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Marin Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Bellwether by Steve Yockey, the company's former Playwright in Residence, from October 6 to October 30. Ryan Rilette, MTC's producing director, directs a large ensemble cast of Bay Area actors led by Arwen Anderson and Gabriel Marin in this spine-tingling fairy tale for adults. Opening night is on Tuesday, October 11.
"I am delighted that our former Playwright in Residence Steve Yockey will return to MTC for the world premiere of his haunting suburban thriller," says MTC artistic director Jasson Minadakis. "MTC, along with a number of theaters from across the country, including Oregon Shakespeare Festival's BLACK SWAN Lab for New Work, Actor's Express in Atlanta and Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, have worked on developing this thoroughly imaginative and technically challenging play with Steve over the past several seasons. We're very excited to finally unveil Bellwether to Bay Area and national audiences."
Bellwether begins in a place we recognize - a gated suburban community - and with a tragedy that is unfortunately all too familiar - the disappearance of a child - but, like many of Yockey's plays, nothing is what it seems. The playwright found inspiration for the story as much in headlines as in the Greek myth of Persephone, in which Hades, king of the underworld, abducts the daughter of gods Zeus and Demeter. The influence of ancient Greek culture also permeates the structure of the play, which features a large chorus-like ensemble. Bellwether is part of a triptych of ‘bargain plays' by Yockey that includes Octopus, which was produced by Magic Theatre in San Francisco in May 2008, and afterlife - a ghost story, which is currently receiving a National New Play Network rolling premiere at Southern Rep in New Orleans, New Repertory Theatre in Boston and Edgemar Center for the Arts in Los Angeles.
MTC has had a relationship with playwright Steve Yockey for over two years. During the 2009-10 season, he was the company's National New Play Network Playwright in Residence. MTC's Expanded Programs department has commissioned two plays for young audiences from Yockey, Animal vs. Animal: an Aesop's Fables Mashup and TALL Tales, each of which was performed in over 20 elementary schools across the Bay Area to nearly 4,500 students. In October 2009, Bellwether received a developmental workshop and staged public reading as part of MTC's New Works series. Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a fiercely imaginative and finely tuned new voice," Yockey said of the upcoming premiere, "Jasson and Ryan have been incredibly enthusiastic about this play from the jump. After spending such a fantastic year with the company and its audience, I can't wait to get Bellwether on that stage."
