John Hardy Returns to WTA’s Gateway in Rattlesnake

John Hardy, the acclaimed actor, playwright, director and former Artistic Associate at Virginia’s Barter Theatre, will return to WTA’s Gateway on Saturday, April 27 in his one-person drama Rattlesnake. Hardy plays sixteen roles in the drama with only a few pieces of furniture of props to highlight the action. It is a real tour de force for the accomplished actor. The 8 pm performance is at 329 West Main in Downtown Waynesboro.

Rattlesnake begins with a tale of a man of West Texas who longs for fatherhood and takes a most unique route to achieve his dream. The play encompasses thirty years in flashbacks and takes place in various locations in West Texas and Paris, France. Hardy manages this epoch journey with the skills honed by a long career in the professional theatre. His performance in Rattlesnake has been called “profound and moving.” It is a night in the theatre which one critic said, “Rises to the kind of ritualistic intensity one does not often see, but always longs for, in contemporary theatre.” It is simply not a performance to be missed by anyone who values live theatre. “Although we are blessed with many fine actors in the Valley, John Hardy takes the art to a new level,” says Clair Myers, Executive Director at the Wayne Theatre Alliance.

During his professional career of more than thirty-five years, John Hardy has worked across America and overseas. He has directed over one hundred professional productions including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Man of La Mancha, and played many of the great roles including Hamlet, MacBeth, Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, and Teach inAmerican Buffalo. As a playwright he has had over fifty productions of fifteen plays produced across the country and overseas. Among the many theatres John Hardy has worked at over the years are The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Barter Theatre, and Off-Broadway at The Lamb’s Theatre.

Advanced tickets are $10 and may be purchased on line at www.wtagateway.com or by calling 540-943-9999. Remaining tickets will be available on the evening of the performance for $12.

The performance of Rattlesnake is support by grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.