Kitchen Theatre to Stage LONELY PLANET, Begin. 10/15

Following the wildly successful world premiere of The House, which rang in the 24th season, Kitchen Theatre Company will offer Steven Dietz's powerful and moving Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet tells the story of two friends, Jody and Carl, who use their wit and sense of absurdity to negotiate the turbulent world at the height of the AIDS crisis. Lonely Planet begins previews on October 15, with opening night on October 18. The play runs until November 2.

Carl and Jody are close friends but very different from one another. Carl, a chameleon of a man, tells stories about his life, claiming variously to bean art restorer, a tabloid journalist, a plant waterer, or an auto glass replacer; he is a ball of energy exploding constantly. Jody, Carl's best friend, is the opposite. He has retreated from the upheaval outside, preferring to ponder the Greenland problem inside his map store. Each day, Carl charges into their intimate, fabricated world at full throttle, challenging Jody to keep up and play along until reality becomes unavoidably real.

Artistic Director Rachel Lampert has thought about producing Lonely Planet for years and finally was able to include it in a Kitchen Theatre Company season. She says, "Steven Dietz's play is extraordinary. Even as the play focuses on the lives of Carl and Jody, it also fans out over an entire era, becoming a statement of the human condition in a unique and powerful way. Above all, for me, this play is a theatrical event. Lonely Planet mixes the mundane with the metaphoric as only theater can. I lived through the AIDS crisis and it had a huge impact on my life. Lonely Planet portrays an important time in our history, and it does so with humor and grace. You will fall in love with these characters as much as I have."

Karl Gregory returns to Kitchen Theatre Company in the role of Carl. Gregory has picked up quite a fan base through his years with the Kitchen, and everyone is happy to have him back. Gregory last graced the Kitchen's stage last season in From White Plains. Lonely Planet will mark Gregory's 14th production with Kitchen Theatre Company, including such memorable productions as Gutenberg! The Musical!, Fully Committed, and The SantaLand Diaries.

Nat DeWolf joins the Kitchen for the first time in the role of Jody. DeWolf performed on Broadway in Take Me Out (The Public Theater) and Betty's Summer Vacation(Playwrights Horizons). He also co-wrote and starred in the film Lisa Picard is Famous, featured in the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

Leading the creative team as director is none other than Kitchen Theatre Company artistic director, Rachel Lampert (Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Opus, Broke-ology, Red Light Winter, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Mary's Wedding, Gutenberg! The Musical!, and many more). Tyler M. Perry returns as lighting designer (The House, Venus in Fur, Opus, What I Thought I Knew, and many others) and Kent Goetz as set designer (Heroes, Frankie and Johnny at the Clair de Lune, Red Light Winter, Private Lives, Chesapeake, and others). Hunter Kaczorowski debuts at the Kitchen Theatre as costume designer and Scott O'Brien is sound designer. The Production Stage Manager is Jennifer Schilansky. Lonely Planet is underwritten by C.S.P. Management, and the media sponsor is Syracuse New Times.

Kitchen Theatre Company is a small professional Equity theater producing an eight-play Main Stage season from September through June. Led by Artistic Director Rachel Lampert and Managing Director Stephen Nunley, KTC produces new and modern plays that reflect the theater's mantra "important conversations happen in the Kitchen." Known as Central New York's Off-Broadway for over two decades, Kitchen Theatre Company is located at 417 W. State/MLK, Jr. St., Ithaca, New York in a newly renovated, LEED-certified, intimate 99-seat space. Subscriptions for the eight-play season and single tickets are on sale now. Tickets and subscriptions are available by calling (607) 272-0570 or online at www.kitchentheatre.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.