Burning Coal Announces A Staged Reading Of OIL ON THE WATER 10/4

Burning Coal will present a staged reading of Chris Cragin's new play, The River Nun, directed by Tea Alagic, on Monday, October 4, 2010 at 7 pm. The reading will be held at Burning Coal Theatre at the Murphey School (NOTE VENUE NAME CHANGE), 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC. Admission is FREE with suggested $5 donation at the door. Further details can be obtained by calling 919-834-4001 or visiting our website at www.burningcoal.org.

ABOUT THE RIVER NUN
While the entire village attends a masquerade, Lysa, a Niger Delta fisherwoman, sits alone in her boat, determined to catch a fish. But the loud rumble of the gas flaring and the toxic fumes from the oil-polluted water have left the water barren. Enraged and reckless, Lysa abruptly ends the music and dancing by donning the mask of her dead father and, in disguise, cursing the villagers for celebrating while the oil company continues to devastate their livelihood. She returns home to find two women prepared to join her in standing against the oil giant once and for all.

ABOUT CHRIS CRAGIN
Chris Cragin earned her MFA in Stage Directing from Baylor University, where she found her true artistic passion, playwriting. Since, she has written seven full length plays including: The River Nun (Public Theater EWG Spotlight reading), A War in a Manger (commissioned by Art Within Theatre in Atlanta), Emily (Firebone Theatre, NYC in 2009, Acacia Theatre, Milwaukee 2008, and workshopped at Pacific Theatre Vancouver, 2007), Deadheading Roses (Firebone Theatre, Acacia Theatre, and published by Original Works Publishing), Debutantes Anonymous (workshopped at The Lamb's Theatre NYC), Love and Money (Nuyorican Poets Cafe), and Lady of the Dunes. She is currently writing the book to a musical, Son of a Khrusty (NDNW Drama League Fellowship Awardee). She and her husband, Steve Day, provide the artistic and managerial direction for their company, Firebone Theatre (www.firebonetheatre.com). Chris currently serves as the lead scriptwriter and story editor for Vertical Learning Curve. (www.vlcglobal.com). Chris is also an actress and director. She appeared at Burning Coal in The Steward of Christendom in 1999.

ABOUT Tea Alagic
Tea is an internationally acclaimed theater artist with experience working in Croatian, Czech, and English. She holds a BFA in acting from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, and an MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama where she received the Julian Milton Kaufman Prize in Directing.

The New York Times has called Tea a "director with great zeal."

Her Off-Broadway directing work includes Aliens With Extraordinary Skills by Saviana Stanescu (Woman's Project, NYC), The Brothers Size by Tarell McCraney (Under the Radar Festival, and the world premiere at The Public Theater in NYC, The Studio Theater in Washington DC, and The Abbey Theater in Dublin), and Binibon, by Jack Womack with music by Elliot Sharp (The Kitchen, NYC).

Tea's regional credits include Zero Hour, which Tea wrote and directed in a personal exploration of the impact of the Balkan war (Yale University Theater, CT), Speaking Our Mind by eight young playwrights (part of the Carlotta Festival at Yale's New Theater, CT), The Donny Hathaway Story by Kenneth Robinson (Yale Cabaret, CT), Marcus Brutus by Tea Alagic, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Chiang Kai Chek by Charles Mee (Yale Cabaret, CT). She directed Woyzek by George Buchner, Self-Accusation by Peter Handke, Preparadise Sorry Now by Rainer Werner Fassbiner, and Baal by Bertold Brecht while she was Associate Artistic Director of The Ensemble Company for the Performing Arts (ECPA.)

Her directing work at New York City universities includes: Laughing Pictures: A Hollywood Odyssey by Matthew Maguire and Daniel Levy (Fordham University, NYC), St. Joan by Bernard Shaw, (Main Stage, NYU), and The Babbel Project (written as well as directed; NYU, Experimental Theatre Workshop).

International directing work includes The Marriage of Maria Braun by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (ZKM, Croatia), Events with Life's Leftovers by Alberto Villarreal Diaz (Mexico City, Dramafest), and The Filament Cycle written and directed (BAC London, Potsdam Festival, 4+4 Festival in Movement, Prague, Philadelphia Fringe Festival).

Tea, a native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, lives in NYC.

For further information, please contact Burning Coal's managing director, Simmie Kastner, at 919.834.4001 or visit our website at www.burningcoal.org.

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