Strand Theater Company Offers World Premiere of Glitter and Spew

Fresh from a workshop production in the Strand Theater Company's Friends & Neighbors Festival 2011 in June, California-based playwright Alison Luterman's three short plays full of Glitter and Spew form a three-ring-circus meditation on media exposure, shame, and personal responsibility. In A Night in Jail, a newly incarcerated starlet is shocked to discover that her guard can't be bribed and that her visitor is a dead French monarch. The bitter wife of a disgraced politician goes rogue-much to the dismay of her adult children-during an awkward satellite interview in The Toilet Stall. When the titular Freak tries some incognito pre-natal shopping, she can't avoid the advice of a fellow shopper or the judgment of the sperm donor who made it possible for her to become "Dodecamom." This world premiere engagement opens Friday, December 2nd, and runs through Saturday, December 17th; a Pay-What-You-Can final dress rehearsal is open to the public on Thursday, December 1st.

Founding Artistic Director Jayme Kilburn chose Glitter and Spew as an edgy alternative to traditional-and too-often saccharine-holiday programming. "Strand audiences really love the combination of the ridiculous with the outrageous, and this hour-long triptych of plays about people behaving badly offers a hilarious judgment of our pop culture obsessions." Folks who've had enough of Scrooge, Nutcrackers, and impish elves should find Glitter and Spew an oasis of snark in December. Actors Elise Edwards, Ryan Nicotra, and Melissa O'Brien pull triple duty, appearing in all three plays.

About the Playwright: Alison Luterman's first full-length play, Saying Kaddish With My Sister, was produced by the Jewish Ensemble Theatre of Michigan in 2008. Several of her works have been produced in New York and San Francisco, including at the No Nude Men Theatre Company. Luterman has published two collections of poetry as well as several personal essays. Currently she works as a poet-in-the-schools, as a playwright-mentor with Each One Reach One (EORO.org), and with the program Poetry Out Loud. She also performs improvisational movement, music, and spoken word with Wing It! ensemble in Oakland, California.

About the Director: Natalia Chavez Leimkuhler has worked on and backstage for over thirty-five years, at such venues as Maryland Arts Festival, Cockpit in Court, Dundalk Community Theater, and Fells Point Corner Theater. She most recently appeared on stage as Miss Geneva Musgrave in Christmas Belles for The Vagabond Players. Leimkuhler has appeared in two Strand productions, The Mai and One Flea Spare, and directed Glitter and Spew's workshop performance during the 2011 Friends and Neighbors Festival.

Performance Schedule
Wednesdays at 7pm: December 7th
Thursdays at 8pm: December 1st (pay-what-you-can final dress) and 15th
Fridays at 8pm: December 2nd (opening night with reception and talk-back), 9th, and 16th
Saturdays at 8pm: December 3rd, 10th, and 17th
Sundays at 3pm: December 11th

Ticket Prices
Adult: $20, Senior: $15, Student: $10, Opening Night: $25
Other discounts may be available; like the Strand on Facebook or follow the Strand on Twitter to learn more.

About the Strand.
The Strand Theater Company is a community theater dedicated to providing opportunities for women artists, writers, designers, and directors. With a focus on producing works new to Baltimore, the Strand hopes to foster a love of theater for a new generation of patrons.

Since launching in 2008, the Strand has presented 13 full-length plays, including five world premieres; offered 75% of the artistic positions on its productions-as playwrights, directors, designers, stage managers, and actors-to women; provided affordable theater space to many organizations and independent artists; and played an integral role in the revitalization of the Station North Arts & Entertainment District.

In August 2011, the Strand was honored as one of Baltimore magazine's "Top 5 Baltimore Theaters," along with CENTERSTAGE, Everyman, the Hippodrome, and Single Carrot. To learn more about the Strand Theater Company, visit strand-theater.org.

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