King of the Wild Frontier
A Special Benefit Reading at ETC
Written by John Romano
Directed by Jenny Sullivan
About King of the Wild Frontier
Dear Friends,
The reading of King of the Wild Frontier with Joe Spano, scheduled for this weekend, has been postponed to a future date. We are working now to secure a new date and will be in touch shortly with details. Your ticket will be honored at the rescheduled performance. We’re sorry for the change of plans, and grateful for your patience. We look forward to welcoming you to the reading soon.
We’re thrilled to welcome Emmy-Award winning actor Joe Spano to ETC for a special benefit reading of John Romano’s new play, King of the Wild Frontier.
Set against the world of a New Jersey country club in the 1960s, King of the Wild Frontier is a funny, suspenseful, and deeply moving meditation on family, faith, organized crime, and the moral choices that shape a life.
Through the memories of a young man coming of age, Romano interweaves two stories: a gifted golfer whose desperation leads him across an unspoken line, and a Catholic school student whose faith is transformed by an encounter with authority. As their stories converge, the play becomes a haunting reflection on power, conscience, and the hidden structures that hold a world together.
Following the performance, guests are welcome to stay for a Q&A with Joe and John, offering audiences a chance to hear more about the play, its development, and the stories behind the work.
Sunday, August 30, 2026 at 2pm
VIP seats: $100 (includes a VIP reception after the performance)
General Seating: $50
Artists
Cast
Joe Spano, best known for his Emmy-nominated detective role on “Hill Street Blues” (1981), was born in San Francisco, the son of a doctor, and a Bishop Riordan High School and University of California, Berkeley graduate. His intention to be a pre-med major dissipated with the growing interest of acting. While in San Francisco worked with the improv group The Wing. While at college, he made his debut as Paris in a production of “Romeo and Juliet” in 1967 and the very next year helped found the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, appearing in its very first production of “Woyzek.” He stayed with the company for 10 years and appeared in many of its plays, including “Hamlet” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” In the late 1970s, he decided to give Hollywood a try and, in between guest shots on TV, earned bit roles as hoodlums and other assorted urban troublemakers in the films American Graffiti (1973) and The Enforcer (1976). He also played a seductive vampire in the cult musical “Dracula: A Musical Nightmare” in a small LA theatre. After the success of his hit cop show in the 1980s, Spano appeared here, there, and everywhere but to less notoriety. He’s had recurring roles in “Murder One” (1995) and “NYPD Blue” (1993), again as a detective. He has also appeared regularly in mini-movies and other television shows. He made his Broadway bow in 1992 as Walter in a revival of “The Price” by Arthur Miller. In films, Spano worked alongside Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995) and Richard Gere and Edward Norton in Primal Fear (1996), among others.More recently, Spano has worked the recurring role of FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell in “NCIS” (2003)
Production Team
JENNY SULLIVAN (Director-SDC) is an award-winning theater and film director, actor, writer, and producer. Favorite directing gigs at: The Wallis Annenberg Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Acorn and Lucille Lortel Theaters Off-Broadway, Long Wharf Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Laguna Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, and Rubicon Theatre (where she recently directed 39 Steps). Jenny began directing for ETC in 2005! In 2026, Every Brilliant Thing is her 16th production! Other ETC productions include: Justice, The Children, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, Sleuth; The Legend of Georgia McBride, I Am My Own Wife (Indy Award), Baby Doll, Good People, Tea at Five, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Lion in Winter (Indy Award), The Mystery of Irma Vep (Indy Award), The Clean House (Indy Award), The Memory of Water and Dublin Carol (Indy Award). Other Santa Barbara productions include Marat/Sade, The Way We Live Now: Theatre for Our Lives in This Crisis Called AIDS (Center Stage Theatre) and Listen for Wings (Access Theatre); Nancy Nufer’s Food Confessions, Mother Earth/Father Sky, and The Shadow Box, all played at The Lobero Theatre. Jenny was a founding member of Santa Barbara’s “The Mime Caravan,” the creators of the annual Summer Solstice Celebration. Films: “Access All Areas” and “The Next Best Thing” (in which she had the good fortune to direct her father, Barry). Her film “I Know Catherine, The Log Lady” is currently being screened across the country. Jenny is most proud of the world premiere of her play J for J, starring Jenny, Jeff Kober, and the late great John Ritter.