ON THE EXHALE Comes to Stage West

How do you keep yourself from turning into the very thing you fear? Stage West Executive Producer Dana Schultes, starring in her first ever one-woman show, tackles this question in Martín Zimmerman's engrossing On the Exhale. The piece begins a 3-week regional premiere run on Thursday, February 3 in the Evelyn Wheeler Swenson Theatre at Stage West.

A college professor, whose life has been forever changed by a senseless act of violence, finds herself inexplicably drawn to the very weapon used to perpetrate the crime - and to the irresistible feeling of power that comes from holding life and death in her hands. This timely tour de force intimately examines our collective grief over a national epidemic which we all want to end.

Schultes says "I knew I wanted to do the play. The moment I finished reading it, I said to myself, 'Oh yeah. I want to do this play. This is the one.' The fact is, I love a good story. It's what draws me to just about every play we put on the season and that's what sealed the deal for me with regard to On the Exhale. I can't wait to share it with audiences."

"Mesmerizing, gripping in its economy and hits home like a bullet" - The Guardian

Martín Zimmerman is a multi-ethnic, bilingual playwright and screenwriter whose plays include Seven Spots on the Sun, On the Exhale, White Tie Ball, The Making of a Modern Folk Hero, The Solid Sand Below, and Let Me Count the Ways, and have been produced or developed at The Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse In The Park, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Alley Theatre, Roundabout Underground, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Traverse Theatre, LCT3, New York Theatre Workshop, Victory Gardens Theater, The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, The Playwrights' Center, Alliance Theatre, A.C.T. (Seattle), among many others, with upcoming projects with Roundabout Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and Marc Platt Productions. A recipient of the Terrence McNally New Play Award, Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citation, Humanitas Prize New Voices Award, and the National New Play Network's Smith Prize, among others, Martín is a Producer on Netflix's Ozark, was a Staff Writer on Netflix's Narcos, has been the Alliance for Latino Theater Artists (ALTA) Artist of the Month, was a member of the 2011-2012 Playwrights' Unit at Goodman Theatre, and is a Playwright in Residence at Teatro Vista. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from The University of Texas at Austin, and a BA in Theater Studies and BS in Economics from Duke University.

On the Exhale will be directed by TCU Professor Harry B. Parker, who last directed First Date for Stage West. The cast features Stage West's Executive Producer Dana Schultes, who has most recently been seen in Stage West's reading of War Words, as well as in our virtual presentation of Boredom, Fear and Wine.

Set design is by Allen Dean, with lighting design by Bryan Stevenson, costume design by Dana Schultes and Garret Storms, and sound design by Ryan Simón.

On the Exhale will preview Thursday, February 3 at 7:00 and Friday, February 4 at 7:30, and will run through Sunday, February 20. Performance times for this show will be 30 minutes ahead of our normal schedule due to the overlap with Church & State: Thursday evenings at 7:00, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30, with Sunday matinees at 2:30. NOTE: all Sunday matinees will be Safe Sundays, with proof of vaccination required. Masks are also required for all performance. Ticket prices for the season are $40 on Thursdays and Fridays, and $45 on Saturdays and Sundays, with $20 tickets for the two preview performances. Food service is available 90 minutes prior to performances (reservations are advised). Reservations and information are available through the Box Office (817-784-9378), or on the website, www.stagewest.org.