WHITE Begins Performances 2/26 at the Wallis

The award-winning Catherine Wheels Theatre Company from Scotland presents White, an enchanting production for the very young, February 26 to March 23, at the Lovelace Studio Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

White, which had its premiere at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, won three Festival Awards including Total Theatre. It then triumphed at 2011 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS), winning Best Production for Children and Young People, Best Design (Set, Costumes and Lighting) and Best Technical Presentation. Picking up three of the ten awards available, it was described as the most successful show of the year. White was also nominated for a New York Drama Desk Award (2012) and an Australian Helpmann Award (2012).

White has since been seen around the world in New York, Copenhagen, Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, France, Demark and Luxembourg. During this season White has had performances in France, UK, The Netherlands, Belgium and the United States; later it travels to Taiwan and more European destinations.

"White exemplifies the kind of family attraction that we are seeking for The Wallis," said Executive Director Lou Moore. Our intimate 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater is the perfect space that allows companies like Catherine Wheels to speak in an involving, very direct way to the audience for a captivating theatre experience. The Edinburgh Festival Award it received - Total Theatre - completely describes what the show. It works for two to five year olds, and it works for adults alike."

In this offbeat comedy, the audience is invited into an all-white world where two friends, Cotton and Wrinkle, diligently look after a grove full of birdhouses, making sure that everything stays "bright, ordered and white." But when colors start to appear, things become truly magical. The New York Times said, "This may be the only show that will remind you simultaneously of Teletubbies and Waiting for Godot."

"When we are establishing our programming for families," said Edie Demas, The Wallis' Director of Education, "we are looking - all over the world - for companies that will not only introduce children to theatre, but give them an experience that will prepare and excite them for a life that includes the performing arts. With Catherine Wheels we found exactly one of the productions we were looking for."

Tickets, priced at $25.00 (General Admission), for the Catherine Wheels Theatre Company production of White at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, are available by visiting www.thewallis.org, in person at the Box Office at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 and by phone at 310-746-4000. Performances are February 26 - March 23, 2014 in the Lovelace Studio Theater.

Andy Manley - Creator and Performer
As an actor, deviser and director Andy has been involved with many of the children's theatre companies in Scotland. In 1991 he was a founding member of Visible Fictions whose first show Bill's New Frock toured around Canada and the US on three successive tours. He is an Associate Artist of Catherine Wheels and a co-creator of the production Martha, which has toured to Canada, US, Holland, China, Singapore, Tasmania, Norway, Sweden and taken in Broadway. In October 2006 he worked as a Drama Artist for Starcatchers creating shows for the very young where he created the highly successful Little Light, and his solo show My House. My House has been performed throughout the UK, also in Bologna, Madrid, Salzburg, Helsinki, Hamm and on Broadway as part of the Scottish Children's Festival at the New Victory Theatre, New York. In 2007 he worked with Rob Evans and Catherine Wheels on the Going Solo project in which he performed two new one-man plays, Kappa and The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk. Both shows were part of the Imaginate Children's Festival 2010. His relationship with Catherine Wheels continued with White, which he created with the company in 2010. White has been highly successful nationally and internationally, winning many awards, and continues to tour to new international venues and festivals. Andy's most recent production A Small Story, a co-creation with Ania Michaelis (Starcatchers/Theatre o.N. Berlin) premiered in Germany in autumn 2013 and will tour Scotland in 2014.

His directing credits include work for Catherine Wheels, Scottish Opera, Macrobert Arts Centre, M6 Theatre Company, Polka Theatre and Shona Reppe Puppets.

Gill Robertson - Director
Gill Robertson is the founder and artistic director of Catherine Wheels Theatre Company. She has worked as a director, actor and drama mentor throughout Scotland. Her credits as a director include: Pobby and Dingan (winner Total Theatre Award), Kes, Caged, The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk, Kappa, Martha, Lifeboat, Cyrano, A Town Called Elsewhere and Hansel & Gretel (Catherine Wheels); The Purple Potting Shed (Topiary Dance); The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean, Cinderella and Spend a Penny (Shona Reppe Puppets); Chasing Angels (Complete Productions); Giant Steps and Bill's New Frock (Visible Fictions) and The Wizard of Oz (Lyceum Theatre). As a performer: Martha, Red and Frankenstein, The Lion of Kabul and most recently The Book of Beasts (Catherine Wheels); Cinderella and A Midsummer's Night Dream (Brunton Theatre); and The Snow Baby (Catherine Wheels/macrobert co-production). She also directed Home: East Lothian for National Theatre of Scotland, which won best show for children & young people at the 2006 Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) awards.

Ian Cameron - Collaborator and Performer
Ian Cameron is a performer, director and teacher in physical theatre and puppetry, and a visual artist. He trained at Central School of Art and Design in London, in classical mime with Desmond Jones, and has studied with such teachers as Jacques Lecoq, Phillipe Gaulier, Pierre Byland, Monique Pagneaux, Steve Paxton, Odin Theatre and Theatre du Movement. He has been a founder member of three theatre companies, most recently Plutôt La Vie with Tim Licata, creating (and often performing in) By the Seat of Your Pants, A Clean Sweep, First You're Born and is directing their new production La Tragedy Comique. He has also performed with such companies as the English National Opera; The Royal National Theatre(commissioned work); the London Sinfonietta; Theatre Sans Fil, Canada; Catherine Wheels and Reeling & Writhing. He has been a director/deviser with various theatre and puppet companies, including productions for Triangle, Coventry(The Dig won a Fringe First in 1992); Quicksilver, London; Shona Reppe Puppets (Cinderella won a Total Theatre Award in 2002) and Puppet Lab. For the past ten years he has worked as a Clowndoctor with Hearts & Minds.

Tickets: Prices: All seats $25.00 (General Admission)
In Person - Wallis Annenberg Center Box Office,
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
By Phone - 310-746-4000
Online - www.thewallis.org

Photo by: Douglas McBride

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