Azuka Theatre Presents I LOVE YOU, I HATE YOU, Opens 2/9

Azuka Theatre continues its 10th Anniversary Season with its second Azuka Lounge of the season. Geared toward audiences with an eye for a little levity and something other than Cupid's arrows around Valentine's Day, the third annual "I Love You, I Hate You" Azuka Lounge brings a group of local actors together to perform melodramatic readings from City Paper's weekly "I Love You, I Hate You" column. The Happy Hour will be Tuesday, February 9 from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. on the Upstairs Dance Floor at Woody's Bar and Restaurant, 202 S. 13th Street. Tickets cost $10, and include free appetizers and drink specials.

This annual Anti-Valentine's Day Valentine, brings together some of Philadelphia's funniest actors to perform a year's worth of the best and worst of the venerable City Paper column, where people profess their love and their hate for others and their city in a very public fashion.

The cast for the "I Love You, I Hate You" includes: Amanda Schoonover, Janice Rowland, Mike Dees, Buck Schirner, MaryLee Bednarek, Bi Jean Ngo, Kristy Chouiniere, Keith Conallen, Joe Mallon, Steven Wright, Delante G. Keys and Charlie DelMarcelle.

The proceeds from the Happy Hour will go to benefit Azuka's upcoming Philadelphia premiere of Nerve. In Nerve, a man and a woman meet for a first date after getting to know each other online. With a wise-cracking puppet and moments of interpretive dance, Adam Szymkowicz's wickedly funny work allows audiences eavesdrop on the Early Stages of a relationship that may or may not end up being the real thing.

Company History
Azuka Theatre was founded in 1999 by group of artists participating in the Arden Theatre Company's nationally recognized Professional Apprentice Program. Azuka Theatre quickly built a reputation for accessible, thought-provoking and socially minded theatre. Over the past nine seasons, Azuka Theatre has produced eighteen plays, including seven world premiers, received a Lambda Award from The Philadelphia Gay News and been nominated for multiple Barrymore Awards, winning last year for Best Actress in a Musical: Kim Carson in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Azuka Theatre has been hailed as "a company to watch" and a "major player on the Philadelphia alterNative Theatre scene," by the Philadelphia Weekly.