Mutant Collective's INLAND EMPRESS Opens This Week

Playwright Tom Cavanaugh still doesn't know what happened to his friend in 2011, whether she was murdered or committed suicide. The mysterious events led him to first write and later visit his deceased friend's mother, who was serving time in prison. Like Cavanaugh's friend before her untimely death, her mother shared stories of the complexities of life in the Inland Empire.

"I soon took my first trip to California's High Desert and fell in love with the beauty of it," Cavanaugh said. "But at the same time, I was always thinking about the stories that my friends had told; stories of danger and mystery that were hidden behind the grey, snow-topped mountains and under the sagebrush and desert...this stirred my imagination."

From that came Inland Empress, a world premiere drama produced by Mutant Collective and running January 23-February 28 at the Lounge Theatre 2 on Santa Monica in the heart of Theatre Row.

Returning home from a seven-year prison stint, Louise finds she's lost her place as matriarch of the family, and boss of the family business. Running meth on a mostly defunct horse ranch seemed like the perfect setup. As Louise has come back from prison a very different woman, she now wants to change things-make them better for the sister and three nieces she's done nothing but scam, lie and corrupt their whole lives. What she didn't count on was that they were doing just fine without her. At least, that's what they all want to believe.

"It's like Breaking Bad meets The Facts of Life, but written by Tracey Letts or Sam Shephard," said Victoria Watson, Associate Producer with Theatre Planners. "As soon as I read it, I knew we would want to produce it."

The play, which runs ninety minutes, is the product of a workshop with Fierce Backbone and was completed over the past summer. A private staged reading attracted interest from some influential members of the local theatre community, including Director Jessica Hanna, who agreed to helm the production. A veteran "theatre maker," Hanna has worked for several theatre companies in L.A. (and nationally) and is the co-founder as well as Producing and Managing Director of Bootleg Theater. She recently directed the critically acclaimed and award-winning NO HOMO, first at Hollywood Fringe and then Fri

"I think Inland Empress is a great script with great roles and five out of six of them are women," Hanna said. "This definitely passes the Bechdel Test. There are so many layers of relationships in this play, it's like an onion. With the added spice of addiction. Watching these women fight to make different choices and save their family, whether they're successful or not, will be exciting and hopefully, moving."

Heading up the cast of Inland Empress is veteran performer Lily Knight, who has appeared in films (Touch, The Artist, Dahmer, AI), over fifty TV shows (American Crime, Grey's Anatomy, Castle, True Blood) and countless stage productions on Broadway, Off Broadway and all over the world. Knight is joined by an all-star cast of veteran stage actors, including McCready Baker, Di Koob, Monica Martin, Jeffrey Wylie and Alexa Yeames.

"I'm very excited about how this script has developed," Cavanaugh said. "Mutant Collective is giving the play and me a huge opportunity by producing this world premiere."

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