New Village Arts Presents World Premiere of BRILLIANT MISTAKE, 5/30-6/24

New Village Arts presents the World Premiere of BRILLIANT MISTAKE, written and directed by Suzanne Bachner, beginning May 30.

The play is a comedy that celebrates love in all its forms, and follows a Finder of Lost Loves named Mitzi Jackson (Kristianne Kurner) who is hired by Cameron Nolan, an Autobiographical Graphic Novelist, (Daren Scott) to help find his birth mother. BRILLIANT MISTAKE is Cameron’s graphic novel presented live on stage. The majority of the play takes place right here in North San Diego County and includes all fourteen actors in NVA’s THE ENSEMBLE PROJECT. BRILLIANT MISTAKE will be playing at New Village Arts Theatre (2787 State Street, Carlsbad Village) from May 30 – June 24, 2012. The official opening night is June 2 at 8 PM. Tickets can be purchased at www.NewVillageArts.org or by calling 760-433-3245.

BRILLIANT MISTAKE is a comedy that is a celebration of love in all its forms. The structure is very reminiscent of the films of Wes Anderson and Robert Altman: a true ensemble piece. It includes explicit language, adult themes and situations and is intended for mature audiences – if you love HBO, you’ll love this show.

BRILLIANT MISTAKE will be the culmination of NVA’s eleventh season: a thrilling, risky, daring adventure into Ensemble work. This past season for New Village Arts has been devoted to examining how Ensemble-based theatre works and how it works uniquely here in San Diego. The best way to test how this process has worked is to put it in front of an audience. To do that, NVA hired New York-based playwright and director Suzanne Bachner to create an original play using the individual talents of NVA’s Ensemble. Throughout the year of THE ENSEMBLE PROJECT, Bachner met with the Ensemble and created BRILLIANT MISTAKE: inspired by and evolved with the collaboration of NVA’s Ensemble, using a creative theatrical process that she invented. By now, the Ensemble has created six full productions together and will now put all its talents, experiences and energies into this seventh, final, and thrilling production. Both Bachner and NVA’s Executive Artistic Director Kristianne Kurner graduated with Masters Degrees from the first graduating class of The Actors Studio Drama School at The New School University in New York City and have worked together on numerous projects since then. There are not many other theatres in the country who would create this kind of opportunity for its artists and patrons.

Playwright and Director Suzanne Bachner’s award-winning play, Circle, ran for five months Off Broadway, was performed nationally, optioned for production in Australia and called “ingenious” by The New York Times. She wrote and directed two long-running original cult hits in NYC: Icons & Outcasts and the choose-your-own adventure comedy, BITE, as well as her celebrated kaleidoscopic memoir play, We Call Her Benny, which Broadway World called “the future of theatre”. Other plays include Screwdrivers & Sunday Brunch, Don’t Let Destiny Push You Around, Jump Start, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Icons Y2K, Temptation, Sex Ed, Twin Studies, Flirting with Reality and Alexandra Triptych. Her plays have been seen at PS NBC@HERE, The Duplex, The National Arts Club, The Michael Weller Theatre, The Samuel French Short Play Festival, The Raw Space, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Zeitgeist Stage Company, Mercury Players Theatre, Arena Stage in Portland, OR and 20th Century Fox at the Coronet Theater in LA, among others. Directing credits also include Frank D. Gilroy's The Subject Was Roses at The Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles and the short film, Jennifer Monroe, P.I., a finalist in Flicks on 66. She is the director and developer of Bob Brader’s acclaimed solo shows including the multi-award-winning Spitting In The Face Of The Devil, which will be performed at New Village Arts on June 10 & 11. Suzanne studied playwriting with Romulus Linney and Adrienne Kennedy and holds an MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School at The New School. She is a four-time OOBR Award-winner, a Resident Artist Emeritus at Horse Trade Theater Group and The Actors Institute and a member of The Dramatists Guild. Suzanne’s plays are published on Indie Theater Now. For more information, visit her websites at www.jmtcinc.com and www.spittinginthefaceofthedevil.com.

The cast of BRILLIANT MISTAKE is made up of fourteen Ensemble members of New Village Arts. The cast includes some of the most recognized and awarded actors in San Diego, including Manny Fernandes (2011 winner of Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for NVA’s OF MICE AND MEN), NVA’s co-founder and Executive Artistic Director Kristianne Kurner, and Actors Equity Member and San Diego favorite Daren Scott. The cast also includes some of the most exciting up-and-coming actors in San Diego including Kelly Iversen, Justin Lang and Kyle Lucy.

Resident designer and Technical Director Tim Wallace will be designing the set and sound. Chris Renda is designing lights, Nadia Volvic is designing costumes and Bonnie Durben will be creating the world of props. Samuel Sherman is the stage manager.

Since NVA’s Executive Artistic Director Kristianne Kurner is an actor in the show, NVA reached out to one of San Diego’s most acclaimed theatre makers to serve as the Consulting Artistic Director. NVA is very proud to have Claudio Raygoza, the Executive Artistic Director of ion theatre, on board to help create the World Premiere Comedy BRILLIANT MISTAKE.

Ticket prices range from $25 - $30 for all performances, with the exception of three pay-what-you-can previews on March 28, 29 & 30 at 8 PM. Showtimes are Thursdays and Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 3 PM & 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM (no 3 PM show on Opening Night, March 31). The theatre is located in the heart of Carlsbad Village, at 2787 State Street. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.NewVillageArts.org or calling 760-433-3245.

More information can be found on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/BrilliantMistakeNVA and on NVA’s website: www.newvillagearts.org.

CAST (all members of THE ENSEMBLE PROJECT): KRISTIANNE KURNER as MITZI JACKSON; JACK MISSETT as JUDGE NEWTON JONES; JUSTIN LANG as GARY JAMACHE; MANNY FERNANDES as Larry Gilman; ADAM BRICK as DR. HUNTER ALBERT; DAREN SCOTT* as CAMERON NOLAN; DANA CASE as TINA HARVEY; JONAH GERCKE as DUSTIN HARVEY; FRANCES REGAL as EDNA KOENIG, MD.; JOHN DeCARLO as OWEN LINKSY; KELLY IVERSEN as BROOKE GARRISON; KYLE LUCY as PAULIE; SAMUEL SHERMAN as ANDREW; and CHRIS RENDA as CURTIS.

*Member of Actors Equity Association

Three Pay-What-You-Can Previews May 30, 31 and June 1 at 8 PM. Opening Night Saturday, June 2 at 8 PM, run continues thru June 24, Thursdays & Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 3 PM & 8 PM; Sundays at 2 PM. (No 3 PM Show on June 2)

Tickets: $29 General Admission/$26 Senior, Student, Military/$25 Groups of 10 or more (Opening Night Tickets $36) Purchase Tickets: www.NewVillageArts.org; 760-433-3245.

Photo Credit: Daren Scott