International City Theatre Presents Coble's 'BRIGHT IDEAS' 8/25 - 9/20

International City Theatre presents Bright Ideas, Eric Coble's gleeful, Macbeth-ian black comedy about the nurturing instinct gone haywire. caryn desai [sic] enrolls Heather Corwin, Amie Farrell, Louis Lotorto, Maureen McDonough and Brian Stanton in ICT's little preschool of horrors beginning August 28, with low-priced previews on August 25, 26 and 27.

A recent headline from Bloomberg News announced, "Manhattan Preschools Become Harder to Get Into Than Harvard"; an article in The New York Sun proclaimed, "Preschool Directors Balk at Toddler Resumes"; ABC's Nightline aired a two-part series, "Exclusive: Inside the Cutthroat Preschool Wars"; and the documentary film, Nursery University, tracked five sets of parents as they applied to top New York nursery schools known as feeder schools to top primary schools - which feed into top high schools - which will get you into Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Columbia, and eventual positions of power around the world.

In Bright Ideas, Genevra and Joshua Bradley are the parents of a three-year old who's almost four and still wait-listed to get into Bright Ideas Early Childhood Development Academy - despite the fact they registered him the day he was born. Everyone knows that attending a prestigious preschool is one's ticket to a successful future and shining career; if he doesn't get in, he's doomed to a life of misery. So the fretting couple takes matters into their own hands, with dire and downright Shakespearean results. Macbeth meets MacParenting in this wickedly funny comedy of homicidal proportions. You may never look at pre-school - or pesto - the same way again.

"[Bright Ideas] came out of my own experience, although my lawyers have advised me not to say that," Coble said laughingly in an interview. "After watching myself and friends of mine as parents, when you have this deep love coupled with deep fear - you want absolutely the best for your children. It's about who defines what the best is, and how far you're willing to go."

Eric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and bred on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. Scripts include Natural Selection (2006 Humana Festival), The Dead Guy (published by DPS), Virtual Devotion, Cinderella Confidential, and Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede (all published by Dramatic Publishing). His plays have been produced throughout the U.S, and on four continents including productions at The Kennedy Center, Actors Studio, Playwrights Horizons, Laguna Playhouse, ALLIANCE THEATRE, Cleveland Play House, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Curious Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Stages Repertory, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Actors Alley, and Dobama Theatre. Awards include the AT&T Onstage Award, National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, two TCG Extended Collaboration Grants, Aristophanes Award for Best Off-Broadway Comedy, First Place in the Southwest Festival of New Plays, Heideman Finalist for Actors Theatre Louisville, Best of The catCO Shorts Festival, the Cleveland Arts Prize, andS two Ohio Arts Individual Excellence Awards. Eric is a member of the Cleveland Play House Playwrights Unit, as well as a writer for several nationally broadcast radio programs.

Director caryn desai [sic] has received numerous awards and nominations including LA Weekly, Drama-Logue, Robby, Ovation and NAACP with credits ranging from classics, to new works, to musicals, to original performance pieces. Recent directing credits at ICT: The Sweepers; Five Course Love; The Story; Once on This Island; Dinah Was; A Christmas Carol; Visiting Mr. Green; Raisin; Master Harold... and the boys; Swinging on a Star; Bed and Sofa; Having Our Say; Frankenstein; All I Really Need to Know... Kindergarten; Greetings; Beast on the Moon; Lies and Legends; Tapestry; Jar the Floor; Romance/Romance; Home and A Shayna Maidel. Other credits: A Raisin in the Sun; Shakuntala (also adapted by her); Rashomon; The Importance of Being Earnest; A Piece of My Heart; Joe Turner's Come and Gone; Contradictions (her original work); The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940; Graceland; Lysistrata; Agamemnon; Oedipus; Pvt. Wars; and the world premiere of Instead of Nightmares.

Amie Farrell (Genevra) has worked in NYC at Playwrights Horizons and in L.A. at the Geffen Playhouse, Rubicon Theater, Sierra Rep and LA Shakespeare Festival, where she played Suzanne in Picasso at the Lapin Agile; Audrey in As You Like It; and the title role in Sylvia. She got her start in the mid-West at Missouri Rep, Starlight Theater, Milwaukee Rep and American Theater Company where her credits included Into the Woods (Cinderella); The Threepenny Opera (Polly); and The Music Man with William Kat. She toured the country with Shenandoah Shakespeare, including in Twelfth Night (Maria); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hermia); and Hamlet (Rosencrantz).

Brian Stanton (Joshua) appeared previously at ICT in Is He Dead? (as Chicago); in Tom Dick and Harry (as Tom); and in Charley's Aunt (as Fanny Babs). He most recently appeared at the Mammoth Lakes Art Center in Greater Tuna, playing ten different roles.

Heather Corwin (Lynzie) appeared recently in the West Coast premiere of Garry Marshall's Everybody Say 'Cheese!' at the Falcon. She has performed in regional theaters including Tennessee Repertory Theater; Cleveland Playhouse; Nashville Shakespeare Festival; Mockingbird Public Theater; American Stage; Nashville Children's Theatre and Asolo Theatre. Favorite roles: Antigone; Myra in Hayfever; Phoebe in As You Like It; Mary Ingles in Little House Christmas; Anne Frank in And Then They Came For Me; Dr. Purgon in the Imaginary Invalid; Katherine in Love's Labour's Lost; witch in Macbeth; and Dierdre in I Hate Hamlet.

Louis Lotorto (Ross) was seen at ICT last season in A Nervous Smile. At South Coast Rep: Taking Steps; Hamlet; Cyrano de Bergerac; and as Fred in A Christmas Carol. At A Noise Within: six seasons, including as Camille in A Flea in Her Ear (Ovation nomination); as Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost; the title role in Pericles, Prince of Tyre; both Dromios in The Comedy of Errors; Vince in Buried Child (Garland Award for Best Ensemble). At The Colony Theatre: as Dr. Watson in Sherlock's Last Case; Tom in The Glass Menagerie; Simon in Young Lady from Rwanda; and several characters in the West Coast premiere of Almost, Maine. Regional theater credits: two seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C. (Helen Hayes Award Nominee); four seasons at the California Shakespeare Festival; San Jose Repertory Theatre; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Portland Center Stage; Portland Repertory Theatre; Artists Repertory Theatre; Contemporary American Theatre Festival; and A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle.

Meghan Maureen McDonough (Denise) has worked on stage locally with Jessica Kubzansky at the Theatre at Boston Court in Unfinished American Highwayscapes; in Out Late directed by David Galligan; and in You're on the Air at The Edgemar Center for the Arts. She received the prestigious Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Citation nomination for Best Actress for her role in Stripped at the Circle Theatre. She currently performs stand up with Pretty Funny Women in Los Angeles. She starred in the feature film Dark House directed by Darin Scott; in The Ice Harvest, directed by Harold Ramis; and in the independent feature Dirty Work directed by Bruce Terris.

The Set Designer for Bright Ideas is Stephen Gifford; Lighting Design is by Jared A. Sayeg; Costume Design is by Carin Jacobs; Sound Design is by Bill Georges; Hair and Wig Design is by Anthony Gagliardi; Property Designers are Patty and Gordon Briles; Production Stage Manager is Maya Rodgers; Casting is by Michael Donovan Casting; and Shashin Desai produces for International City Theatre.

International City Theatre is the Resident Professional Theater at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, and the recipient of the Margaret Harford Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle for "Sustained Excellence in Theater."

Bright Ideas runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, August 28 through September 20. Tickets are $32.00 and $37.00 on Thursdays, and $37.00 and $42.00 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, except opening night which is $50.00 and $60.00 and includes a reception with the actors following the performance. Preview performances take place on Tuesday, August 25; Wednesday, August 26; and Thursday, August 27 at 8 pm. Preview tickets are $29.00. International City Theatre is located in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center at 300 E. Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach. For reservations and information, call the ICT Box Office at (562) 436-4610 or go to www.InternationalCityTheatre.org.