NVA Takes A Bite Out Of Hollywood In FOUR DOGS AND A BONE, Opens 6/4

New Village Arts (NVA) concludes its 2008-2009 season with Four Dogs and a Bone by award-winning playwright and recent Oscar-nominee John Patrick Shanley.  NVA Associate Artistic Director Joshua Everett Johnson directs this brutally hysterical satire of Hollywood.  Four Dogs and a Bone runs June 4 through 28 at the New Village Arts Theatre, located at 2787 State Street in Carlsbad Village.  Tickets range from $25 - $30 and are available by calling the box office at 760-433-3245 or by visiting www.NewVillageArts.org.

A naive writer, a desperate producer, an embittered actress and a scheming starlet take Center Stage as they fight tooth and nail for control of a troubled film production.  Sex, greed and egotism abound as the four attempt to save their careers and avoid ending up in a straight-to-video 'art house dog.'   The New York Times raves "If you're going to write a satire about the movie business at this very late date, it had better be very, very funny. In the case of Four Dogs and a Bone…that criterion is most abundantly met."   And the New York Post exclaims "…Four Dogs and a Bone [is] the funniest play in town, and the neatest, if kinda affectionate, evisceration of that ol' dream factory you will encounter in years."  Four Dogs and a Bone contains adult language and situations and is intended for mature audiences.

"I'm attracted to sharp comedies and John Patrick Shanley's Four Dogs and a Bone is as sharp as it gets", says director Joshua Everett Johnson.

The cast features NVA Ensemble members Joshua Everett Johnson, Kristianne Kurner and Amanda Sitton joined by Actors Equity member Eric Poppick, last seen on the NVA stages in Golden Boy and at Cygnet Theatre in History Boys.  Poppick has also done extensive work in film and television, including roles in Basic Instinct, Hero (with Dustin Hoffman), Seinfeld and NYPD Blue.  Johnson, who directs as well as plays the role of the naive writer Victor, is one of San Diego's most lauded and respected actors.  Kurner takes on the role of the scheming starlet Brenda and has appeared in over fifteen productions at NVA and won both the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award and the Patte Award for her direction of Shanley's Sailor's Song.  Sitton most recently appeared in Be Aggressive at NVA and Shanley's Doubt at San Diego Repertory Theatre, and was awarded for Outstanding Featured Performance by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for her work in NVA's Golden Boy.  She will tackle the role of Collette, the embittered actress.

NVA has a strong history with John Patrick Shanley's work, after producing the regional premiere of Sailor's Song in 2007 (featuring Amanda Sitton), which won more local theatre awards than any other production that year.  That production was so successful that the company brought it back in 2008 for an additional run (featuring both Sitton and Johnson).  "We are thrilled to return to John Patrick Shanley's world," says Executive Artistic Director Kurner.  "Shanley creates characters that actors love to delve into and audiences are unable to forget.  Four Dogs and a Bone is a very funny play and a great way to jump start the summer."

All performances of Four Dogs and a Bone will be held at the New Village Arts Theatre and will run Thursdays and Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 3 PM & 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM.  Tickets range from $25 to $30 and are available by calling the box office at 760-433-3245 or logging on to www.NewVillageArts.org.

Four Dogs and a Bone is the conclusion of NVA's Eighth Season.  Season Nine will be announced on May 9, 2009.

New Village Arts Theatre was founded in April 2001 by graduates of New York's Actors Studio Drama School.  NVA is now in its eighth season of producing award-winning, critically acclaimed theatre in North County San Diego.  Thanks to the support of the City of Carlsbad and many generous individuals and companies, New Village Arts opened their new theatrical space in the heart of Carlsbad Village in June of 2007.  This season NVA will present plays by two of its favorite playwrights, Sam Shepard and John Patrick Shanley; a regional premiere of a 2007 Pulitzer Prize-finalist by Eisa Davis; a hilarious, surprisingly poignant play about growing up in San Diego by award-winning playwright Annie Weisman; and the return of its very first commissioned work by local playwrights Tom Zohar and Amy Chini.

NVA's debut in November 2001, Brilliant Traces, was staged in the Granary – a converted chicken coop in Carlsbad's Magee Park – and received Critic's Choice from the San Diego Union-Tribune.  Pat Launer (then of KPBS) named New Village Arts "The Most Exciting New Theatre" in San Diego in January 2002.   New Village Arts found a temporary professional home in the Studio Space at Jazzercise, Inc.  In the five years that NVA produced at Jazzercise, they were awarded numerous major awards, for such productions as A Lie of the Mind, Orphans, The Waverly Gallery, The Playboy of the Western World and Nocturne.   New Village Arts became known for their intense, thrilling, ensemble driven productions.   In 2007, NVA was awarded with five San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards, their production of Crimes of the Heart was named one of the top ten productions of 2007 in the San Diego Union Tribune, and Sailor’s Song was noted as one of the best productions of 2007 in both the San Diego Reader and San Diego Magazine.

New Village Arts presents theatre fueled by the power and passion of the artist and shares with its audience an uncompromising appetite for the human experience.

NVA gratefully acknowledges the support of its season sponsors:  The PC Chao Charitable Foundation and Jack & Valerie Cumming.     

Joshua Everett Johnson* (Director/Victor) Previous NVA directing credits: Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy, the world premiere of Off the Ground and the San Diego premiere of Nocturne.  NVA acting credits include: Fool For Love, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Sailor’s Song, Golden Boy, Prelude to a Kiss, Dancing at Lughnasa, This is Our Youth, Uncle Vanya, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Orphans, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Playboy of the Western World, Nocturne and True West. As a co-production with Backyard Productions: A Lie of the Mind. As a co-production with Cygnet Theatre: Curse of the Starving Class. With Cygnet Theatre: Biedermann and the Firebugs, Copenhagen. With Renaissance Theatre: Of Mice and Men. With La Jolla Playhouse: The Farnsworth Invention, The Adding Machine. Joshua is the Associate Artistic Director and a member of The Ensemble at New Village Arts and a Resident Artist at Cygnet Theatre. He is also the grateful recipient of several San Diego Theatre Awards including the KPBS Patte Award and the Critic's Circle Craig Noel Award.

Kristianne Kurner*(Brenda) NVA Ensemble Member, Founder and Executive Artistic Director.  With NVA: Four Play, Brilliant Traces, A Hatful of Rain, The Only Game in Town, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Lie of the Mind, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Playboy of the Western World, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Three Sisters, Crimes of the Heart, Dancing at Lughnasa, Prelude to a Kiss and Fool For Love.  Before coming to San Diego, Kristianne appeared in shows in Los Angeles and New York City, including work at Circle in the Square (Downtown), HERE and Synchronicity Space.  Training: BA Theatre, College of William & Mary.  MFA: Acting, Actors Studio Drama School.

Eric Poppick^ (Bradley) NVA: Golden Boy.  San Diego Theatre: Cygnet Theatre: THE HISTORY BOYS; North Coast Repertory Theatre: Morning's at Seven; Lyceum Theatre: One for the Road.  Elsewhere: Odyssey Theatre: Awake and Sing!, Scapino, Rhinoceros; Glendale Center Theatre: Don't Drink the Water; L.A. Theatre Works: Murder in the First.  Film and TV: Basic Instinct, Mouse Hunt, Single White Female, Hero (with Dustin Hoffman), Seinfeld, Columbo, Curb Your Enthusiasm, NYPD Blue, LA Law, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless.  Eric has a BFA in Acting from Boston University and an MA in Directing from The State University of New York.

Amanda Sitton* (Collette) NVA Ensemble Member.  Prior acting credits include Be Aggressive, Golden Boy, Dancing at Lughnasa, Sailor’s Song, Crimes of the Heart, Three Sisters (New Village Arts); Doubt (San Diego Rep); Collected Stories, Amy’s View (North Coast Rep); Torch Song Trilogy, Twilight of the Golds (Diversionary Theater), A Bright Room Called Day (Backyard Productions/Diversionary Theater); Hysterical Blindness (Backyard Productions); Las Meninas (Cygnet Theater); The Gingerbread Lady (Renaissance Theater Co.).  Ms. Sitton received her BA in Theatre from UCSD.

John Patrick Shanley (Playwright) has previously been critically lauded as an off-Broadway playwright (Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Italian American Reconciliation, Sailor's Song, among many others) and as an Oscar-winning screenwriter (Moonstruck, starring Cher, Nicholas Cage, and Olympia Dukakis).  In 2004, his play Doubt received unanimous rave reviews off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theater Club, and became Shanley's first play to transfer to Broadway.  There, it swept all of that year's major awards, winning the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Drama Desk, the Tony, and the Pulitzer.  In the third decade of a highly successful career, Shanley's first Broadway play went on to a national tour and launched productions across the country and around the world.

Shanley's long list of acclaimed plays, many of which he directed in their original productions, include Defiance, Savage in Limbo, the dreamer examines his pillow, Beggars in the House of Plenty, Where's My Money?, Italian American Reconciliation, and Dirty Story.  The latter premiered almost simultaneously with Doubt and earned him a Drama Desk nomination.

Shanley has had five original screenplays produced: Five Corners, Moonstruck (Oscar and Writers Guild Award), The January Man, Joe Versus the Volcano and Doubt which he also directed.  Five Corners won the Special Jury Prize for its screenplay at the Barcelona Film Festival.  Doubt was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay and won the SAG Award for Best Actress for Meryl Streep.

Tim Wallace (Scenic Designer): NVA: Be Aggressive, Golden Boy, Scripps Ranch: Shadowbox, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Backyard Productions: Hysterical Blindness.  Tim has enjoyed an 18 year career with the San Diego Opera painting scenery for productions that have traveled around the world. He has worked as a free-lance artist throughout the county and has shown his personal artwork across the country.

Amanda Sitton* (Costume Designer) NVA: Be Aggressive, Sailor’s Song (’08), Prelude to a Kiss, This is Our Youth.

Justin Hall (Light Designer) NVA: Be Aggressive, Sailor's Song ('07 & '08), Justin has been involved with NVA since 2001 and is the Technical Director for Moonlight Stage Productions and a native of San Diego.  He earned a degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Arizona and has worked professionally in the theatre throughout the South-West.

Adam Brick* (Sound Designer) Adam has been an Audio Engineer for nine years.  He records local bands at his studio, Brickhouse Recordings Studios in Oceanside, and runs audio for local and national concerts and conventions.  Previous work for NVA includes Bulrusher, Off the Ground, Fool For Love, Sailor’s Song, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), This is Our Youth, True West, Crimes of the Heart and Three Sisters.

Sam Sherman (Stage Manager): Sam Sherman hails from Carlsbad and is currently a student at MiraCosta College. He has had the privilege of working on-stage and off-stage with Moonlight Stage Productions, MiraCosta College Theatre, Guajome Park Academy and most recently New Village Arts. Favorite productions include: Be Aggressive, Off the Ground, Ragtime, Once Upon a Mattress, and Blithe Spirit.