Driving Miss Daisy makes its first journey to the Jungle stage
Oct 20, 2013

The Jungle's 2013 season concludes with DRIVING MISS DAISY, directed by Artistic Director Bain Boehlke, and starring Ivey Award-winning Wendy Lehr as Atlanta matriarch Daisy Werthan, and James Craven as her compassionate chauffeur, in his Jungle debut. Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, a searing, humorous and ultimately hopeful meditation on race relations in America, runs November 8-December 22, 2013 at the Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Av. S. in Minneapolis.

In this affecting story, Daisy, an independent, aging Jewish widow - stubborn and set in her ways - reluctantly surrenders the driver's seat of her car to Hoke Colburn, a proud, soft-spoken black man. What begins as a troubled and hostile pairing soon blossoms into a profound, life-altering friendship that transcends all the societal boundaries placed between them. The timeless family drama also features Charles Fraser as Daisy's son, Boolie.

The Driving Miss Daisy creative team includes 2012 Ivey Award-winning Barry Browning (lighting design), Amelia Cheever (costume design), Sean Healey (sound designer), Michael Hoover (scenic designer), John Novak (properties and stage manager), D'Arcy Smith (dialect coach) and James Stillwell (technical director).

Driving Miss Daisy performances are Tuesdays ($20), Wednesdays ($28) and Thursdays ($33) at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. ($38); Sundays at 2 p.m. ($33); and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. ($28). Senior, student and group discounts are also available, and rush tickets are available every night of the week 30 minutes prior to the performance for $10 off the regular price. Tickets are available at (612) 822-7063 or online at www.jungletheater.com

Wendy Lehr (Daisy Werthan) is a beloved figure on the Jungle stage, who last appeared as Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, and alongside Bain Boehlke in The Gin Game. Lehr has acted on many stages locally-The Jungle Theater (A Delicate Balance, Bone Dry, House of Blue Leaves), The Guthrie Theater (A Christmas Carol), Theatre de la Jeune Lune (Lulu, Lettice and Lovage), Park Square Theatre (Mary Stuart, Noises Off!), the Children's Theatre Company, The Great American History Theater and Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. She is a recipient of the McKnight Foundation's Distinguished Artist Award (2013), the Ivey's Lifetime Achievement Award (2011) and a Sally Award from the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts (2010).

James Craven (Hoke Colburn) is a longtime company member of Penumbra Theatre, who is making his Jungle debut. Nationally, he has performed at Indiana Rep, Kansas City Rep, Arizona Theater Company, Cleveland Playhouse, ACT - San Francisco, as well as many other venues, in all 10 of August Wilson's Decade Cycle plays. His singular Broadway credit is Gospel at Colonus. Most recently, he portrayed Horse Power in The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry at Pillsbury House Theater and as the Publisher in Tim McClusker's film Trapped. Craven was the 2005 recipient of the Spencer-Cherashore Artistic Fellowship Grant, a 2008 recipient of the McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship Grant and the 2011 Lunt-Fontainne/Ten Chimneys Fellowship. He is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University.

Charles Fraser (Boolie) recently appeared in History Theatre's Nellie. He also performed in the Guthrie Theater's Othello, The Comedy of Errors, and Ah, Wilderness!; Theatre de la Jeune Lune's Tartuffe; and Park Square Theatre's August: Osage County, Defiance and The Triumph of Love. He has acted with Illusion Theatre, Yellow Tree Theatre, Minnesota Shakespeare Project, Actors Theater of Minnesota, Jon Hassler Theater, Minnesota Festival Theatre, Playwrights' Center, Brave New Workshop and Thirst, among others. Outside Minnesota, he has worked with Lincoln Amphitheatre in Indiana, New Stage Theatre and the Festival of Southern Theatre in Mississippi, and aboard Disney Cruise Lines' Disney Magic. His films include Pull, Jurisprejudice, Hinkleton, and The Completely Remarkable, Utterly Fabulous Transformation of a Regular Joe.

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