Arizona Theatre Company Announces 2012-2013 Season of Café Bohemia

Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) has announced its second season of Café Bohemia, a unique play reading series featuring diverse new works from bold and inventive playwrights. Café Bohemia will kick off September 8, 2012, with all readings except for "War of the Worlds," taking place in The Temple Lounge at The Temple of Music and Art in Downtown Tucson.

The 2012-2013 season of Café Bohemia will consist of six play readings, including "Savage Bond" by Steve Holiday, the 2012 Arizona Playwriting Award Winner, and "Ghetto Babylon," the play that earned Michael Mejias the 2012 National Latino Playwriting Award. The playwrights of these exciting new works will be present at the readings, as they continue to develop their scripts.

"Café Bohemia was an astounding success last year and our incredible line-up of play readings for the upcoming season promises an even better reception," said ATC Associate Artistic Director Stephen Wrentmore. "The series allows us to spotlight a new generation of talented artists participating in an alternative jam-session format, which incites sharing of ideas and authentic responses. Café Bohemia provides another avenue to continue engaging our communities with the transformative power of theatre."

The schedule of play readings for the 2012-2013 season of Café Bohemia follows:

"Kill Shakespeare" by Anthony Del Col
September 8, 2012 at 8 p.m.

Based on the critically-acclaimed comic book series, "Kill Shakespeare: The Live Stage Reading," is a tale that pits the Bard's greatest heroes (including Hamlet, Juliet, Othello, Falstaff and Puck) against his most menacing villains (including Richard III, Lady Macbeth and Iago) in a quest to track down and kill – or save – a reclusive wizard by the name of William Shakespeare. This performance brings the comic book to life by incorporating images from the series, acting, live music and sound effects, to create a fun and exciting theatrical experience.

"Savage Bond" by Steve Holiday
2012 Arizona Playwriting Award Winner
November 10, 2012 at 9:30 p.m.

When tragedy reunites six people the day before Thanksgiving, they come together to protect their departed mutual friend's assets from his greedy family. When the weather traps them together for the holiday and they find a journal filled with each of their secrets, they discover that dysfunction is universal, grief is humorous and heart-wrenching, and family is... relative.

"The Narrows" by Nick Bailey
December 8, 2012 at 10 p.m.

Stride sits in a room, quietly smoking. Topham joins him, and he can't shut up. Walter, meanwhile, is slowly unraveling. What follows is a game of cat and mouse where the stakes are high, we just don't know what they are. Why was Topham asked there? What does he have to prove? And what - or who - if anything - is locked behind that door? Details of betrayal, business deals, and black and white photographs slowly emerge, as we watch three lifelong friends struggle for control while they try to save the things they love the most.

"Ghetto Babylon" by Michael Mejias
2012 National Latino Playwriting Award Winner
February 9, 2013 at 9:30 p.m.

Charlie is a Puerto Rican kid from the South Bronx projects having the little league summer he and his teammates have dreamed about forever. When he gets accepted to the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy, he's ecstatic. The only problem is that he has to be there on the same day of the Bronx-Wide Championship. Figures, right? Suddenly, the clock is ticking on Charlie's summer and maybe even on the rest of his life. Who can he turn to? How about "The Catcher in the Rye?"

"War of the Worlds after HG Wells" adapted by Carrie J. Cole, in partnership with the
University of Arizona Planetarium
March 9, 2013 at 9:30 p.m. – University of Arizona Flandrau Planetarium

This new stage adaptation of The War of the Worlds by Carrie J. Cole puts H.G. Wells' original invasion of Earth by the Martians in the context of our current missions to explore Mars, and the human dynamics embedded in such endeavors. The drama of scientific discovery and science fictional predictions come together evocatively under the dome of the University of Arizona's Flandrau Planetarium during the Tucson Festival of Books.

"Tortilla Curtain" by Matt Spangler
Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award Winner
April 13, 2013 at 9:30 p.m.

A collision on a suburban highway ignites a confrontation between the members of a gated community and two undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Based on the novel by T.C. Boyle and adapted by the playwright of ATC's acclaimed "The Kite Runner," this epic dark comedy explores life on the border and the price of the American dream, as the characters' lives intersect in comic and increasingly tragic ways.

General admission tickets to Café Bohemia play readings will be sold for $5 each at the door of The Temple Lounge at The Temple of Music and Art prior to each performance. Café Bohemia is sponsored by Providence Service Corporation, Inc.

To learn more about ATC, please visit www.ArizonaTheatre.org.