Theatre NOVA Kicks Off 2017-2018 Season with THE REVOLUTIONISTS

Theatre NOVA, Ann Arbor's professional theatre with an exclusive focus on new plays and playwrights, presents the Michigan premiere of "The Revolutionists" by Lauren Gunderson.

Four beautiful, bad-ass women lose their heads in this irreverent, girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution. At the height of the Reign of Terror, activist playwright Olympe de Gouges, young assassin Charlotte Corday, revolutionary Caribbean spy Marianne Angelle and former queen Marie Antoinette hang out, plot murder and try to beat back extremist insanity in Paris. This political fantasia by the author of "I and You" considers how far we should go to keep society from sliding off of the rails.

"The Revolutionists" features Diane Hill, Melissa Beckwith, K Edmonds, and Sara Rose and is directed by David Wolber. The design team includes Forrest Hejkal (scenic and costume design), Carla Milarch (sound design), and Dan Walker (lighting design).

This grand and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go about changing the world. It is a true story. Or total fiction. Or a play about a play. Or a raucous resurrection... that ends with a song and a scaffold.

"The Revolutionists" will run August 25 through September 17, 2017 at Theatre NOVA (410 W. Huron, Ann Arbor), a downtown performance space. Show times are 8:00p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and Sunday matinees start at 2:00p.m. Theatre NOVA features free parking for patrons, as well as quick access to the city's restaurants, bars, bakeries, and coffee shops.

Tickets are $20, and Theatre NOVA continues its commitment to make theatre accessible by offering pay-what-you-can tickets for those who need them. For tickets, visit TheatreNOVA.org, call 734-635-8450 (Tuesdays through Fridays from noon until 3pm), or buy them in person at the box office one hour before show time.

Theatre NOVA is Ann Arbor's resident professional theatre company. Its mission is to raise awareness of the value and excitement of new plays and playwrights and provide resources for playwrights to develop their craft by importing, exporting, and developing new work.

LAUREN M. GUNDERSON (PLAYWRIGHT) is the most produced living playwright in America of 2016, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation's 3-Year Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU's Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been commissioned, produced and developed at companies across the US including South Cost Rep ("Emilie," "Silent Sky"), The Kennedy Center ("The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!"), The O'Neill, The Denver Center, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Synchronicity, Olney Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire and more. She co-authored "Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley" with Margot Melcon. Her work is published at Playscripts ("I and You," "Exit Pursued By A Bear," "The Taming," and "Toil And Trouble"), Dramatists ("Silent Sky," "Bauer," "Miss Bennet") and Samuel French ("Emilie"). Her picture book "Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon" was released from Two Lions/Amazon in May of 2017. LaurenGunderson.com and @LalaTellsAStory

David Wolber (DIRECTOR) is an actor, director, a Producing Artistic Director at Theatre NOVA, and was the Artistic Director at Performance Network Theatre from 2007 to 2014. Favorite shows he directed include "Dream Deferred: Detroit, 1967" which he co-devised with Megan Buckley-Ball and Dr. Xavier Nicholas (Best of Season 2016-17, It's All Theatre), "2.5 Minute Ride" by Lisa Kron (Best of Season 2016-17, It's All Theatre), "Katherine" by Kim Carney (Best of Season 2015-16, It's All Theatre), "Good People" by David Lindsay-Abaire, "Dead Man's Shoes" by Joseph Zettelmaier (Best New Script-Wilde Award 2012), "The War Since Eve" by Kim Carney (Best New Script 2011-Wilde Award), "Necessary Targets" by Eve Ensler, "The White Rose" by Lillian Garret-Groag and many more. Favorite performances include "1984" by George Orwell, adapted by Michael Gene Sullivan, "Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery" by Ken Ludwig, "Leaving Iowa" by Tim Clue & Spike Manton (Best Comedy-Wilde Award), "The Home Team" by Kim Carney (Favorite Male Performer-Wilde Award), and "Three Days of Rain" by Richard Greenberg (Best Actor-Ann Arbor News, Best Ensemble-Oakland Press), among many others. David has performed and directed shows at Meadow Brook Theatre, Theatre Nova, Performance Network, Tipping Point Theatre, Matrix Theatre, Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Williamston Theatre, Boarshead Theatre, Detroit Repertory Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland, as well as appeared in a handful of commercials and independent films. David is an alumnus of Wayne State's theatre program and is a member of Actors' Equity Association and Americans for the Arts. He has served on several committees for The Arts Alliance of Washtenaw County, the National New Play Network, the Cultural Alliance of Southeast Michigan, and the Ann Arbor Film Festival. David is proud to be an Associate Producer on Detroit filmmaker Jasmine Rivera's short independent film "American Prophet."

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