Know Theatre Opens 13th Season With SKIN TIGHT, Runs 10/9-30

Know Theatre will open it's 13th season with New Zealand playwright Gary Henderson's play, Skin Tight. The production will be directed by Drew Fracher with scenic and lighting design by Andrew Hungerford and sound design by Doug Borntrager. The production will star local actress Beth Harris and visiting actor Jens Rasmussen, who has performed with many Off-Broadway companies in New York. Skin Tight will show October 9 - 30, 2010.

Skin Tight tells the intimate story of a rural New Zealand couple, Tom and Elizabeth, who re-count their lives together through an exhilarating feast of fighting, lovemaking, and tenderness. The characters explore the ecstasy and pain of a passionate love affair. As it transpires, the entire performance becomes an eternal moment paradoxically slowed down while the actors explode across the stage in a frenzy of physical activity. This work from New Zealand examines love and loss and the exquisite pain each can cause.

"Drew brought the idea for Skin Tight to us a couple of years ago." says Producing Artistic Director, Eric Vosmeier, "It's a unique piece combining beautifully poetic text with intense physical action on stage. I'm excited to see what Drew can do with this kind of show which I suspect will be unlike anything Know Theatre audiences have seen on our stage before."

Director Drew Fracher says, "A friend gave me Skin Tight, knowing my penchant for action and stage combat and suggested that I might like the play. I felt that the Know was the only place in town that fit the style and content best thankfully, Eric felt the same way. I'm thrilled to have an opportunity to work on such an amazing, theatrical piece."

Skin Tight was first produced by The Strawberry Theatre and performed at Bats Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand in 1994. The play won the coveted Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1998 during a sell-out season at the Traverse Theatre. It received subsequent productions across New Zealand as well as in South Africa, Great Britain, Canada, New York City and recently at the Rapid Descent Physical Performance Company in San Francisco.

All tickets to all Know Theatre productions this season are $12 in advance and $15 on the week of the performance. You can purchase online at www.knowtheatre.com or call the Know Theatre box office at (513) 300-KNOW (5669). Flexible subscriptions are also available for $48.

Production Dates:

8pm Performances - October 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30

3pm Performances - October 24 & 30

Production Team:

Director - Drew Fracher**

Scenic & Lighting Design - Andrew Hungerford

Sound Design - Doug Borntrager
Cast:

Beth Harris

Jens Rasmussen*
Additional Information
Gary Henderson (Skin Tight) is a playwright and director based in New Zealand. In addition to directing his own scripts, he enjoys directing plays by other New Zealand writers, and has often acted as a mentor, helping to develop new work by emerging playwrights. He has also written for television, film and dance. Gary has taught playwriting at Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Allen Hall Theatre and has conducted many workshops and classes for schools and various other theatre organizations. Gary currently teaches playwriting at Unitec's School of Performing and Screen Arts in Auckland. His other plays include Mo & Jess Kill Susie and An Unseasonable Fall of Snow among others.

Drew Fracher (Director, Skin Tight) Drew is a freelance director, fight arranger and actor, serving as a Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors. As a director his work has been seen at Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Stage, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, New Stage Collective, Florida Stage and the Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Cincinnati Shakespeare Festivals. As a fight director his work has been seen for over 25 years at a wide variety of theatres throughout the U.S. Most recently he directed boom and Angels in America: Perestroika at Know Theatre, Dying City at New Stage Collective and Wait Until Dark at the Human Race Theatre Company. He spent June teaching stage combat to the graduate students of Pennsylvania State University and directed fights for Cincinnati Opera's Carmen.

The Cast:
Beth Harris (Elizabeth) Beth appeared in Know Theatre's Adding Machine: A Musical last season and was recently seen in Tenderly a musical about the life of Rosemary Clooney at Human Race Theatre Company. Other credits include: Dead City at New Stage Collective, Don't Make Me Pull This Show Over, Yitzhak in Hedwig & The Angry Inch, Anna in Syncopation, Dorothy in Nite Club Confidential, Sleeping Beauty in Sleeping Beauty, Vasalisa the Frog Princess in The Frog Princess and Violet in Violet-all at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati.

Jens Rasmussen* (Tom) Though voted most likely to become a monk in eighth grade, Jens' path has thankfully led him here. Based in NYC, he's worked with The Internationalists, EPIC, PanAsian Rep, Manhattan Theatre Source, Vital, and other Off-Broadway companies. Regionally he's worked from Florida to Wisconsin, and Idaho to Virginia. Favorite roles include: Father Flynn in Doubt, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Tom in The Glass Menagerie - a role he will reprise this spring in North Carolina. Member Actors' Equity. Learn more at www.jensrasmussen.info

*Member of Actors Equity Association
**Member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union