TAPS At Brown University Presents A New Play By MFA Playwright Julia Izumi

Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea, a new play by Brown MFA Playwright Julia Izumi, directed by Brown MFA Director, Kate Bergstrom, is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's most beloved and well-known fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid." This modern adaptation, in which a rain cloud falls in love with a human, transports audiences into a familiar and fantastical world of self-discovery. Told by a mysterious storyteller named Dolan, characters surprisingly find their authentic selves despite the downpour of complexities that accompany their journeys of falling in and out love.

Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea received its first public reading in 2017 as part of Writing is Live, an annual festival of new plays featuring works in progress from Brown University's Writing for Performance graduate program. "I was always interested in dismantling 'The Little Mermaid,'" says Julia Izumi, "and it took the embodying process of Writing is Live for me to discover what was underneath this play." Director Kate Bergstrom, who also directed the 2017 reading, says, "we've allowed the personal to infuse the play, this incarnation holds a lot of us in it. I think theater now must include the personal, if it doesn't, it is not doing what I think it ought to do."

Sock and Buskin, a dynamic board of students, faculty and staff, selects the theatrical productions at Brown University's Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea marks the second collaboration between a current Brown MFA playwright and Sock and Buskin. A prime example of Brown University's dedication to student-centered learning, Sock & Buskin was founded in 1901 by Professor Thomas Crosby of the Brown University English Department, and has since produced an unbroken record of 116 seasons.

Brown has an ambitious vision for the arts as an integral presence throughout the liberal arts education. Brown believes the arts are fundamental to critical inquiry into the most important questions facing humanity around the world, and that the arts create a spark that cultivates creative expression in all forms, stimulating discovery and fueling innovative thinking. At Brown, artists operating at the highest levels of their craft learn from and inform scholars and students in disciplines across the sciences and humanities.

Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea by Julia Izumi '19 MFA, directed by Kate Bergstrom '18 MFA runs April 5 through April 15 at Leeds Theatre on the main campus at Brown University (83 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912.) Performances take place Thursday through Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm.

Tickets are $15 (adults) / $12 (seniors) / $7 (students). For more information visit brown.edu/theatre. To book tickets, call (401) 863-2838, or visit the Box Office in theeeds Theatre Lobby (83 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912), Tuesday-Friday from 12-4pm during the semester, or email boxoffice@brown.edu. To book online,visit: brown.edu/tickets.

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Brianne ShawMarketing & Box Office CoordinatorDepartment of Theatre Arts and Performance StudiesBrown Universityph: 401-863-2730

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