World Premiere of THREE Opens Next Month at Los Angeles LGBT Center

Playwrights' Arena and Los Angeles LGBT Center have announced the world premiere co-production of THREE by Nick Salamone.

 

THREE, directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera, is a queer meditation on Chekhov's THREE SISTERS as seen through the prisms of four soul-searching siblings and their extended family in the United States. Although the entire play covers just a little over 5 years of their lives, each act is set in one of four distinct eras: 1946, 1982, 1995 and the present.

 

Salamone expands on the timing: “I wanted the adaptation to live in the world of the last eighty years of American life in a meaningful and resonant way, which is why I chose to set each of the four acts in four different eras of life in this country: the end of World War II in 1946, the beginning of the AIDS/Reagan era of 1982, the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 and today while the world is still feeling the effects of the COVID epidemic. I tried very hard to find analogs to the various intentions of Chekhov's characters and the obstacles and conflicts that exist between and among them that would root my characters in these seminal historical American touchstones.”

 

The production stars: Robert Almodovar, Eric B. Anthony, Hayden Bishop, Alberto Isaac, Emily Kuroda, James Liebman, Tracey A. Leigh, Rebecca Metz, Rachel Sorsa, and Clay Storseth.

 

Production team includes: Lily Bartenstein (scenic, projection, prop designs), Matt Richter (lighting design), Jesse Mandapat (sound design), Mylette Nora (costume design), Raul Staggs (casting director), Letitia Chang (stage manager), and Zach Davidson (producer).

 

Nick Salamone has premiered twelve plays in Los Angeles. Sea Change and The Sonneteer, his two works previously produced at the Los Angeles LGBT Center and directed by his longtime collaborator, Jon Lawrence Rivera, both received LA Weekly Award nominations for playwriting. His work has been developed and presented by Playwrights' Arena many times including his adaptation of Euripides' Helen at the Getty Villa, his two-hander Red Hat & Tales, his cautionary fantasy Hillary Agonistes and most recently his semi-autobiographical Billy Boy, all of which were also directed by Mr. Rivera. His musical adaptation Gulls, directed by Jessica Kubzansky,was staged at Boston Court Pasadena. He has received the LA Weekly Award, the Backstage Garland Award, and an LA Ovation nomination for Best Adaptation, as well two Beverly Press Maddy Awards for Excellence in Playwriting, and two Backstage Garland Awards for Best Score of a Musical. As a librettist, he has twice been a finalist for the Kleban Prize in Musical Theatre. He is the recipient of the Playwrights' Arena Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Los Angeles Theatre Community. He has been produced in New York, around the country, and in the UK where his musical play Moscow earned the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival's Fringe First Award for New Writing as well as its Audience Favorite Award.

 

Director Jon Lawrence Rivera is the founding artistic director of Playwrights' Arena and is the recipient of the inaugural Career Achievement Award from Stage Raw. Rivera directed the following plays by Nick Salamone: Billy Boy, Helen, Hillary Agonistes, Sea Change, The Sonneteer, Red Hat & Tales, and All Souls' Day. At Playwrights' Arena he directed: Apartment Living by Boni B. Alvarez, A Hit Dog Will Holler by Inda Craig-Galván, Southernmost by Mary Lyon Kamitaki, Baby Eyes by Donald Jolly, I Go Somewhere Else by Inda Craig-Galván, Little Women by Velina Hasu Houston, The Hotel Play by Paula Cizmar, Velina Hasu Houston, Jennifer Maisel, Nahal Navidar, Julie Oni, Janine Salinas Schoenberg and Laurie Woolery (performed in an actual hotel), Bloodletting by Boni B. Alvarez (also at Kirk Douglas Theatre), @thespeedofJake by Jennifer Maisel, Circus Ugly by Gabe Rivas Gomez, and The Anatomy of Gazellasby Janine Salinas Schoenberg. Other recent works include: Kim's Convenience by Ins Choi, March by Miss Barbie-Q (MJ), Amir Levi, Coretta Monk, Alex Budin, Chad Christopher, Matthew Clark, Brandon English, Mardoza, Jon Lawrence Rivera, Roland Ruiz and Nick Salamone (co-produced with the Los Angeles LGBT Center in its parking lot), Bingo Hall by Dillon Chitto, Fairly Traceable by Mary Kathryn Nagle, Obama-Ology by Aurin Squire, Criers for Hire by Giovanni Ortega, Stand-Off at Hwy #37 by Vicky Ramirez, Flipzoids by Ralph B. Peña (also in Manila). Rivera is the recipient of a NY Fringe Festival Award, an LA Weekly Award, and five Ovation Award nominations.

 

Opening is set for Sunday, February 18, 7 PM (with previews on Feb 15, 16, 17), at the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center's Davidson/Valentini Theatre at 1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood 90038 (one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard). Underground parking is available.

 

Regular performances are typically on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 8 PM and Sundays at 7 PM [check website for detailed schedule]. Tickets $20-$39 with select Pay-What-You-Choose seats available at select performances. THREE closes on Monday, March 18, at 8 PM.

 

For reservations go to www.playwrightsarena.org  or www.lalgbtcenter.org/events/

 

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