Rogue Machine to Present West Coast Premiere of MIDDLE OF THE WORLD This Month

Victoria was an important person in Ecuador. Now broke, disgraced and separated from her son, she is determined to get back home and regain what she has lost. Glenn worked his way from low-income housing to the verge of closing the biggest deal of his impressive career in finance. But is business success what he's really chasing? Middle of the World means you cannot be in two places at once. You must choose. And when you choose, it means giving something up. What are they willing to sacrifice? For power, for principles and for love? On a night in NYC, when Glenn steps into Victoria's Uber, the course of both their lives will change in an instant.

Juan José Alfonso (Playwright) wrote his first play, An Educated Guess, based on his own experience as an immigrant to the United States. The play was developed at New York Theatre Workshop and Steppenwolf (produced by Definition Theatre Company). His second and third plays were developed in residency at The Geffen Playhouse's Writers' Room program, and Middle of the World was first produced at Boise Contemporary Theater in October of 2023. Juan is a television producer and has worked on over 25 shows, including the Emmy-winning American Crime from Academy Award winner John Ridley and Marvel's Agent Carter; as well as documentaries like The Clemente Effect and L'Arbitre, winner of the United Nations prize at the New York Festivals in 2010. He helped to develop the limited series Gaslit, starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn; as well as the horror-comedy Shining Vale, with Courtney Cox and Greg Kinnear. 

“The genesis of this story struck as I was thinking about the intimacy that can often occur when people from radically different walks of life come together in a moving room while stuck in traffic. How many stories have we heard about the Uber driver who used to be an engineer in Belarus, a surgeon in Cuba, or the CTO of Pfizer but now drives just for fun,” says playwright Juan José Alfonso. “The character of Victoria is based on an amalgamation of three well known Latina women who had to fight incredible odds in chauvinistic South American cultures to gain a voice in their own governments and eventually make it to the top. And yet in the US we have failed to elect a female president.

Guillermo Cienfuegos (Artistic Director & Director) serves as Artistic Director at Rogue Machine, along with Founding Artistic Director John Perrin Flynn. He directed the Rogue Machine productions of Heroes of the Fourth Turning, The Beautiful People, Disposable Necessities, Ready Steady Yeti Go and Dutch Masters, as well as the RMT video productions of Insulted: Belarus(sia) and Voices of the New Belarus. Cienfuegos won both the Ovation and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Director for his production of Shakespeare's Henry V at Pacific Resident Theatre. He has directed numerous productions at PRT, including Ionesco's Rhinoceros, Pinter's The Homecoming and Safe at Home: An Evening with Orson Bean. Other theatre directing credits include Julia, both at PRT and at New York's 59E59 theatre, Off-Broadway, Middle of the World at Boise Contemporary Theatre, Christmas Contigo at Oregon Cabaret Theatre, the Los Angeles Premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis' Pulitzer Prize Winner Between Riverside and Crazy at The Fountain Theatre and Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at A Noise Within. 

The Cast: Cheryl Umaña as Victoria (appeared in the title role of CTG's Alma, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. “Best Performance Award” - Latino Short Film Festival for “Highland Park” and from the Leicester International Film Festival for “Little Con Lili”); Christian Telesmar as Glenn Joyner (August Wilson's Radio Golf - A Noise Within. On the Other Hand, We're Happy by Daf James at Rogue Machine Theatre “Best Production” 2022 - Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and L.A. Times, Kentucky by Leah Nanako Winkler at East West Players); Leandro Cano as Bob Gonzalez (Nowhere on the Border and The Rescued - The Road Theatre Company, American Falls and Ascension - Echo Theatre Co, Oedipus el Rey and Colony Collapse at Boston Court Pasadena, Anna in the Tropics - A Noise Within, El Henry - La Jolla Playhouse); Jennifer Pollono as Barbara Blanchard (at Rogue Machine Pocatello, Lost Girls, Dirty Filthy Love Story, Where the Great Ones Run, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, and Steven Sater's New York Animals. Rules of Seconds @ LATC, directed by Jo Bonney). Dan Lin as Warren Lim (Goodman Theatre – King of Yees, The World of Extreme Happiness, Support Group for Men. The White Snake - The Old Globe. “Best Supporting Actor” from Miami International Sci-Fi Film Festival for his portrayal of Matsudaira Bash in “Flora”).

Creative Team: Nico Hewitt (Scenic Design), Andrew Hungerford (Lighting Design), Peter John Still (Sound Design), Christine Cover Ferro (Costume Design), Michelle Hanzelova-Bierbauer (Video Projections), Lily Kennedy (Props), Jaime Nebeker (Intimacy Director).

Rogue Machine produces new plays, primarily by Los Angeles based playwrights, and important contemporary plays not yet seen in Los Angeles. RMT won the Ovation Award for “Best Season” (2017) and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for “Best Season” twice (2011 & 2016). In the last 9 years, Rogue Machine has won three Ovation Awards and four LADCC awards for “Outstanding Production of the Year.” RMT has produced seventeen mainstage 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. Four world premieres, Razorback, Small Engine Repair, Lone-Anon, and One Night in Miami… were or are being 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.  

MIDDLE OF THE WORLD opens at 8pm on Saturday, January 27 and runs at 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays through March 4, 2024. (no performances on January 29, February 12, March 1). Rogue Machine (in the Matrix Theatre), is located at 7657 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tickets are $45 for general seating (Seniors: $35; Students with ID; $25). Pay-What-You-Can: Feb. 2 (10+), Feb. 9, 16 ($15+), Feb. 23 ($20+). Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ or for more information 855-585-5185. 

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. 

Run time is approximately 95 minutes (no intermission)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RogueMachineTheatre Twitter: @RogueMachineLA (https://twitter.com/RogueMachineLA) Instagram: @RogueMachineTheatre (https://www.instagram.com/roguemachinetheatre/) 

Photo credit: Brooke Burton 

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