Matrix Theatre Company Launches Hostel Theatre

Matrix Theatre Company is introducing Hostel Theatre to provide a venue for those independent theatre makers that don't have one of their own. The schedule for Hostel Theatre runs from September 19 - October 12 and features BoxFest Detroit, Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company, and RUMPUSROOM, three of Detroit's professional theatres, and Jasmine Rivera, an award-winning filmmaker. For those interested in renting Matrix Theatre Company's space, contact Megan Buckley-Ball, Artistic Director, at 313 967 0999 ext. 4.

"We are very excited about this new addition to our regular theatre season," said Buckley-Ball. "This venture features events by theatre companies, producers, or directors who don't have access to their own performance spaces. As a theatre that focuses on building community, we feel it is important to make our space available to members of the theatre community and provide them with a place to exercise their own artistic visions for Detroit."

The first Hostel Theatre event features the BoxFest Detroit Workshop produced by BoxFest Detroit on Friday, September 19 and Saturday, September 20. An organization that showcases and creates opportunities for women directors, the BoxFest Detroit Workshop is a weekend of fully-staged readings directed by 10 of the most innovative and creative women working in Detroit today. Audiences will have the opportunity to discuss each reading in a post-performance "talk back."

The Workshop event is a fundraiser for BoxFest Detroit's 2015 festival. For more information on scheduling, tickets, and the organization, visit www.boxfestdetroit.com.

Friday, October 3 and Saturday, October 4, The Trail of the Catonsville Nine produced by Jasmine Rivera, written by Fr. Daniel Berrigan, and directed by Kate Peckham is featured. The play tells the story of nine Catholic activists who, in 1968, broke into the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, removed draft files, brought them out to the parking lot, poured home-made napalm over them, and set them on fire. Fr. Berrigan, one of the nine activists charged, based his play on a transcript from the trial. Jasmine Rivera is presenting the readings of this play to support her upcoming film project, American Prophet.

Tuesday, October 7, Detroit's Magenta Giraffe Theatre and author Elizabeth Dembrowsky of New York City will partner to present To Save One, an experimental piece of art that bridges the gap between theatre and literature. Dembrowsky's To Save One explores the story of an American-born woman and a Romanian-born man who meet in New York, fall in love and want to get married. They have to convince the American government to let them spend the rest of their lives together in the United States. But the story is not just about one couple or one train of thought, or one country. It is about everyone's love, all of our needs, and the hope that grit and hard work will eventually win out.

Saturday, October 11, RUMPUSROOM closes out the Hostel Theatre series with a staged reading of Kayak by Jordan Hall, directed by Amanda Grace Ewing. Following the reading, three invited local artists will present a panel discussion on the politics of play selection in various Detroit communities. For further information, go to RUMPUSROOM's Facebook page.