BLOOD-BOUND AND TONGUE-TIED Set for March Premiere

The world premiere production of DC-based playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton's BLOOD-BOUND AND TONGUE-TIED, first seen in workshop form during the Strand Theater Company's Friends & Neighbors Festival 2011, will run March 23 to April 7. The show will be directed by Lindsay Gentry, stage managed by Christina Cordle, and feature Derek Cooper as Oedipus, Chris Knight as Laius, Morgan Mosley as Creon, Ann Turiano as Jenna, and Kelli Wright as Jocasta.

About the play: "Jocasta is a young black woman in Great Depression-era Texas, who decides to pass as white in the big city. When she marries Laius-the heir to an oil baron-and becomes pregnant with Oedipus, her racial identity cannot remain hidden…or can it? One desperate lie instigates a catastrophic wave of bloodshed, and disaster envelops a nation."

"Blood-bound and Tongue-tied was a standout in the Friends & Neighbors Festival", says Founding Artistic Director Jayme Kilburn. "Even though I and most of our audiences knew the Oedipus story, Jacqueline's savvy adaptation kept us wondering what would happen next. Her ability to interweave natural dialogue with 'magical realism' was deeply attractive in crafting my final season at the Strand."

Jacqueline E. Lawton received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. Her plays include Anna K; Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful; The Devil's Sweet Water; The Hampton Years; Ira Aldridge: The African Roscius; Lions of Industry, Mothers of Invention; Love Brothers Serenade; and Mad Breed. She has participated in the Kennedy Center's Playwrights' Intensive (2002) and World Interplay (2003). Lawton has been nominated for the Wendy Wasserstein Prize and a PONY Fellowship from the Lark Play Development Center and named one of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights by Arena Stage's American Voices New Play Institute. She is a three-time semi-finalist for the Playwright's Center PlayLabs and a SheWrites Festival finalist. Currently, she resides in D.C. and is a Professor of Theater at the University of the District of Columbia.

Originally from Baltimore, director Lindsay Gentry holds a bachelor's degree in drama from the Catholic University of America. Recent directing credits include Lucia di Lammermoor (Hub Opera Ensemble), Troy Women (Catholic University of America), and Independence (Catholic University of America). She served as assisted director on The Magic Flute (Benjamin T. Rome School of Music), Dido and Aeneas (Opera Alterna), You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (No Rules Theater Company), In Good King Charles's Golden Days (Catholic University of America), and The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus (Catholic University of America). Ms. Gentry received the 2011 "Significant Artistic Achievement Award" from Catholic University of America.

The Final Dress Rehearsal at 8 pm on Thursday, May 22nd is open to audiences, with a requested Pay-What-You-Can donation at the door.

www.strand-theater.org