Jon Robin Baitz’s knack for unearthing and reconciling family secrets was rewarded with a 2011 Pulitzer Prize nomination for “Other Desert Cities.” The play merging humor and drama gets its Washington debut at Arena Stage with a cast headed by Tony Award nominees Larry Bryggman as Lyman Wyeth and Helen Carey as his wife, Polly. It is directed by Kyle Donnelly, a former Arena Stage associate artistic director and Helen Hayes Award winner, who now heads the Master of Fine Arts program in acting at the University of California, San Diego.
“Polly is a terrific character and the engine that has held Lyman together,” said Carey, a Washington favorite and winner of multiple Helen Hayes Awards and nominations. “She’s a forceful woman and very layered, as are all the characters. They have different political views and specific relationships to one another. Henry, the oldest son, is the subject of a memoir her daughter Brooke has written. She is not old enough to know the toll that its publication will take on the family and their relationships.
