Huntington Theatre Co. Reads Making Up the Truth 9/24

The new Making Up the Truth by Jack Hitt will be read Friday, September 24 at 7pm as part of the Huntington Theatre Company's Breaking Ground reading series. Jessica Bauman directs. The reading, located at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, is free and open to the public, though reservations are required.

Written and performed by Jack Hitt, Making Up the Truth is comprised of extravagant, true tales - a yarn about Hitt's childhood neighbor who was one of the first men to become a woman and his first apartment super with a deadly secret identity. But his stories always lead people to ask, "Did that really happen?" In his new show, Hitt shares his stories and learns that, of all things, new scientific breakthroughs that point to answer the question: Do extraordinary things only happen to certain people, or do we all swim unaware in a sea of the uncanny and unbelievable?

The Atlantic recently called "This American Life" contributor Jack Hitt "one of America's best storytellers." Hitt is an accomplished writer for The New York Times Magazine and Harper's Magazine. His radio work recently won a Peabody Award. The movie, Hackers, which introduced Angelina Jolie to a generation of 15-year-old boys, was based on an Esquire article he co-authored, and last year his book, Off the Road, was adapted into a script written and directed by Emilio Estevez called The Way, starring Martin Sheen and to be released this fall.

"Jack's native ability to wade a little deeper has opened up a world of wonders - rich and funny and moving," says Bauman. "In Making Up The Truth, he is our ambassador to this novel territory, inviting us to follow him in hopes of discovering the same richness in our own lives."

Director Jessica Bauman has been working as a director in New York and regionally for almost 20 years. She has collaborated with playwrights such as David Lindsay-Abaire, Kia Corthron, Tracey Scott Wilson, Emily DeVoti, Jenny Lyn Bader, Diana Son, Napoleon Ellsworth, and Kirsten Greenidge. For the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, she has directed the premieres of Terrence McNally's Teachers Break with Cynthia Nixon and Maura Tierney and Harrison Rivers' and it seems to me a very good sign... with Naomi Watts and John Krasinski. She is the founder and artistic director of New Feet Productions, which produced Into the Hazard (Henry 5), her own six actor adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V. Bauman was a finalist for the 2007-2009 TCG/NEA Career Development program for Directors. She is a graduate of Yale College.

Breaking Ground is the Huntington Theatre Company's reading series, a vital part of its new play development program. This series promotes local playwrights and brings national writers into partnership with the Huntington.

Past Breaking Ground plays, including The Atheist by Ronan Noone, Voyeurs de Venus by Lydia R. Diamond, Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck, The Ice Breaker by David Rambo, and Sonia Flew by Melinda Lopez, have appeared at the Huntington and other local theatres, at theatres across the country, and internationally.

"The Huntington has a long established commitment to nurturing playwrights and to developing plays for production," says Director of New Work Lisa Timmel. "The Breaking Ground series is designed to be responsive to the process of the individual creators; we provide workspace, dramaturgical feedback and public hearing of playwrights' work when they need it most."

The Huntington's strong commitment to the development of new plays is supported by the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays and the Harry Kondoleon Fund, which underwrites the commissioning of emerging and established writers, the Breaking Ground series of new play readings, and full productions of new plays.

The Making Up the Truth reading is free and open to the public, though seating is limited. RSVP at huntingtontheatre.org/makingup.

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