Celebration Theatre to Continue New Works Series with MARRIED NORTH, 4/21

Celebration Theatre presents as part of its New Works Reading Series... MARRIED NORTH.

Set in the summer of 1959, Married North is a seriocomic story of transplanted southerners in a Washington DC suburb during the infamous "Lavender Scare" - the purge of "pinkos and perverts" from the Federal payrolls - that grew out of the McCarthy era. Both funny and moving, Married North encapsulates the sweep of social change at a critical historical juncture. Yet above all else Married North is a universal brother-sister story: a lonely, isolated wife of a mid-level DC bureaucrat who hopes finally to engineer a secure -- and legally safe -- romantic future for her beloved, "confirmed bachelor" brother.

Rounding out the quartet of rich characters are a period-specific Mailer-spouting bohemian and an Italian-American homemaker beleaguered with yet another pregnancy. Over two tumultuous days, all four intersecting lives change forever, barreling toward a braver new world-the 1960's-with clearer eyes and no illusions.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST:

HAL CORLEY (Playwright) Two of Hal's plays, Finding Donis Anne and An Ounce of Prevention, have been widely performed (Seattle Rep, Syracuse Stage, Walnut Street, NYC's Westbeth, and in Atlanta, LA, Boston and Charlotte). Recent: Brush the Summer By, Adirondack Theatre Festival; ODD*, Premiere Stages, excerpted in S&K's "Best Stage Scenes of 2008;" Easter Monday*, Pendragon, Saranac Lake, NY, excerpted in Exceptional Monologues 2* and S&K's "Best Men's/Women's Stage Scenes and Monologues of 2011;" Suocera and Mama and Jack Carew* in rep, and Peoria, The Death Bite, Theatre Artists Studio, Phoenix. Hal has three times been a Semifinalist in the O'Neill Competition, including in 2013 for Weak Trembles. His Married North was named Honorable Mention in the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation 2014 Competition. Others plays have been produced by SF's New Conservatory Theatre Center, Washington DC's Source, Stageworks/Hudson, LA's New American Theatre, LSU's Outworks Festival, and Ontario's Flush Ink. Two 10-minute plays, 1959 and Il Nido è Bello were finalists for the Heideman Award, and 28 others have been produced in 17 states and Canada. His adaptation of Wilder's Fanny Otcott is available from YouthPlays and his Treed is published by Playscripts in "Great Short Plays Volume 10." He lives in Summit, NJ. *published by Samuel French

NATHAN FRIZZELL (Director) An award-winning actor, Nathan Frizzell has been a company member of Celebration Theatre for ten years and currently serves as Literary Director. He may be recognized by Los Angeles theatre audiences for roles in He Asked For It, West Side Story at The Hudson Theatre and for numerous appearances at The Blank Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival. At Celebration, Nathan was a part of the LA Weekly Award-winning ensemble of Stupid Kids, the LA Weekly Award-nominated ensemble of Four and was featured as the lead role in the Ovation-award nominated production of Beautiful Thing. Additionally, he has written with and performed for the last 8 years with Celebration Theatre's resident sketch comedy group directed and produced by Todd Milliner. www.nathanfrizzell.com

The cast of Married North will feature: John Colella, Kelly Schumann, Joey Honsa and Jenn Burton.

Admission is free, with donations gratefully accepted.

Celebrating New Works is produced by Celebration Theatre's Literary Director Nathan Frizzell.

Celebration Theatre is headed by its Co-Artistic Directors Michael Matthews and Michael A. Shepperd, along with its Executive Director Michael C. Kricfalusi.