Category Archive: 2014 In Dialogue Staged Reading

In Dialogue Staged Reading: Curse of the Starving Class

Curse of the Starving Class
by Sam Shepard
Directed by Devon Allen
October 20, 2014 

Cast: Eva Andrews, John Armour, Lorraine Bahr, Talon Bigelow, Tim Blough*, Kristi Bogart, Hans Eleveld, Dennis Kelly, Garland Lyons and Sam Morrison
Stage Manager: Jenn Lindell

*Member Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers.

In Dialogue Staged Reading: A Lie of the Mind

A LIE OF THE MIND
by Sam Shepard
Directed by Megan Kate Ward
July 12, 2014

Featuring: Don Alder*, Lauren Bloom*, Gavin Hoffman*, Sarah Lucht*, Sean McGrath, Sharonlee McLean*, Chris Murray* and Dainichia Noreault

*Member Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers.

In Dialogue Staged Reading: Buena Vista

by Edith Freni
Directed by Desdemona Chiang
April 12 & 13, 2014

Featuring: Tim Blough*, Chris Murray*, Jenny Newbry, Vana O’Brien*
Stage Managed by D Westerholm*

When Noah shows up at his family’s isolated Colorado cabin, he discovers his estranged mother has been squatting there for months. Then Dad walks in—questioning the reason for his son’s retreat—and Noah’s weekend getaway turns into a bizarre, snowed-in family nightmare. A series of revelations ignite Buena Vista’s surreal conclusion, unfolding in a frozen wooden box at 12,000 feet above sea level.

Edith Freni [Playwright] Edith’s work has been produced, and developed at theatre across the country including Steppenwolf Theatre Company, New York Theatre Workshop, LAByrinth Theatre Company, The Public Theatre, Williamstown Theater Festival, and Ensemble Studio Theater. Current commissions include a trilogy of classics adaptations for the University of Miami—where she is on faculty—and a new play for Steppenwolf. Ms. Freni is a former competitive amateur boxer and received her BFA and MFA in Dramatic Writing from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

Desdemona Chiang [Director] Desdemona’s directing credits include Playmakers Repertory Company, Aurora Theatre, Crowded Fire Theatre Company, Azeotrope (co-founder), FringeNYC, Playwrights Foundation, Golden Thread Productions, Washington, Ensemble Theatre, SF One Minute Play Festival, among others. Additional theatre credits include the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Intiman Theatre, ACT Theatre (Seattle), California Shakespeare Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, Magic Theatre, Theatreworks, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, among others. Intersection for the Arts Triangle Lab Artist-Investigator. SDC Sir John Gilgeud Directing Fellow. Drama League Directing Fellow. BA: UC Berkeley. MFA Directing: University of Washington.

Playwright Events:

April 11: Stop in to La Bonita (on N. Killingsworth) around 8pm, where Playwright Edith Freni will be enjoying taco’s and and conversation. If you can’t make it at 8pm, still stop by La Bonita on April 11th to grab breakfast, lunch or dinner, as 20% of ALL SALES on Friday will be donated to Profile.

April 12: Pre-show discussion at 7pm with Edith Freni on Morrison Stage.

April 13: Join us ten minutes before the performance for a quick discussion with Edith Freni and a little background on the play. Following the performance, the playwright and members of the reading will answer questions from the audience.

*Member Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers.

In Dialogue Staged Reading: Hungry

Concept design by Stephen Dobay

Concept design by Stephen Dobay

by Amy Claussen
Directed by Adriana Baer
March 15 & 16, 2014
Featuring: Karla Mason*, Rafael Miguel*, Melissa Murray, Ben Newman*
Stage Manager: Michelle Jazuk*

…this connection between the human being and the earth.  You need sustenance to keep you going, you know?… [It’s about] hunger.
– Sam Shepard

Good sex, bad sex, right love, wrong love—the hungry body yearns without logic. At The Phoenix Flower Cafe, deep and dry in New Mexico, a comically dysfunctional, fiercely cruel, and deeply loving family awaits the bloom of their namesake flower. The family’s searching hearts reach out for a taste of love in the desert as good ol’ midwestern Dilly eats her feelings, bad-kid Dan fights through his, and Sheila yearns for a last taste of love as her heart fails. Will their door-slamming, food fights, drug-dealing, secret nights, trusting strangers, and unexpected connections find them magic in the end?

In Dialogue Events during Hungry
Amy Claussen joined us for pre and post show talks to discuss her experiences as a playwright and what is it like to be a young, female writer in the world preceded by Sam Shepard and his contemporaries.

Sponsored by:

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Amy Claussen [Playwright] Amy is a game designer, freelance writer, and director based in the Bay Area. She most recently directed Lauren Gunderson’s The Heath for Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Ground Floor Festival and is a Drama League Directing Fellow, having spent a season directing for the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca. She was the assistant director on Nora and Delia Ephron’s off-Broadway hit Love, Loss, and What I Wore, starring a rotating cast of the actresses, including Rosie O’Donnell, Rita Wilson, Kristen Chenoweth, and Tyne Daly. Ms. Claussen holds a theatre degree from Carnegie Mellon in Directing.

*Member Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers.