“My biggest fantasy is. Well… I would like… I’d like to eat dinner alone. In a restaurant.” – Nancy
Grand Horizons, the Tony Award-nominated play by Bess Wohl, comes to the Visual Arts Collective this March. Alley Repertory Theater’s second show of the 2024-25 season (Hey, Old Friend) is a hilarious commentary on marriage, family, and the wisdom that comes with age (or not).
Fifty years into her marriage to Bill, Nancy wants a divorce. While her husband seems unfazed by the decision, her two adult sons are shaken to the core. The family, turned upside down and grappling with their new reality, finds each must reckon with their imperfect past in this intimate look at the wild, unpredictable, enduring nature of love, and that seemingly well-adjusted families can be messy.
This play premiered on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theater on January 23, 2020. The production closed in March of the same year, when COVID-19 forced productions to close on Broadway and around the world.
Grand Horizons was nominated for Best Play, losing out to The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez. The original cast featured Jane Alexander (nominated for Best Featured Actress), James Cromwell, Ben McKenzie, and Ashley Park, among others. The play was also the only original play written by a woman on Broadway that season.
The Alley Repertory Theater production features a cast of seven Treasure Valley favorites, plus an experienced crew behind the scenes.
Grand Horizons: Meet the Cast
In Alley Rep’s production of Grand Horizons, the family matriarch (Nancy) and patriarch (Bill) are played by Patti O’Hara and Craig Kreiser. O’Hara has appeared in over 40 productions on 17 professional and community stages in Boise and the Midwest. Previous Alley Rep productions for O’Hara include: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2016) and Three Tall Women (2009).
Grand Horizons marks Kreiser’s Alley Rep debut. Kreiser’s most recent stage role was Ebenezer Scrooge in the Guthrie‘s adaptation of A Christmas Carol at the Morrison Center in Boise and produced by the New Heritage Theater Company.
Appearing as Brian and Ben, the sons of Nancy and Bill, are Ryan Singh and Jesse Bastian. Singh recently stage managed Alley Rep’s productions of The Normal Heart and Merrily We Roll Along and Grand Horizons will mark his first time on the Alley Rep stage.
Bastian’s previous productions with Alley Rep include Hair (2023) and The Farnsworth Invention (2011).
Annie Bulow (Jess), Spencer Kohler (Tommy), and Alice Thompson (Carla) round out this amazing cast. Bulow is making a return to the stage after a eight-year hiatus. Prior roles include: Vanda in the BCT production of Venus in Fur, Meg in Crimes of the Heart at Boise State University, Abigail in The Crucible, and Emily in Our Town with New Heritage Theater Company.
Kohler last appeared with Alley Rep in Cabaret (2022). Other selected previous works include Airheart (ISF Idaho Theatre for Youth), The Drag (BSU), and The SpongeBob Musical (BSU).
This is the first role with Alley Rep for Thompson. Thompson appeared in a staged reading of Lynn Nottage’s play Intimate Apparel at Boise Contemporary Theater. At BCT, she also played multiple roles in the production of the play, In Case of Bruising as part of the BIPOC Playwrights Festival.
Grand Horizons begins March 13 with a pay-what-you-want preview performance. Opening night is March 14, with performances continuing until March 23.
PRODUCTION TEAM: Buffie Main (co-director), Tiara Thompson (co-director), Elena Maddy (production manager), Liberty Leeds (stage manager), Amber Ellis (scenic designer), Wendy Fox (costume designer), Chaz Gentry (light designer), Blake Green (sound designer/sound engineer), Samuel Stimpert (technical director), Jaime Nebeker (intimacy director), Jason Haskins (dramaturg).