Cast & Creative Team

CATHERINE GROPPER, acclaimed for her work as a painter, sculptor, and playwright, boasts accolades from Scotland’s national newspaper, the Scotsman at the Edinburgh Fringe (four-star review) and a rave from Anita Gates in the New York Times – both for her play, Embers (which enjoyed an extended run in NYC); and great praise in DC Theatre Scene for her play, Miss Crandall’s Classes, which explored racism in the education system. Ms. Gropper is also the author of several short stories and a book of poetry. She is an international award-winning filmmaker and a member of the Dramatists Guild. 

BRIAN MERTES’ body of work spans theater, television and film. He has directed the world premiere of many new plays including David Greenspan’s The Myopia for the Foundry Theater at the Atlantic and Jose Rivera’s Massacre at Rattlestick Playwrights in NYC. He has developed new work at Ensemble Studio Theater, Manhattan Class Company, Soho Rep, Naked Angels, Manhattan Theater Club, PS 122, The Public, Actors Theater of Louisville, Playwrights Center Minneapolis, Playmakers Rep, New Dramatists, Ars Nova, PlayPenn, and BACA.

Mertes recently created a multimedia theater work at Julliard based on Sam Shepard’s Paris, Texas with alt-country rocker, Jim White. He has taught directing for the Columbia and NYU film programs and has been a guest director at North Carolina School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase, NYU Grad, UT Austin, and Yale.
He is currently Head of the MFA Directing Program at Brown University/Trinity Rep and Associate Director at Trinity Rep.

Frank Wood was first celebrated for his work on the Broadway production of “Side Man,” a performance that earned him both a Tony Award and a Drama League Award. His portrayal of Gene, a jazz musician grappling with personal and professional turmoil, highlighted his profound emotional depth and versatility. It is a role that parallels the soul-searching experience of The Interpreter in many profound ways.

Wood has an impressive array of Broadway credits, including notable performances in “The Great Society,” “Network,” “The Iceman Cometh,” “Clybourne Park,” “August: Osage County,” “Born Yesterday,” and “Hollywood Arms.” Off-Broadway, he earned a Lucille Lortel nomination for “Toros” at Second Stage and has graced stages at Signature Theatre, Vineyard Theatre, Lincoln Center, Atlantic Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Playwrights Horizons.

His filmography includes roles in acclaimed films such as “She Said,” “Joker,” “St. Vincent,” “Changeling,” “Dan in Real Life,” “Thirteen Days,” “In America,” “Down to You,” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” On television, he has appeared in series like “Billions,” “The Blacklist,” “The Night Of,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “The Newsroom,” “Girls,” “Flight of the Conchords,” “The Sopranos,” and had a recurring role on “Law & Order: SVU.”

Kelley Curran can be seen as Turner in Julian Fellowes THE GILDED AGE for HBO. She was most recently seen on the stage off-Broadway in “Half-God of Rainfall” at NYTW, at The Public Theater opposite Glenn Close in “Mother of the Maid”. She was Clytemnestra in Ellen McLaughlin’s world premiere of The “Oresteia” at The Shakespeare Theatre Company.

Kelley has also appeared on Broadway in “Present Laughter” with Kevin Kline, and at The Signature Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Theatre For a New Audience, and LAByrinth Theatre Company, among others. She made her network television debut on NBC’s “The Blacklist,” and recently appeared on the CBS drama “God Friended Me.” In 2019 she made her feature film debut in “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot.”

Kelley was nominated for a SAG Award, won The Callaway Award, Emery Battis Award, NTC Emerging Professional Award, and in 2016 was nominated for a Drama League Award alongside Lupita Nyong’o, Michelle Williams and Lin Manuel-Miranda. She has also been nominated for both a Princess Grace and Helen Hayes Award.