World Premiere of Disney Unionization Drama BURBANK to Begin Performances at The Wild Project in September

Thirdwing, an innovative new hybrid theater company that has been presenting bold new works both live and streaming under a subscription model (like Hulu or Netflix) since January 2020, will present the World Premiere of BURBANK by Cameron Darwin Bossert beginning September 6 at the wild project.

It is 1941 and Walt Disney is out of his depth in their new Burbank studio; Pinocchio and Fantasia are losing money. An outside union is signing up employees and making personal threats against Walt and the studio. When Art Babbitt, the womanizing genius animator of Goofy, finds a female worker passed out on the lawn for lack of nutrition, he decides to join with the union and lead a strike against the studio. BURBANK presents a clash of egos, art, and commerce, as the Disney studio faces what could be the end of the golden age of animation.

BURBANK stars Ryan Blackwell (The Onion News Network), Kelley Lord (Life & Beth), and Cameron Darwin Bossert. Directed by Thirdwing, the production features costumes by Yolanda Balaña and sound design by Deeba Montazeri.

BURBANK is part of A Venomous Color, two plays and a series of streaming videos about the mythic and personal struggles of the Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1941 as they try to redefine American culture after the depression. The other play in the diptych, The Fairest, about the struggles of the women who painted Snow White, premiered in October 2021 at the wild project.

Launched in January 2020, Thirdwing is a hybrid theater and streaming company taking inspiration from the classic mid-century teleplays pioneered by Paddy Chayefsky and Harold Pinter. Their mission is to bridge theater and film to tell expansive, world-building stories and make traditional in-person theatergoing more affordable with a subscription model offering new content every month, either online, in-person, or both. Thirdwing's first narrative offering, The Female Genius, by Rachel Carey, had its first episode premiere on March 8th, 2020, presenting a new streaming theater experience 4 days before the NYC Covid lockdown. The rest of the series was released in April, as the first new streaming play with full staging, lighting, and costumes. Since then, Thirdwing has premiered three more hybrid shows, their in-person offerings being The Disciple, The Fairest, and The United Nations: The Border and the Coast. Burbank will be their fourth live on-stage production in a little over a year. Up next will be Doctors vs. Lawyers, mixing a traditional soap opera online with in-person productions bringing the audience into the courtroom.

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