STUPID F**KING BIRD From Theatre Extempore at The MAIN In Santa Clarita

Theatre Extempore has announced its inaugural full-length production, Stupid f-ing Bird, running from July 25 through August 10 at The MAIN theatre in Newhall as part of the 2025 Santa Clarita Shakespeare festival.

Written by Aaron Posner, Stupid f-ing Bird puts a sharp, sexy, self-aware twist on Anton Chekhov's groundbreaking and heartbreaking 1896 dramedy, The Seagull.

Con (Brock Birkner), an aspiring playwright nepobaby, loves Nina (Bridgett Mistrot and Natalie Valentine) a fame-hungry actress, who's falling for revered author Trigorin (Peter Schiavelli), the lover of grande dame Emma (Bethany Koulias), who happens to be Con's mother. Throw in an earthy, decent school teacher, Dev (Ángel Miguel López), who can't get the time of day from Mash (Caroline Buddendorf), Emma's sardonic, bass-playing cook who carries a torch for Con, and you don't just get a love triangle. You get a love hexagon; with Dr. Sorn (Cole Koehler) on the outside just wanting anyone to love him.

The characters need to define themselves, redefine art, and forge connections lead to the kind of terrible decision-making that only love can inspire - possibly to tragic results.

"People often mistake Chekhov's plays for being all heartbreak, no humor," said director Jeremy D. Thompson. "Nothing could be further from the truth. The laughs are in the anguish, because we all recognize it - because we've all been through it."

"In Stupid f-ing Bird, Posner leaves no doubt that this is a comedy; and a provocative, profane, uproariously irreverent one, at that. You will laugh and be shocked into the depths of inevitable tragedy, and leave the theatre changed by what just went down."

Theatre Extempore's production brings a cast of new and familiar faces to the stage of The MAIN in Santa Clarita.

Brock Birkner, seen in last year's The Underpants and as Titania in a recent all-queer reimagining of A Midsummer Night's Dream, plays the self-flaggelating playwright, Con.

"I've loved this play ever since its title grabbed my attention from a bookstore shelf in college," said Birkner. "It's my favorite piece of art that exists in the nanogenre of 'Scream-into-the-Void-and-wait-to-see-what-responds.'"

The famously challenging role of Nina is portrayed by Bridgett Mistrot, seen recently as May in Heart of Heart Theatre Company's production of Sam Shepard's Fool For Love, and Natalie Valentine, who plays a different version of Nina on the heels of her performance in Steven Dietz's The Nina Variations at Hollywood Fringe.

"Nina is a role I've always dreamed of playing, so I'm thrilled to be stepping into her shoes," said Mistrot. "Her journey is so complex, and every relationship she has is multi-layered. It's such a rewarding experience as an actor to get to start the show and end the show in two drastically different emotional places. My cast mates are incredibly talented, and I feel so lucky and grateful to be sharing the stage with them."

For Valentine, this return to Nina is a study in the character's resilience.

"She keeps going, even when everything falls apart, even in despair," said Valentine. "In this play, she's raw and exposed and trying so hard to become something, to matter, to be seen."

"There's so much heart in her, even when she makes messy, misguided or painful choices. I think a lot of people will see themselves in that."

Bethany Koulias, recently seen in Bat Boy the Musical at Open Fist Theatre Company, plays famed actress Emma Arkadina. She describes the play as "a meta-satire about pain, grief, anxiety, and how art can bring us hope to heal these shadows."

"Stupid f-ing Bird is an exhilarating challenge that I am proud to be involved with - whilst working alongside so many amazing people. No one f**ks with Emma Arkadina, and she is a glorious role."

"This production doesn't work without complete commitment," said producer Michelle Belmont. "The Seagull gave us endless pining and motives told through subtext, but Stupid f-ing Bird gives us the ultimate 'heart-on-your-sleeves,' everything bared in complete vulnerability experience, and because of this incredible team and their complete commitment, it works."

"Watching this show is cathartic, confusing, and maybe a little bit overwhelming: in other words, the perfect night at the theatre."

Stupid f-ing Bird is a co-production with the Santa Clarita Shakespeare company as part of their 2025 Summer Theatre Festival, an annual series of free Shakespeare performances, special theatrical events, and the Summer High School Apprentice Program for the entertainment of our community and the Northern LA region.

"Santa Clarita Shakespeare has long been committed to reenvisioning classic works of drama," said Founder and Producing director of the festival, David Stears. "Stupid f-ing Bird upends an 18th centrury Russian masterpiece into a 21st century American metatheatrical deconstruction in a way will titilate, amuse, and even shock audiences."

"The Santa Clarita Valley has never seen a production like this before."

Stupid f-ing Bird premiered in 2013 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., and has deep connections to the Los Angeles theatre scene from its second-ever production by Circle X Theatre Co. to a recent sold-out run in Los Angeles by Blue Pen Theatre in Frogtown that closed in June.