Circle X Theatre Co. to Stage World Premiere of DEATH PLAY by Lisa Dring

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play, DEATH PLAY, written by Lisa Dring and directed by Jessica Hanna. DEATH PLAY will preview on Thursday, March 17 & Friday, March 18 and will open on Saturday, March 19 at 8pm and run through Saturday, April 23 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

DEATH PLAY is an exploration of the echoes we leave behind. It's a story about the great magic and total crap of dying. This evocative solo piece received its festival premiere in July 2015 as a part of Son of Semele Theater's Solo Creation Festival in Los Angeles, and has also been developed with Actors Theatre of Louisville and One Year Lease Theater Company.

Funny, heartbreaking and candid, DEATH PLAY asks us what we do with the disappearances we face through the loss of those we love, America's chosen blindness toward the aging, especially older women, and the Japanese American pursuit of belonging. Dring explores these questions through the lens of her personal experience: the loss of both parents and her grandmother, all during her early 20s.

Says Dring, "The play calls in the archetypes of maiden, mother and crone, allowing me to explore my shifting identity. DEATH PLAY also challenges us to look at how we envision and interact with the crone. Women in America are consistently shamed by age. We don't hold any reverence for feminine power beyond the beauty of her skin, and if we followed much of the media it would appear that the worst thing a woman could do would be to have the audacity to become old. This play asks us to take a deep, dark look at the crone, and find out why we are so frightened."

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

LISA DRING (Playwright and Performer) has developed and performed solo work with Actors Theatre of Louisville, One Year Lease Theater Company, Bread & Puppet Theater, and the University of Southern California. She has worked as an actor with Humana Festival, Asolo Repertory Theatre, East West Players, Pan Asian Rep, One Year Lease, Circle X Theatre Co., Virginia Avenue Project and Theatre of NOTE. Lisa is also a clown and puppeteer, which informs her written work. As a puppeteer she has performed with Bread & Puppet and Rogue Artists. Lisa was chosen to apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville after receiving a BA in Theatre from the University of Southern California. She has studied clown with Chris Bayes, and has trained in Viewpoints continuously with organizations around the country as well as abroad.

JESSICA HANNA (Director) is a Los Angeles-based Theater Maker. She holds a BFA in Acting from the Theater School at DePaul University in Chicago and worked in Chicago for 4 years after graduating, with Live Bait, Bailiwick Theater and Curious Theater Branch, among others. Since moving to Los Angeles, she has worked as an actor, director, choreographer and producer all over Los Angeles with many companies and spaces including, Open Fist, Sacred Fools, Evidence Room, John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, Greenway Court, Abundant Sugar, Occidental College, Atwater Village Theatre, Furious Theatre, Mine is Yours Theatre Co., and B-Flat Productions.

She has also had the pleasure of working with Anne Bogart and the SITI Co. as an actor at the Getty Villa twice. She has trained in Suzuki/Viewpoints with SITI Co. since 2002 and participated in their month long intensive at Skidmore College in 2007 & 2012. In June 2006 she co-founded Bootleg Theater and has been the Producing & Managing Director ever since. Through Bootleg she has produced and worked with hundreds of artists and companies, overseeing production of all the theatrical and dance performances at Bootleg. Recent directing credits include: Lesley Headlund's Bachelorette for Mine is Yours Theatre Co., Lisa Dring's Death Play, for the Son of Semele Solo Creation Festival. 2 years of work on No Homo, first at the Hollywood Fringe (Winner Best Director, Best Ensemble Theater, Best World Premiere and Golden Playwright), New York Fringe and then a full production run at Atwater Village Theatre. Most recently she directed the world premiere in January 2016 of Tom Cavanaugh's Inland Empress, produced by Mutant Collective at The Lounge Theatre. She serves on the Board of the Theatre Producers League of Los Angeles - Intimate.

DEATH PLAY is produced for Circle X Theatre Co. by Camille Schenkkan with Jen Kays and Ian-Julian Williams and features the following design team: Set and Lighting Design is by Kirk Wilson. Sound Design is by Jeff Gardner, with additional sound by Ray Salas. Costume Design is by Ann Closs-Farley.

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING

DEATH PLAY will preview on Thursday, March 17 & Friday, March 18 and will open on Saturday, March 19 at 8pm and run through Saturday, April 23 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

Performances will rotate Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 8pm or Friday, Saturday at 8pm & Sunday at 7pm; special performance Monday, April 11 (see complete schedule at www.CircleXTheatre.org).

ATWATER VILLAGE THEATRE - 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039.

Tickets are $15. Previews are $10 in advance online or Pay-What-You-Can at the door. For tickets, buy online atwww.circlextheatre.org.