Theater News

Tony Award Winner Mark Rylance to Star in Nice Fish at the Guthrie

Rylance also co-wrote and co-directed the world premiere production.

Bethany Rickwald
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Tony Award Winner Mark Rylance (Jerusalem) will star in the world premiere of Nice Fish, which will begin previews on April 6, in advance of an April 12 opening at the Guthrie Theater. Rylance will also co-direct the production with Claire van Kampen.

Written by Rylance and the prose poet Louis Jenkins, Nice Fish is a humorous story that takes place on frozen Midwestern waters, during the last day of ice fishing season. In addition to Rylance, the cast will feature Jim Lichtscheidl (Guthrie’s Arms and the Man), Emily Swallow (Guthrie’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Chris Carlson (Guthrie’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Bob Davis (Guthrie’s Tales from Hollywood), and Tyson Forbes (Guthrie’s Peer Gynt).

Rylance, who has won two Tony awards for his work on Broadway, is also a veteran of the Minnesota stage. He first appeared at the Guthrie a decade ago in the Guthrie WorldStage Series presentation of an original practices production of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare’s Globe. He returned in Measure for Measure two years later and in the title role of 2008’s Peer Gynt.

The artistic team will include Todd Rosenthal (scenic designer), Ilona Somogyi (costume designer), Mimi Sherin (lighting designer), and Scott W. Edwards (sound designer).