Photo Flash: First Look at the West Coast Premiere of PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT SALLY
A funny, sad, lyrical and highly original coming of age story from emerging playwright Kevin Armento features an unconventional narrator: the phone belonging to a troubled teen. Working Barn Productions presents the West Coast premiere of New York Times "Critic's Pick" Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, directed by Peter Richards. The visiting production runs at the Odyssey Theatre, tonight, Sept. 22, through Oct. 8. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!
Chronicling 15-year-old Red McCray's unhappy move to a new town and school is his most intimate friend - his cell phone, personified on stage by Thomas Piper (N.Y.C. productions of Richard 3 at La MAMA ETC and We Killed Kurt Cobain at Ensemble Studio Theatre). As our narrator gets sucked into a breakneck journey from pockets to purses, it offers a fresh and unique perspective on human interaction and relationships. Soundscape designer and foley artistAdam Smith joins Piper on stage to expand and enhance the unusual world of the play. The rest of the creative team includes set designer Pete Hickock, lighting designer Kelley Finn, projections designer Nick Santiago and costume designer Kate Bergh.
"It's a fast-paced, high-tech story that handles serious, adult themes in an unconventional way," says Richards. "There are a lot of moving parts - sound, lights, projections - that fit together to tell this story."
Audience members might recognize the play's title from their high school days - a mnemonic, or memory aid, for the order of operations needed to solve an algebraic equation (parentheses, exponents, multiply, divide, add, subtract).
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, which features adult content and is recommended for mature audiences ages 16 and up, premiered off-Broadway in 2015 in a One Year Lease Theatre Company production at 59E59 Theaters. The production traveled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was honored with a Stage Edinburgh Award.
All tickets are $20 (reserved seating). The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025. For reservations and information, call 323-960-4429 or go to www.plays411.com/PEMDAS.
Photo Credit: Ed Krieger
Adam Smith and Thomas Piper
Adam Smith and Thomas Piper
Thomas Piper
Thomas Piper
Thomas Piper
Adam Smith and Thomas Piper
Adam Smith and Thomas Piper
Adam Smith and Thomas Piper
Thomas Piper and Adam Smith
Adam Smith and Thomas Piper
Adam Smith and Thomas Piper
Thomas Piper
Thomas Piper
Adam Smith and Thomas Piper with director Peter Richards
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