50% of 'Agrippina' Profits to go to Roar Foundation

The Los Angeles Premiere of A. Giovanni Affinito's Agrippina.  The Story of How Nero's Mother got him into the Emperor's throne and how he repays her for it.  50% of all proceeds will be donated to The Roar Foundation, in support of Shambala (Shambala.org) - A Big Cat Sanctuary founded by Conservationist - Tippi Hedren. Produced by special arrangement with Heuer Publishing LLC of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Preview dates are Aug 21-24 Thu, Fri & Sat at 8pm & Sun at 2pm and show dates are Sep 5-7, 12-14 and 19-21, Fri & Sat at 8pm & Sun at 2pm. At the Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood, CA  90038. Tickets are $25.  For reservations call 323-960-7612 or goto www.plays411.com.

Agrippina had said, "After all my years of work to give him the empire, I can't endure him as emperor."  But Nero found his mother's love unendurable and sent her to the Island of exile… it was the beginning of the end. The battles for power in high places have been fodder for writers for thousands of years, as witness Euripides, Sophocles, Shakespeare et al., though not in their company. It behooved me to offer my two cents.  The impulse for writing about the mother of Nero was triggered by new histories, which suggested that… right or wrong … Agrippina had valid motivation for her crimes.  I hoped that audiences would understand her reasoning and struggle for survival in the context of the political atmosphere of her time.  I wanted to give Agrippina her due in a play because there seems to be something about viewing a live drama that satisfies a deep need in us which almost never happens when reading about the subject.  I believe that what happens in this play has occurred and is occurring today in many places.  "There are all kinds of poisons and sharp knives disguised in modern dress." A. Giovanni Affinito (Mr. Affinito is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America Inc.)

Agrippina is a play about the lust for power and the power of lust.  Agrippina, the dowager empress of Rome, makes a play for power at court due to her anger at her son Nero's affair with a freedwoman.  She decides to sit next to Nero at court, an event unprecedented by a woman in the history of Rome. Meanwhile, the minister Otho and his wife, Poppeia, work to lure Nero away from his mother and move closer to the throne by sexual means.  When Nero's tutor, Burrus, tells Nero his mother has plans to overthrow him, the emperor exiles Agrippina to an island.  In retribution, Agrippina threatens to overthrow Nero and make his stepbrother, the true heir to the throne, emperor.  Nero's ministers poison the boy, depriving Agrippina of her only weapon.  The emperor cries for help to quash his mother and his ministers' travel to the island where she is living in exile and kill her.  Nero and his guilty conscience are left in the deceptive hands of Poppeia.

Founded by Actress/Activist, Tippi Hedren, The Roar Foundation supports The Shambala Preserve whose mission is to educate the public about exotic animals, to advocate for legislation to protect them, and to provide sanctuary for those animals that have been mistreated and neglected, so they can live out their lives in dignity.

Photo by Robert Fisher.

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