, Maria Irene Fornes and Arnold Wesker, and was a member of Organic Theater Company in Chicago, where he won a Jeff Award. A native of Newton, MA, he received his Ph.D. from NYU, where he is an Associate Professor. (he/him)

About the Director:

PAUL DAIGNEAULT (Artistic Director). Now in his final season, the multiple-award winning Daigneault has directed over 70 productions for SpeakEasy Stage Company, which he founded in 1992.
As a director, Daigneault is especially proud of his projects that have centered gay and queer stories and/or championed contemporary American musicals. His work as a teacher has brought him to Boston College, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Emerson College, and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (the last for 23 years). This past spring, Daigneault received a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from Salem State University. In 2007, he was honored with the Boston College Arts Council's Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement. He also served as Boston College's 2011-2012 Rev. J. Donald Monan S. J. Professor in Theatre Arts. (he/him)

Ross Gray is Production Stage Manager. Charlie Berry is the Assistant Stage Manager.  

When: Pru Payne runs five weeks, from October 18 – November 16, 2024.

Where: Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, in Boston’s South End.

Tickets start at $25, with discounts for students, seniors, and people under 35. Tickets and more information are available through BostonTheatreScene Audience Services at 617.933.8600 or online at www.SpeakEasyStage.com. Estimated run time is 90 minutes with no intermission.

Pru Payne had its World Premiere at the Arizona Theatre Company on March 3, 2023. The production was directed by Sean Daniels. The play was the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

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