Custom Made Theatre Co. Stages Bay Area Premiere of Lucas Hnath's ISAAC'S EYE

What does it take to be the best? To be remembered forever? "Isaac's Eye" playfully combines contemporary language, historical fact, deadpan humor, and scientific inquiry in a hilarious and poignant example of love, greatness, and the nature of truth.

Hot NYC-based playwright Lucas Hnath (The Christians) pits the young upstart Isaac Newton against establishment scientist Robert Hooke, the man who can grant him entrance into the prestigious Royal Academy. Two ruthless thinkers engage in a battle of wits, while playing a thrilling game of while playing a thrilling game of meta-theatrics, calling attention to the way we establish truth onstage through deception and imagination.

Isaac's Eye's run at Custom Made Theatre will overlap The Christians at SF Playhouse, making February the month of Hnath in San Francisco.

The story: To understand light and optics better, young Isaac Newton inserted a long needle "between my eye and the bone, as near to the backside of my eye as I could." Why take such a risk? Lucas Hnath reimagines the contentious, plague-ravaged world Newton inhabited in ISAAC'S EYE, exploring the dreams and longings that drove the rural farm boy to become one of the greatest thinkers in modern science.

Isaac's Eye stars Custom Made company members Gabriel A. Ross (Spaliding Grey: Stories Left to Tell) as Isaac Netwon and Jeunee Simon (The Crucible). Also starring are fresh faces Adam Niemann, and Robin Gabrielli (Breadbox's The Awakening) as Robert Hook.

The Bay Area Premiere of Isaac's Eye by Lucas Hnath is directed by Oren Stevens (TBA Award-winning adaptor of The Awakening.) It runs February 16 - March 11 at Custom Made Theatre, 533 Sutter Street in San Francisco. Scenic Design is by Custom Made Board member, and designer of countless CMTC productions including Slaughterhouse-Five, Sarah Phykitt.

Hnath's Red Speedo the Obie Award, Playwriting and Performance, in 2016. His A Doll's House, Part 2, which "picks up after Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' concludes," will premiere on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre on April 1, 2017. His play The Christians was nominated for two 2016 Drama Desk Awards and had its Bay Area premiere at San Francisco Playhouse on January 24, 2017, directed by Bill English. Hnath is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and teaches at NYU.
About Custom Made

Winner of the 2015 and 2012 SF Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle award for Best Overall Production, under 99 seats, and the recipient of its 2015 Paine Knickerbocker Award for making a lasting contribution to Bay Area theatre, The Custom Made Theatre Company is committed to producing plays that awaken our social conscience, focusing on the strength of the ensemble, and creating an intimate theatrical experience.

Now in its 18th season, Custom Made is a cornerstone San Francisco independent company with a 6-play season, a new play development program (in partnership with the Gallery Café and the Exit Theatre), and supporting dozens of artists and thousands of patrons each season. Co-founded by Artistic Director Brian Katz and Executive Director Leah S. Abrams, Custom Made continues to grow exponentially each season, and is now in its second season at the newly branded Custom Made Theatre, a 99-seat intimate venue at 533 Sutter St (formerly San Francisco Playhouse).

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