Luna Stage Announces Sedaris, Ham and Diggs as Part of 08/09 Season

Luna Stage's 2008-2009 season, its 16th year of producing provocative theatre in Montclair, includes three world premieres of new works - Fair and Decent by  Thomas H. Diggs, After Adam by Christina Ham and Not God  by Marc J. Straus, as well as a revival of the off-beat holiday favorite The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris and two New Moon Reading Series of new plays in development.

The season will open with the mainstage production of Thomas H. Diggs' political comedy, Fair and Decent, directed by Luna Artistic Director, Jane Mandel.

Bill Moyers has called the Republican Party's wresting control of the American media, "The most important story of our time." Fair and Decent is the story of how it was done.

It is 1980.  Ronald Reagan has just been elected and The Right now controls the US Senate.  Uber-clever Republican operatives at a Washington think tank come up with a plan to dismantle The Fairness Doctrine, the FCC media regulations for mandatory presentation of opposing sides to controversial issues.  They battle it out for control of the American political landscape. The bottom line?  Winner-take-all.

Thomas H. Diggs' work has been seen at major regional theatres, including East/West Players, Luna Stage (NJ), Moving Arts (L.A.), and The Empty Space (Seattle). Tom recently graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with an MFA in Dramatic Writing. He was named a Dramatist Guild Fellow for 2007-2008.

Fair and Decent was commissioned by The Kennedy Center and The National New Play Network . The play was included in Luna's 2008 Spring New Moon reading series.  Performances of Fair and Decent begin October 2nd through November 2nd, 2008.

Those folks who like a little spice with their Christmas sugar can see New Jersey favorite Harry Patrick Christian reprising his acclaimed performance of The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris.  This hilarious one-person play chronicles a man's experience working as an elf in Macy's Santaland.  Sedaris is a genuine American voice--witty, sardonic and unpredictable, mercilessly cutting through the Christmas spirit to point out what crazy things we do as human beings during the holidays.  For mature elves only.

The Santaland Diaries is a co-production with Maplewood's What Exit? Theatre Company, and will be directed by David Winitsky.  The play will be performed cabaret style in Luna's intimate Stage Two Theatre from December 4th through December 20th.

2009 will begin with the mainstage production of Minneapolis-based playwright Christina Ham's After Adam, a haunting exploration of the cyclical nature of inherited dysfunction.  In the world of this play, death is the only catalyst for change.  In this realm the spirits of one damaged nuclear family confront what could not be resolved while living.

Christina Ham's plays have been produced and developed both nationally and internationally. Christina is the recipient of a McKnight Advancement Grant and Jerome Fellowship from The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, the Marianne Murphy Women & Philanthropy Award in Playwriting, and a 2006 MacDowell Residency.  Christina is a graduate of the University of Southern California and UCLA's MFA Playwriting program.

After Adam was developed at the Play Penn Conference in Philadelphia in 2007.  It will be directed at Luna Stage by Eric Ruffin. Ruffin's previous Luna Stage productions of My Children! My Africa! and the New Jersey premiere of Topdog /Underdog were both met with critical acclaim.  After Adam will be performed from January 29th through March 1st, 2009.

The 2008-2009 season will close in the spring with the Stage Two production of Not God by Marc J. Straus, an intimate journey of illness, seen through the sacred relationship between patient and doctor. Not God is theatre at its most elemental, a story told in poetry with powerful simplicity.

Dr. Marc J. Straus is a distinguished oncologist, award winning poet and art curator. He has published nearly 100 scientific papers and three textbooks on lung cancer. His poems have been published in over 100 literary journals. Among the awards Dr. Straus has received for his poetry is a 1993 Yaddo Fellowship and the 1998 Robert Penn Warren Award in the Humanities from Yale University Medical School.

Not God will be directed by Nancy Robillard, who previously directed Luna's highly acclaimed 2006-2007 production of Anton Dudley's Honor and the River.  Not God performance dates are April 16th through May 17th.

Luna Stage performances are Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sunday afternoons at 2:00pm. Ticket prices range from $20 to $30 with discounts available for seniors and students. Luna Stage is located at 695 Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair, New Jersey. For further information call the box office at 973-744-3309 or visit www.lunastage.org.  Luna is wheelchair accessible; assistive listening devices and pre-show tours for the sight impaired are available upon request.

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