Luna Theater Co Closes Season With Sarah Kane’s Blasted

Luna Theater Company is set to take audiences into a quaint hotel room in a war-torn land as it closes its season with the Philadelphia Premiere of a dark modern classic. The company is mounting Sarah Kane's brutally nightmarish Blasted from February 10- March 5 at the new "UPstairs at the Adrienne", 2030 Sansom Street. Tickets are $12.50-$32.00, on sale now, and are available at www.lunatheater.org or by calling the theatre at 215-704-0033.

Already labeled a modern classic, Blasted is a dark, complex work of theatre where Ian, a middle-aged journalist and a troubled, innocent young woman named Cate meet in a hotel room in Northern England. As bombs go off and soldiers fight outside, they circle each other in a battle of wills and when an armed soldier enters the room, Kane takes audiences through a nightmarish journey that serves as a vicious reminder that violence outside will always find a way through the door.

Blasted, critically attacked when it premiered in 1995, went on to become a classic piece of modern theatre that was praised by fellow playwrights Harold Pinter, and Caryl Churchill. When it was remounted in 2001, critics gave it another look and saw the humanity and empathy in Kane's violent piece. It is a piece of theatre that begs an audience to decide if they are brave enough to join Kane on the journey.

Said The New York Times, "Blasted is an extraordinary act of empathy, an imagining of how people could reach the point where they behave like participants in Bosnian war crimes. Ms. Kane's chilling contention is that it's not such a stretch for any of us."

Sarah Kane committed suicide in 1999. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture - both physical and psychological - and death. Her work is characterized by poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of extreme and violent stage action. Kane herself, as well as scholars of her work, such as Graham Saunders, identify some of her inspirations as expressionist theatre and Jacobean tragedy. Critics, including Aleks Sierz, have seen her work as part of what Sierz calls the In-Yer-Face style of theatre, a form of drama which broke away from the conventions of naturalist theatre. Kane's published work consists of five plays, one short film, Skin, and two newspaper articles for The Guardian.

It took Director Gregory Scott Campbell a long journey to come to produce this controversial work. Three years ago, he read the piece on the insistence of a respected contemporary who said he was the only director in town to do it. Campbell read it, and was pretty shocked by the content. He shelved it, and thought he would never produce it. Two years ago, he picked up the script again. Still, he was shocked by the content and put it away.

Finally, last year, he picked up the script again. This time, he recognized that he was being haunted by the text and set out to attempt a reading of the piece. He decided to hold auditions for the reading and discovered that many actors were turning down the opportunity after reading the script the first time. In the end, he cancelled the reading and invited the actors left a chance to audition in the future. Campbell had decided to produce the piece.

"I am not sure what changed," said Campbell. "Had the violence in the play that some had described as ‘re-sensitizing people to violence,' become de-sensitized by my constant readings? Maybe. What I was able to do was focus on the ‘brutal poetry' of the text. And it was at this point that I fell in love with the play. While the themes of the play are undeniable (man's inhumanity to man, anti-war), I was most attracted to the relationships of these three lost souls looking for connections."

"Now, as we are approaching the finish-line of our rehearsal process, the thought that the audience will not have had the luxury to have read the play six times over a three-year period has crossed my mind more than once. Yes, they could share my initial reaction to the play. I still expect those that are game enough, will never forget the experience. While this may not be a play to ‘enjoy' in the traditional sense of the word, it is a play that touches on so many important issues. In the end, it is a play about the struggle for existence in a sometimes cruel world," finishEd Campbell.

John Jezior appears as Ian. He was most recently seen by local audiences in Love and Communication at Passage Theater in Trenton, NJ. Haley McCormick, a recent graduate from the University of the Arts, is playing Cate. She appeared in Theatre rEvolution's productions of This is Our Youth and The Shape of Things and just finished an apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Jerry Rudasill plays the soldier. This marks his first Luna show, he has appeared in shows for Curio Theatre Company, Plays and Players and Iron Age Theatre.

Luna Theater Producing Artistic Director Gregory Scott Campbell directs this premiere. Dirk Durossette is designing the set creating the war torn world and hotel room of the play. Alison Johnson is designing the costumes and Andrew Cowles is creating the lighting. Michael Kiley is designing sound. Michael Cosenza is choreographing the fights.

About Luna Theater Company

Luna Theater Company is dedicated to producing intimate, intelligent, and intense work that delves into the human psyche. We seek to become the destination for today's provocative voices, which share our aesthetic for the darkly tragic-comic.

BLASTED
by Sarah Kane

FACT SHEET

Cast

*John Jezior Ian
Haley McCormick Cate
Jerry Rudasill Soldier

Creative Team

Sarah Kane Playwright
Gregory Scott Campbell Director
Michael Durkin Assistant Director
Mark Jesse Swanson Stage Manager Caitlin Reed Assist. Stage Manager Dirk Durossette Scenic Design
Andrew Cowles Lighting Design
Michael Kiley Sound Design
Alison Johnson Costume Design
Michael Cosenza Fight Director
Tom Fusco Scenic Construction
Neill Hartley Dialect Coaching

 

*Member of Actors Equity Association; the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Performance Schedule (February 6 - March 5, 2011)

Previews

Sunday, February 6, 2:00pm
Tuesday, February 8, 6:30pm
Wednesday, February 9, 6:30pm

Regular Run

Opening Night - Thursday, February 10, 6:30pm (Press Night)

Friday, February 11, 7:30pm
Saturday, February 12, 7:30pm

Sunday, February 13, 2:00pm (TALK-BACK)

Thursday, February 17, 6:30pm
Friday, February 18, 7:30pm
Saturday, February 19, 7:30pm
Sunday, February 20, 6:30pm

Thursday, February 24, 6:30pm
Friday, February 25, 7:30pm
Saturday, February 26, 7:30pm
Sunday, February 27, 6:30pm

Thursday, March 3, 6:30pm
Friday, March 4, 7:30pm
Saturday, March 5, 7:30pm

FINIS
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