Horse Head Theatre Brings THE ALIENS to Boheme Cafe, Now thru 8/31

Horse Head Theatre Co., a Houston-based theater company, announces their upcoming production The Aliens, which will run today, August 15 though 31 in the back lot of Boheme Café and Wine Bar, 307 Fairview Street. Tickets are $20 and $10 for students.

The Aliens is a delicate drama that follows two friends, KJ played by Kevin Jones, and Jasper, played by Drake Simpson, who appear to be moving in slow motion as they sit around and hang out in the back of a coffee shop. Their candid conversation and laidback mentality is an illustration of their go-nowhere attitude towards life. They used to have a band, but they could never quite agree on a name. The Aliens was one of their top choices. But as the play progresses, and with the introduction of high schooler Evan, played by newcomer Logan Vaden, KJ and Jasper's relationship takes a turn down a dark and foreboding path.

The Aliens, which is a regional premiere, was written by OBIE Award Winner Annie Baker. Houstonians should be well versed in the playwright's keen sense of character development and heartfelt plots from her plays Body Awareness and Circle Mirror Transformation, both of which have had productions by Stark Naked Theatre and the Alley Theatre, respectively.

Horse Head was initially drawn to the work after founder and lead actor Drake Simpson acted in Body Awareness last year.

"I was so blown away by Baker's writing that I had to search out everything else she had done," says Simpson. "The Aliens is like nothing I have read before and nothing Horse Head has ever produced."

Horse Head Theatre Company is notorious for producing work that falls on the untraditional side of the theater spectrum. Their last production, Your Family Sucks, focused on a family game show and even incorporated audience members into the show. Audience engagement is a vital component in each of their productions. Additionally, Horse Head produces their plays in very untraditional venues to match the setting and feel of the play, basements of bars, silos and warehouses are just a few of the venues they have utilized. The Aliens will take place in the back lot of Boheme Café & Wine Bar.

"We wanted to do it in the back of a cafe because that's where it really takes place," says founding member and lead actor Kevin Jones. "It is such an intimate performance that the setting needed to match perfectly."

The Aliens opens August 15 and runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through August 31, as well as Monday the 19. Tickets can be purchase online or at the door.

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Horse Head Theatre Co. was created in 2009 to produce theater that attracts new audiences, incorporates a ceremonial element into the production that brings the audience together, and to produce plays that have never been performed in Houston previously.

For more information visit horseheadtheatre.org.