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Press Release:
The Chance Theater is pleased to present the Southern California premiere of acclaimed playwright Julie Marie Myatt's intense look at returning home from war, WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER, April 16- May 16, 2010.Directed by Chance Theater Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen, WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER is a present-day story of personal recovery and acceptance. Upon her return to Southern California from a difficult tour of duty in Iraq, wounded Marine Sergeant Jenny Sutter finds herself lost in the California desert, without the body and mind she once knew. The eccentric inhabitants of a makeshift community give her the homecoming she needs before returning to her previous life. An edgy and poignant drama, WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER brings fascinating insight to a timely theme.WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER is the second collaboration between playwright Julie Marie Myatt and director Oanh Nguyen. Their working relationship began in 2009 when Nguyen served as the Associate Director for Myatt's The Happy Ones at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa (he also directed the staged reading of The Happy Ones at SCR earlier that same year). That production was recently nominated for a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Award, and Myatt will be receiving The Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an outstanding new play.
"I am thrilled The Chance is producing my play," says Myatt. "As we continue to welcome home veterans from both Iraq and Afghanistan, I think it is important to keep their stories and sacrifices alive in our communities, and national conscience.""I'm very excited about working on my second Julie Marie Myatt piece," says Nguyen, a co-founder of Chance Theater. "Julie is an amazingly sensitive and funny playwright. Her characters and stories live below the surface. Just as you settle in with this simple, personal story and highly likable characters, you begin to realize that there's far more going on than you expected. WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER focuses on the challenges that are faced by those men and women who enlist to fight our wars in the Middle East. What do they need or want? What were their expectations? What have they lost? What can we do for them?"
While the Chance Theater production of WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER is a Southern California premiere, the play has made an impression on audiences and critics across the country. The play premiered at the Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival in February 2008 to glowing reviews. The San Francisco Chronicle noted, "[Jenny Sutter] is a powerful drama...with graceful sensitivity." The premiere was shortly followed by a production at the renowned Kennedy Center Theater in Washington D.C.As part of a special outreach program for this production, the Chance Theater is offering two free tickets to active duty military, veterans, and reservists for any performance of WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER (based on availability). "We haven't received any grant funding to make this offer," notes Casey Long, the Chance's Managing Director. "We simply thought it was important for our soldiers to see this story. We are also currently contacting local military and veteran groups about participating in post-show discussions after each performance."
Julie Marie Myatt's plays include My Wandering Boy, Someday, Boats on a River, Mr. and Mrs., The Sex Habits of American Women, and The Happy Ones, among others. Her work has been produced at the Guthrie Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, The Kennedy Center, the Magic Theatre, etc, and also developed or seen at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, A.S.K. Theatre Projects, LAByrinth Theater Company, Denver Center Theatre Company. She received a Walt Disney Studios Screenwriting Fellowship, a Jerome Fellowship at the Playwrights' Center, and a McKnight Advancement Grant. Myatt is currently working on commissions for Roundabout Theatre, and Yale Repertory.Oanh Nguyen co-founded Chance Theater in 1999 and currently serves as its Artistic Director. He was awarded the Outstanding Artist Award by Arts Orange County and is a recipient of the TCG Nathan Cummings Young Leaders of Color fellowship. Oanh is on the board of Network of Ensemble Theaters and a proud member of SDC, SAG and AFTRA. He directed Po Boy Tango last November for East West Players, as well as the theater's staged reading of Year Zero by Michael Golamco. Oanh recently served as the assistant director of An Empty Plate in the Café du Boeuf at Laguna Playhouse, and directed the professional premiere of The Girl, The Grouch, The Goat by Tony Award-winner Mark Hollmann for the Chance in 2009. He was recently nominated for an Ovation Award and LADCC Award for Best Director for his work on HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical.
Photo: Brenda Banda (left) and Jennifer Ruckman by Casey Long.-----Performances of WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER are at The Chance Theater, located at 5552 E. La Palma Ave, Anaheim Hills, CA 92807. Visit www.chancetheater.com or call 714.777.3033 for tickets. Preview: Friday, April 16 at 8 pm Opening Night/Press Night: Saturday, April 17 at 8 pm Regular run: Sunday, April 18 - May 16Friday & Saturday evenings at 8 pm; Saturday matinees at 3 pm; Sundays at 2 pm (Sunday, April 18 at 5 pm); Thursday evenings April 22 & May 13 at 8 pmTickets are priced $22 to $35. Discounts available for seniors and students. 2 free tickets are available for all active military, reservists, and veterans.ABOUT THE CHANCE THEATER Recently nominated for six Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards and six Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards (including Best Season), and named "Outstanding Arts Organization" for the second time in five years by Arts Orange County, the Chance is proud to be one of the leading ensemble based theatre companies in Southern California. Voted "Best Theater Group" by MyFoxLA for two years in a row and "Best Small Theater" by Orange Coast Magazine, the Chance is a recipient of the 2007 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's (LADCC) Polly Warfield Award for Excellence. Founded in 1999, the Chance Theater's mission has always been to intimately present personally meaningful, uniquely engaging stories that promote dialogue within our community and provide a visceral experience for theatergoers. As a constituent member of Theater Communications Group (TCG), Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET), and the Los Angeles Stage Alliance (LASA), the Chance continues to bring national attention to the Southern California and Orange County theater scene through its recent achievements, which includes a 2006 GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Los Angeles Theater.
