Desdemona Chiang News

The Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) 2015 season begins with the youthful, heartfelt play by A. Rey Pamatmat, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them opening on March 2, running through March 21 at the Thick House in San Francisco's Potrero Hill.

Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will add an additional 7 performances of the Bay Area Premiere of Obie-winning playwright Gina Gionfriddo's (After Ashley, Becky Shaw) unflinching look at modern gender politics. Desdemona Chiang (The Hundred Flowers Project) directs this finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, featuring Gabriel Marin (This Is How It Goes, Collapse), Rebecca Schweitzer (A Delicate Balance, The First Grade), Marilee Talkington (Salomania), Lilian Bogovich, and Nicole Javier. RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN plays now through October 5 (added performances: Tuesday, September 30, 7pm; Wednesday, October 1, 8pm; Thursday, October 2, 8pm; Friday, October 3, 8pm; Saturday, October 4, 8pm; Sunday, October 5, 2pm and 7pm) at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-50) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 23rd season with the Bay Area Premiere of Obie-winning playwright Gina Gionfriddo's (After Ashley,Becky Shaw) RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN. Can any woman have it all? After graduate school, Catherine and Gwen chose different paths. Catherine built a career as a rock star academic and media darling, writing books linking Internet pornography with 9/11, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other's life. When Catherine returns home to look after her ailing mother, a risky game of musical chairs begins as three generations of women struggle with feminism's foibles.

A cast of young student actors will perform the Tony Award-winning musical 'Hairspray' July 16-20 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A cast of young student actors will perform the Tony Award-winning musical 'Hairspray' today, July 16-20 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.PlayMakers Repertory Company, the professional theater in residence in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences, will present the Broadway musical as the culmination of its popular Summer Youth Conservatory.

Critics and audiences agree that it would be a crime to miss AMERICAN BUFFALO. Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will add an additional 7 performances of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet's powerful, fast-paced modern masterpiece.

A cast of young student actors will perform the Tony Award-winning musical 'Hairspray' July 16-20 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. High school actors and technicians will begin work on the production June 16. PlayMakers Repertory Company, the professional theater in residence in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences, will present the Broadway musical as the culmination of its popular Summer Youth Conservatory.

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 23rd season with the Bay Area Premiere of RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN (August 29-September 28). A finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, this sharp, witty comedy examines the pursuit of happiness in the wake of 20th century feminist ideals. Desdemona Chiang (The Hundred Flowers Project) makes her Aurora directing debut with this unflinching look at modern gender politics, featuring Gabriel Marin (This Is How It Goes), Rebecca Schweitzer (A Delicate Balance, The First Grade), Marilee Talkington (Salomania), Lilian Bogovich, and Nicole Javie.

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company has announced a call for submissions for its 10th anniversary season of the Global Age Project (GAP) festival of new works. The company will choose three new plays to be presented as staged readings with professional directors and actors during the GAP festival in February and March of 2015; the festival will coincide with the company's fully-staged Bay Area Premiere of Nicky Silver's (Pterodactyls, Raised in Captivity) scathingly funny Broadway hit THE LYONS, directed by Barbara Damashek (American Buffalo, Fat Pig, Private Jokes, Public Places). Each of the three prizewinners will receive a $1,000 award and their work will be considered for further development and production during Aurora Theatre Company's regular season; out of town artists will receive travel and accommodation expenses. The submission period opens June 2; deadline for play submission is July 15, 2014. Finalists will be announced in early December 2014. Aurora Theatre Company is excited to offer online script submission for the GAP. Playwrights may upload their submissions directly to Aurora Theatre Company's website at www.auroratheatre.org; there is a $20 submission fee per play manuscript.

Due to popular demand, Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will add a second extension week of performances of John W. Lowell's suspenseful psychological thriller THE LETTERS, the first fully staged production in the company's second stage performance space, Harry's UpStage.

Due to popular pre-sale demand, a year in advance, Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will extend Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning TALLEY'S FOLLY, the second fully staged production to be performed in the company's second stage performance space, Harry's UpStage. The company will add a sixth show to the existing performance weeks and will extend the original run dates an additional two weeks. Aurora Theatre Company pays homage to Lanford Wilson with "The Talley Trilogy." Acclaimed Bay Area actress and director Joy Carlin (After the Revolution, Body Awareness, Jack Goes Boating, Awake and Sing!) directs the first entry in this series of three interrelated plays.

Closing Aurora Theatre Company's 22nd season is David Mamet's powerful, fast-paced drama AMERICAN BUFFALO. Tony-nominated director Barbara Damashek, who helmed Aurora Theatre Company's acclaimed productions of Fat Pig and Private Jokes, Public Places, returns to direct AMERICAN BUFFALO, featuring James Carpenter (John Gabriel Borkman, The Master Builder, The Birthday Party, The Homecoming), Paul Vincent O'Connor (Death Defying Acts, National Tour August: Osage County), and Rafael Jordan. AMERICAN BUFFALO plays June 13 through July 13 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-60) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. For mature audiences.

The New York based company, The One-Minute Play Festival (Dominic D'Andrea, Producing Artistic Director) and the Central Heating Lab at ACT- A Contemporary Theatre create a dynamic partnership to bring The One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF) to Seattle for the first time.

The regular season will be staged August 2014 through July 2015 at the intimate Aurora Theatre in the downtown Berkeley arts district. For single tickets ($32-$60) or subscriptions ($155-$305), the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. Subscriptions on sale March 27. Single tickets on sale for subscribers July 29 and on sale August 5 to the general public.

Seattle Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director George Mount announced the company's programming plans for 2014-2015 that include expanding to five plays for its indoor season, the return of directors Jon Kretzu and John Langs, and the mainstage directing debuts of Desdemona Chiang and Makaela Pollock.

PROFILE THEATRE has announced the titles for its 2014 In Dialogue Staged Reading Series, a program intended to explore and augment the mainstage season of plays by Sam Shepard. The plays are HUNGRY by Amy Claussen, BUENA VISTA by Edith Freni, and A LIE OF THE MIND by Sam Shepard. The readings will each have two performances, held at Profile's new home at Artists Repertory Theatre. Tickets are currently on sale at Profiletheatre.org.

Seattle Theater Writers critics' circle presents the winners' slate of the 2013 Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, theater awards devoted to recognizing excellence across the economic spectrum of professional Seattle theaters.

Seattle Theater Writers, a critics' circle of local theater writers and reviewers, today announces the 2013 slate of nominees of the third annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, theater awards devoted to recognizing excellence across the economic spectrum of professional Seattle theaters.

There are some aspects of life that most of us don't delve into. Dark aspects that are all too common in the world but we've been fortunate enough to avoid. But it seems as dark and unseemly as these areas of life are, Azeotrope is determined to pull back the rug and take a good look at what skitters out whether it be prostitutes and infidelity or meth and murder, as is evident in their current offerings in repertory over at ACT, "Red Light Winter" and "25 Saints". And while we may not want to look straight into the maw of these seedy underbellies, what results are two stirring and intense bits of theater put on with Azeotrope's usual intelligence and power.

Following the success of their critically acclaimed production ofJesus Hopped the A Train (2012 Gregory Award and Gypsy Lee Rose Award winners), Seattle theatre company Azeotrope is excited to bring two powerful shows in repertory: Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp and 25 Saints by Joshua Rollins, directed by Artistic Associate Desdemona Chiang. Both shows open Today, October 26, and play through November 24; produced in association with Central Heating Lab at A Contemporary Theatre.

Classes are back in session and that means the University of Washington School of Drama faculty and students are hard at work on the first show of their 2013?2014 season and we've got a first photo look. This season is particularly meaningful to the UW School of Drama's executive director Sarah Nash Gates because, after 30 years working in the department, she will retire at the end of this season. As executive director she has played an instrumental role in the play selection process each season. Last spring she helped choose Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound as the season opener to spotlight the keen comedic acting talents of many of the third?year UW Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) students.