POOKIE GOES GRENADING and More Headline Azuka Theatre's 13th Season

Azuka Theatre's 13th Season continues the company's tradition of introducing thought-provoking new works to the region. This season will include two World Premieres and one East Coast Premiere. Their first and third shows will be performed at the Off-Broad Street Theater at First Baptist Church, 1636 Sansom Street. Their second show will be at the Dorrance H. Hamilton Garden at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Ticket and subscription information is available online at azukatheatre.org.

The season will open with the World Premiere of J.C. Lee's provocative Pookie Goes Grenading (October 31-November 18, Opening Night Saturday, November 3 at 7 p.m.). This hilarious new work tells the story of Pookie, her gang of high school misfits and their quest to make the most awesome movie ever. A rising voice in American theatre, Lee is a recent graduate of The Julliard School, a NNPN Playwright in Residence at the Marin Theatre Company and a recent writing fellow at The Playwrights Realm. His plays have been seen/staged/developed throughout the United States including South Coast Repertory, The Magic Theatre, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Wordsmyth Theatre, Sleepwalkers Theatre, Crowded Fire Theatre Company, and many others.

In the Spring, Azuka continues its season of premieres with the World Premiere of Everyone and I by Philadelphia playwright Elizabeth Scanlon. In partnership with the American Poetry Review and co-produced by the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts 2013, the show runs March 28 – April 7, 2013 (Opening Night, March 28, 7 p.m.). The theme of the festival is "If you had a time machine…" so this piece will focus on July 15, 1959 – the day Billie Holiday died. Using Frank O'Hara's elegiac love letter, The Day Lady Died as a starting point the play will take a look at the similarities and differences between these two towering figures of 20th Century culture.

Azuka's season will conclude with their second New Professionals Production. Each season, Azuka is devoting one production to focus on new professional actors and designers. With this production, these artists are mentored, introduced to the community, and given their first professional credit. For this production, Azuka is staging the East Coast Premiere of Phillip Dawkin's Failure: A Love Story, running May 8 – 26, 2013 (Opening Night, Saturday, May 11, 7 p.m.) at the Off-Broad Street Theater. Philip Dawkins is a Chicago playwright and educator. His play Yes To Everything! has been performed in Chicago, California, DC, New York, and Arkansas. Other plays include: You Gonna Eat That? (Healthworks), Ugly Baby (Chicago Vanguard / Strawdog Theatre Company), A Still Life in Color (T.U.T.A. Company), The Man with a Shattered World (Ethington Theatre), Saguaro (Estrogen Fest, Chicago; Estrogenius Festival, NY; 16th Street Theatre, Berwyn, Illinois; Painted Filly, Dublin); Perfect (The Side Project, Chicago), and Cast of Characters (Theatre III, Long Island), Dead Letter Office (Dog and Pony Theatre Co.), and The Homosexuals (About Face Theater). Mr. Dawkins is a Fellow of Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers in Scotland and was a fall 2009 Playwright in Residence at the William Inge Arts Center. He is a founding member with Eric C. Reda of Chicago Opera Vanguard, and he teaches playwriting at Northwestern University and Victory Gardens.

"This is shaping up to be an amazing year for Azuka," says Producing Artistic Director Kevin Glaccum. "All three of these shows highlight the stories of people slightly off the beaten path, which is our specialty. We take a look at unconventional heroes and catch a glimpse of ourselves in the process. Azuka has established itself as the go-to place for these types of stories; ones that are as thought-provoking as they are whimsical."

Azuka's season will also include free readings in their annual Spotlight Series and their annual I Love You, I Hate You happy hour on February 11 at Chris' Jazz Café.

Season at a Glance

World Premiere!
Pookie Goes Grenading
By J.C. Lee
Directed by Kevin Glaccum

Off-Broad Street Theater | 1636 Sansom Street

October 31 – November 18, 2012, Opening Night, November 3rd at 7 p.m.

Pookie and her teenage gang of high school misfits are determined to make their movie a reality - even if it takes blowing up police stations, burning down their auditorium and kidnapping their guidance counselor to make it happen. Once they become the center of a national terrorist manhunt, there's no telling how far they'll go in the name of art. Sometimes we have to make our art, no matter the cost of the donuts. Watch out New Jersey... Vive la Pookie!

World Premiere!
Everyone and I
By Elizabeth Scanlon
Directed by Kevin Glaccum

Kimmel Center | Dorrance H. Hamilton Garden | 260 S. Broad Street

March 28 – April 7, 2013, Opening Night, Thursday March 28, 7 p.m.

July 17, 1959: Billie Holiday dies and soon after Frank O'Hara pens one of his most beloved poems - an intersection of elegy and love letter - "The Day Lady Died." Co-produced by the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) and in partnership with The American Poetry Review, Azuka is creating a new work based on this poem, the character of this extraordinary man, and his love for the music of Billie Holiday.

New Professionals Production!
East Coast Premiere!
Failure: A Love Story
By Phillip Dawkins
Directed by Allison Heishman

Off-Broad Street Theater | 1636 Sansom Street

May 8 – 26, 2013, Opening Night, Saturday May 11, 7 p.m.

This fantastical fable, set in thriving 1928 Chicago, right when the nation least expected it, follows the three Fail sisters and the one man who falls for each of them and loses them all. Full of music and magic, this play shows us that in the end love is the only thing that matters.

Special Events

I Love You, I Hate You

February 11, 2013
Tickets: $15 Advance/$20 at the door
Chris' Jazz Café | 1421 Sansom Street

The people you LOVE to HATE are back again and better than ever. Azuka puts together the "best of the best and the best of the WORST" from the CityPaper's iconic I Love you/I Hate You column for a ONE NIGHT ONLY melo-dramatic reading with some of the funniest actors in Philadelphia. You won't want to miss this night of Love, Hate and above all Hilarity!

Azuka Theatre was founded in 1999 and quickly built a reputation for accessible, thought-provoking and socially minded theatre. Over the past 12 seasons, Azuka Theatre has produced 27 plays, including 10 world premieres, received a Lambda Award from The Philadelphia Gay News, and been nominated for multiple Barrymore Awards. Barrymore wins include: Christopher Colucci's Sound Design for The Long Christmas Ride Home and Outstanding Leading Actress in a Musical for Kim Carson in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Azuka Theatre is a member of the Off-Broad Street theater consortium.

 

 

 

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