Audio Plays, Endgame, Multimedia & Gallery Updates

thewpap — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:06:34 +0000

One of the Remains Theater productions, The Actor Retires is available to download as an audiobook.

Synopsis

A hilarious comedy about an actor, who decides to throw out his headshots, fire his agent and change careers from performing to making furniture.

Billy’s character appears around the 40 minute mark.

The play is available to download from the following links. Many thanks to our LJ members ufgator1977 and CR1 for posting the links at our LJ Community.

Our DVD/Promo Multimedia Section has been updated with a recent interview with Billy regarding CSI. (Thanks E).

The Gallery has also been updated with a larger image of the Endgame promo photo, as well as two replacement images from the Sheila Kar Fundraiser last month (without the blue bars).

Speaking of Endgame, if you are attending the show on 21st April, do check out the Endgame Wine Tasting Event held at Steppenwolf, as well as Martha Lavey’s blog post : Frank & Me.

Steppenwolf’s 2010 Gala on May 8th will be featuring an exclusive showcase of Endgame, details available on the Steppenwolf website.

Now open for business: The Richard Christiansen Theater

thewpap — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:47:35 +0000

As per our tweet yesterday (we do recommend you follow us on Twitter because we usually post news there first) the new Richard Christian Theater at Victory Gardens opened. Billy was at the opening ceremony and gave a speech.

The actor William Petersen followed with an equally moving and self-effacing speech, remarking on how generously Christiansen treated the famous opening-night fiasco of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” when the great Joe Mantegna went up on his lines. Petersen had a similar story to Cleveland’s. Christiansen told him, in print, that he was a great actor. And from that point, he believed it himself.

The full article is available via the Chicago Tribune : Now open for business: The Richard Christiansen Theater

Billy & Jorja at the Spotlight Humane: Chicago

thewpap — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:11:57 +0000

Those of you following ourselves and several other fansites on Twitter would have seen Jorja Fox: Online’s great experience of attending the Spotlight Humane: Chicago event this past Saturday.

The JFO webmistress was invited to the event by Jorja herself and has kindly shared her story, images and a video with everyone, we highly recommend you check them out. Billy was also in attendance at the event.

Image copyright Jorja Fox: Online

Gallery Update

thewpap — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:29:35 +0000

Billy attended the Sheila Kar Health Foundation Charity Fundraiser last week in Los Angeles and we have a couple of photos from the event in The Gallery.

Also, today Billy celebrates his 57th birthday, Happy Birthday Billy!

We invite our visitors to leave a birthday message by commenting on this post.

Richard Christiansen Tribute by William Petersen

thewpap — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:26:03 +0000

As per our Tweet yesterday, Billy has written a wonderful tribute to Chicago Theater Critic, Richard Christiansen. In our February 5th update we mentioned that Victory Gardens Theater are naming their new theater after the very well respected Mr Christiansen. Below is a snippet, but you can read Billy’s full tribute here.

I’ll never forget his review of In the Belly of the Beast at Wisdom Bridge Theatre in 1983. He wrote in the review that he was so moved he had to “pull over to collect himself”. That review became famous among us actors. When a review would run, we’d ask, “was it a pull-over review”. That play was a powerful. It was a hard piece. The next day I read all the reviews by Glenna Syse, and Rick Kogan and Richard’s. I read Richard’s twice. I was so touched and moved. Richard got it.

To Live & Die in LA on Blu Ray

thewpap — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:31:38 +0000

After a rather long delay ‘To Live & Die in LA’ has finally been released on Blu Ray this week and is available to purchase from Amazon.com by clicking on the link below.

In other news, Billy was quoted in a recent Chicago Tribune article regarding the new Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens.

“Richard was the one guy who most influenced my career,” said Petersen, who cut his teeth on the Chicago stage and who described making booze-aided, nocturnal trips down to Tribune Tower and begging for someone on the loading dock to throw him a copy of the paper with the Christiansen review.

“It wasn’t just that he made other people believe I was a better actor,” Petersen said. “He made me believe I was a better actor.”

You can read the full article online at the Chicago Tribune website.

Many of you who have been following Billy’s theater career will be very familiar with Mr Christiansen, especially his thoughts of Billy’s performance in ‘In the Belly of the Beast’ (check out his review).

Endgame Tickets Officially on Sale Today

thewpap — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:32:50 +0000

Endgame Tickets are available to buy today, be sure and check out the Steppenwolf Website for ticket information and availability.

Buy Tickets

Keep an eye on the Steppenwolf website for further information regarding Endgame, such as rehearsal and production photos, blog articles, etc.

More updates this weekend.

The Players: The 50 people who really perform for Chicago

thewpap — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:32:56 +0000

Once again New City Stage have announced their list of Chicago talent who have influenced the Chicago Theater Scene for the past year. Billy is listed at #5. (Last Year he was listed at #4).

Other noteworthy ‘players’ on this year’s list are Amy Morton (#19), Stephen Louis Grush (#26) and Dennis Zacek (#28). Check out the full list at the New City Stage website.

5. William Petersen - Actor

While Chicago stages are blessed with many actors boasting varying degrees of Hollywood success, only one works the kind of box-office magic that’s driving Broadway’s biggest shows these days. Billy Petersen famously left the lead role of top-rated television drama “CSI,” which he still produces, to return to Chicago theater in 2008. Though he joined the Steppenwolf ensemble (where he’ll appear in “Endgame” this season), it was his role in the two-hander “Blackbird” at Victory Gardens last summer that really showed his market power, when the critically acclaimed production sold out every show that the theater could cram into its schedule, and became its biggest hit ever. Petersen’s not just a pretty face, though—his performances on Chicago stages, dating back to the late seventies, are legendary.

Grissom’s Greatest : Parts 3-5

thewpap — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:00:08 +0000

The final parts of Channel 5’s ‘Grissom’s Greatest’ CSI Special are now available to download in our Multimedia/Entertainment section.

CSI and Endgame News, Articles and Fundraiser Feedback

thewpap — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:57:03 +0000

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone. We hope you all had a pleasant holiday.

Now for some long overdue updates.

Neil Midgley of the Daily Telegraph (UK newspaper) had the opportunity to interview Billy during his visit to London towards the end of last year.

William Petersen on life after CSI

The actor, who played Gil Grissom in CSI, tells Neil Midgley why he loves his new life on stage.

William Petersen on life after CSI - The actor, who played Gil Grissom in CSI, tells Neil Midgley why he loves his new life on stage.

Click this link to read the full interview.

From the live blog feed of the CBS Press Tour (c/o The Hollywood Reporter) Nina Tassler (Entertainment President) states the following:

On “CSI” and Lawrence Fishburne’s character: “I think they’re doing much better in finding Fishburne’s character. ‘CSI’ is in its 10th season it’s still No. 7. You can’t deny Fishburne is a powerful actor and a force to be reckoned with.” That said, Tassler said afterward that CBS would welcome back William Petersen with “open arms,” though right now “there are no plans” to have him on the show.

The ‘Theater World’ is gearing up for Steppenwolf’s production of Endgame, with both Playbill and Theatermania sharing brief articles on the synopsis and set information. As a reminder, for those of you who do not have subscriptions, tickets go on sale later this month on January 29th.

We have received a nice letter back from Victory Gardens regarding the recent fundraiser we organized. A copy of which can be found in The Gallery. Again, well done everyone! We will be sending off all the relevant fundraiser information off to Billy very soon.

We are currently working on the rest of the ‘Grissom’s Greatest’ clips, which we hope will be available on the site on Sunday, as well as some deleted scenes from the Season 1 Blu-Ray Box Set of CSI c/o our good friends over at Margamania.