Rogue Machine Presents the Southern CA Premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's A GREAT WILDERNESS

Rogue Machine presents the Southern CA premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's "A GREAT WILDERNESS", opening September 24, 2022.

Obie Award-winning playwright Samuel D. Hunter navigates complex terrain into gay conversion therapy. Walt has devoted his life to "curing" gay teenage boys but his previously unwavering moral compass no longer points one way. How does one find their true north?

"A Great Wilderness is particularly personal and dear to me, explains playwright Samuel D, Hunter. "It's sort of like a group of people who are clinging to the past. That dynamic, that tension, has always been really interesting to me. It's also something I don't see discussed a lot on our stages, which is curious just because we live in such a religious country. I'm so grateful that Rogue Machine is once again giving my work a home in Los Angeles, and choosing to tell this very complex story about very complex people."

Samuel D. Hunter (Playwright) is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship for his work as a playwright. His full-length plays include The Whale (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, GLAAD Media Award, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play), A Case for the Existence of God (New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play), A Bright New Boise (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), Greater Clements (Drama Desk nomination for Best Play, Outer Critics Circle Honoree), Lewiston/Clarkston (Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Few, A Great Wilderness, Rest, Pocatello, The Healing, and The Harvest, among others. A film version of The Whale, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Brendan Fraser, is set to be released by A24 Films. He is the recipient of a 2012 Whiting Writers Award and an honorary doctorate from the University of Idaho. His work has been produced Off Broadway in New York City by Lincoln Center Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, Signature Theatre, Page 73 Productions, Clubbed Thumb, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. Elsewhere, his work has been produced by Theatre Royal Bath, Dallas Theatre Center, Seattle Rep, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, South Coast Rep, and Victory Gardens, among others. Two published anthologies of his work are available from TCG Books, and a third is forthcoming. He is a member of New Dramatists and a current Resident Playwright at the Signature Theatre in New York City. He holds degrees in playwriting from NYU, The Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Juilliard.

Starring Jeffrey Delfin as Daniel (Authenticity: The Musical for Hollywood Fringe Festival, Significant Other at Bernie West Theater); John Perrin Flynn as Walt (100 Aprils by Leslie Ayvazian, received the Career Achievement Award for Theatre from the LA Weekly, directed the World Premieres of John Pollono's Lost Girls and Henry Murray's Treefall; Enda Walsh's The New Electric Ballroom and Penelope; Samuel D. Hunter's Pocatello, A Permanent Image and A Bright New Boise; The Sunset Limited; Oppenheimer; and our inaugural production, Compleat Female Stage Beauty); Tony Pasqualini as Tim (Tobias in A Delicate Balance at PRT, Harold in Watching OJ at EST/LA, King Lear (twice), and Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing at South Coast Rep); Jacquelin Lorraine Schofield as Eunice (Ovation and NAACP Theater Award winner for her performances in The Color Purple (2013 & 2020, first Afro Latina to play the role of Abuela Claudia in La Mirada Theater's production of In the Heights, Bronco Billy, The Musical at Skylight Theatre, Bad Habits at Ruskin Group Theatre, How We Got On at Sacred Fools, Rapunzel Alone at The Wallis/24th Street); Rachel Sorsa as Abby (100 Aprils, In the Valley of the Shadow at Rogue Machine, at Playwrights Arena Helen in HELEN; Emma/Mother - Ovation Nom. Best Featured Actress in BILLY BOY, Bethany Blaylock in This Side of Crazy - Ovation Nom. Best Featured Actress, and Kate in Yellow - LADCC award); Tania Verafield as Janet (Othello, Anna in the Tropics at A Noise Within, For The Love Of or the roller derby play at Kirk Douglas Theatre, Twenty50 at Denver Center, and originating the role of Bug in the world premiere of Treefall at Rogue Machine, Beneath the Veil at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse & more).

Rogue Machine presented the first English translation of INSULTED. BELARUS (sia), which was featured on the BBC, sparking world-wide activism from over 100 theatre companies in 39 countries. RMT won the Ovation Award for BEST SEASON (2017) and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for BEST SEASON (2016). In the last 8 years, Rogue Machine has won "BEST PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR" three times from these organizations. RMT has produced seventeen World Premieres, nine of which have been published by Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service or Broadway Play Publishing. Six of the productions have had subsequent productions at significant theatres, including Off Broadway, major regional houses and The Donmar Warehouse in London. Two world premieres, Small Engine Repair and One Night in Miami... were made into feature films and playwright Kemp Powers was nominated for an Academy Award. In recognition of its artistic achievement, administrative strength, development of new work and other significant contributions to the field of professional theatre in the United States, Rogue Machine is supported by the Shubert Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The David Lee Foundation, The City and County of Los Angeles, The Ahmanson Foundation, and The Richenthal Foundation. RMT is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing's 2014 National Theatre Company Grant. The company presents plays that are new to Los Angeles.

A GREAT WILDERNESS opens at 8pm on Saturday, September 24 and runs Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 8pm; Sundays at 3pm through October 31 (No performance October 10). Rogue Machine (in the Matrix Theatre), 7657 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tickets are $45 general admission ($35 seniors, $25 students with proof) with Pay-What-You-Can on Fridays 9/30 - 10/21.

Reservations: http://www.roguemachinetheatre.net or for more information 855-585-5185.

Face masks are required to be worn indoors at all times. Rogue Machine has upgraded their HVAC system at the Matrix Theatre to exceed compliance with current COVID protocols. They have installed HEPA air purifiers in all public spaces. All staff and artists are fully vaccinated and boosted.