Collaborative Artists Ensemble To Premiere New Don Nigro Work

Collaborative Artists has long enjoyed a relationship with prolific playwright Don Nigro. It was during a production of his noir mystery City of Dreadful Night, that Nigro reached out to the company with a new play that company Managing Director Steve Jarrard couldn't wait to produce.

As such, Collaborative Artists will produce the WORLD PREMIERE of Nigro's play Waste Land, running April 6 to May 5 at studio/stage in Los Angeles.

Set in the thick of the modernist era, Waste Land is a tragi-comedy that lays bare the tumultuous love between T.S. Eliot and his first wife and muse, Vivienne. As he writes the poem that would be his masterpiece, a circle of notable friends-Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein and Bertrand Russell-populate his life with witty banter, biting commentary, and moments of joy and self-doubt that informs all of their work. Waste Land is a moving investigation of Eliot's life, loves, friendships and torments.

"Don Nigro uses language so beautifully," said Jarrard, who is also directing the piece. "Besides being a fan of his writing, this incredible play gives us the chance to embrace these fascinating literary icons and bring their stories to life."

While a standalone work, Waste Land is part of Nigro's series of plays about the great Moderns, that also includes Anima Mundi, Lucia Mad, Lost Generation and What Shall I Do For Pretty Girls? Nigro is among the most frequently produced playwrights in the world, having authored more than 400 plays. He has previously explored the lives and relationships of literary greats like Samuel Beckett's doomed love affair with James Joyce's daughter, and examined the psyches of Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and more. Nigro's modernist/literary series explores not only the torments and triumphs of the writer, but equally delves into their loves and muses, many of who were uncredited collaborators and all irreplaceable inspirations. Waste Land is, in fact, just as much Vivienne's story as it is Eliot's, the former being an intellectual and creative force in a time and place that preferred she stay in the shadows.

Waste Land is the latest of many West Coast Premiere's presented by Collaborative Artists Ensemble, which is now in its 11th season. The play stars Rich Brunner, Deborah Cresswell, Bartholomeus De Meirsman, Georgan George, John Ogden, JJ Smith and Meg Wallace. More information can be found at www.collectiveartistsensemble.com

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