At last, a comedy you can believe in.

From September 18 – October 17, 2009, SpeakEasy Stage will proudly present the New England premiere of Evan Smith’s hit Off-Broadway play The Savannah Disputation.

Hailed as “one of the best new American plays of the season” during its recent New York run, The Savaannah Disputation tells the story of two sisters whose Catholic faith is rocked after a visit from a young Pentecostal missionary. To fight back, the women invite the young missionary and their unsuspecting parish priest to dinner in their home, where they stage a theological showdown that proves that God works in hilarious ways.

The Savannah Disputation is the latest from Evan Smith, a Savannah, Georgia native whose other plays include Psych, The Uneasy Chair, Servicemen, and Daughters of Genius. His TV pilot, Debs, was a part of Naked TV, produced by Fox TV/Naked Angels. Mr. Smith is a graduate of Yale Drama School and the recipient of a Whiting Award.

Popular Boston actors Nancy E. Carroll and Paula Plum will star in SpeakEasy’s production of The Savannah Disputation, which will also feature Trinity Repertory Theatre veteran Timothy Crowe and recent Boston College alumna Carolyn Charpie.

SpeakEasy Founder and Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault will helm this production, the first of three shows he will direct for SpeakEasy Stage this season. A two-time Elliot Norton Award winner (Parade, Some Men, Zanna, Don’t!, Bat Boy:The Musical) Mr. Daigneault has directed and produced over 50 Boston premieres for SpeakEasy Stage since its inception in 1992. Paul is also a member of the faculty at The Boston Conservatory. In 2007 was honored with the Boston College Art Council’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement.

The Savannah Disputation will run for five weeks in the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston’s South End.

The Savannah Disputation had its world premiere in fall of 2007 at Writers’ Theatre in Chicago through that company’s Literary Development Initiative. Last spring the show played Playwrights Horizon in New York with a cast that included five-time Tony winner Dana Ivey, along with Marylouise Burke, Kellie Overbey and Obie Award winner Reed Birney. The play will have its West Coast premiere this September at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

For the Boston Premiere production of The Savannah Disputation, Paul Daigneault has assembled some of Boston’s finest actors, including:

Nancy E. Carroll, who will play Mary. Since making her area debut in 1996, Ms. Carroll has been in demand on Boston stages. In addition to her role as Nancy in SpeakEasy’s award-winning production of The Women, Ms. Carroll has recently been seen in the local productions of Present Laughter (Huntington Theatre), The Year of Magical Thinking (Lyric Stage), The Pain and Itch (Company One), and The Breath of Life (Gloucester Stage).

Carolyn Charpie, who will be making her SpeakEasy debut as the young missionary Melissa. Carolyn graduated with a BA from Boston College in 2008 and currently teaches drama in the Boston Public Schools..

Timothy Crowe, who will play Father Murphy, appeared as the Headmaster alongside Paula Plum in SpeakEasy’s production of The History Boys. A veteran of Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Mr. Crowe has also performed on Broadway in The Shadow Box and Off-Broadway in The Servant.

Paula Plum, who will play Margaret, starred in SpeakEasy’s productions of The History Boys and The New Century. A founding member of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Ms. Plum has appeared has been honored with three Elliot Norton Awards, four IRNES and, in 2003, was named a Distinguished Alumna of Boston University’s School for the Arts.

Compiled from the press release courtesy of the SpeakEasy Stage Company (website | profile | tag archive).

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