San Diego REPertory Theatre Presents BOOM, Previews 1/9/2010

Celebrate the beginning of a new year and the end of the world as we know it - as SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE presents boom. Written by PETER SINN NACHTRIEB, this darkly funny comedy tells the story of a marine biologist and his hard-edged female companion (who he met online!) as they prepare for the apocalypse. Directed by REP Artistic Director Sam WoodHOUSE, boom is a madcap comedy that suggests hope is worth holding on to precisely because we don't know what will happen next. A dynamite cast has been assembled for boom, including STEVEN LONE as the strange, but loveable marine biologist Jules; RACHAEL VANWORMER as his less-than-romantic counterpart Jo and SYLVIA M'LAFI THOMPSON as Barbara, the audience's tour guide through the duo's cataclysmic adventure. Performances begin in previews Saturday, January 9, 2010, with an Opening Night on Friday, January 15 at 8pm and continue through January 31, 2010 at The Lyceum Theatre.

boom
When: January 9 - 31, 2010
Opening Night/Press Night: Friday, January 15, 2010 at 8pm
Where: The Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza
Previews Schedule: Sat 8pm, Sun 7pm, Tue 7pm, Wed 7pm and Thu 8pm
Regular Performance Schedule:
Wednesday 7pm
Thursday 8pm
Friday 8pm
Saturday 2pm (on January 23 only) and 8pm
Sunday, Jan 17 2pm
Sunday, Jan 24 7pm
Sunday, Jan 31 2pm and 7pm
Tickets: $29-47 (Student Discount $18)
Lyceum Box Office (619) 544-1000
www.sdrep.org
Tickets on sale now!
Photos: Publicity photos of boom are available at http://www.sdrep.org/media.aspx

The Story
Twenty-something marine biologist Jules has turned his apartment into an underground lab and bunker to survive the end of life on earth as we know it. Dead sure that a comet is due to hit the planet in fewer than ten minutes, Jules has a plan to repopulate the human race-he's invited journalist-in-training Jo over for a hookup that promises "sex to change the world." But Jo, "an appealingly ferocious feminist," has no intention of being stuck underground with a geeky madman for a doomsday dating game. So begins a sensational twist on the bedroom farce that is an uproariously funny mix of smarts, sex and social satire.

Bios
RACHAEL VANWORMER (Jo) San Diego Repertory Theatre: Debut. New Village Arts: Be Aggressive, This Is Our Youth, The Playboy of the Western World, The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Moxie Theatre: The Sugar Syndrome, The Listener; ion Theatre: In a Dark Dark House, Bash; Moonlight: You Never Can Tell; North Coast Rep: A Christmas Carol; Cygnet Theatre: Arcadia, The Matchmaker, The Little Foxes, Curse of the Starving Class; Diversionary Theatre: Corpus Christi, Beautiful Thing; Playwrights Project WINS! Tour: The Best Mistake, Lifted; Fritz Theatre: Viburnum; Poor Players: Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra.

STEVEN LONE (Jules) is thrilled to be performing in his first show with The Rep. Favorite recent credits include; Cradeau in No Exit with Diversionary Theatre, John in The Listener with Moxie Theatre, and Nicolas in La Gaviota with Ion Theatre Company, where he is a proud and willing resident artist. Steven would like to give much love and appreciation to his ego-supporting friends and to Petra for her inextinguishable inspiration.

SYLVIA M'LAFI THOMPSON (Barbara) is proud to have received the 2009 Craig Noel/San Diego Critics Circle and Patte Awards for her role as Rose in August Wilsons "Fences" produced by the San Diego Black Ensemble and Cygnet Theatre. She also received the 2007 NAACP - Hollywood Theatre Excellence Award for Best Supporting Actress in Intimate Apparel at the San Diego REPertory Theatre. Thompson has been seen in numerous productions in theatres across San Diego. Including: A Raisin In the Sun, Before It Hits Home, Vagina Monologues, Joe Turner's Come and Gone and many more. She also received the San Diego Playbill 2005 "Billie Award" for her portrayal of Teiresias in Dr. MariAnne McDonald's adaptation of the Greek classic Antigone. A native of Chicago and long time resident of San Diego, some of MS. Thompson's theatre credits include Dog Act, Moxie Theatre; A Raisin In the Sun, Before It Hits Home, Fences, One Hundred Thousand Dollar Mulatto, Vagina Monologues, Lyceum Theatre; The Haunting of Jim Crow, Museum of Contemporary Art; Othello, San Diego Women's Repertory Theatre; Gospel at Colonus, St. Paul's Cathedral, Antigone, 6th @ Penn Theatre, Nuevo California, A Street Car Named Desire, Flyin' West, A Christmas Carol, San Diego REPertory Theatre; Going to St. Ives, La Jolla Playhouse; and Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Old Globe Theatre. MS. Thompson has received the Los Angeles Dramalogue award for best actress for her roles in Boesman and Lena and Stories About The Old Days. Her most recent film credits include a NCAA/Pepsi commercial, Obama for President commercial and can also be seen in the movie "A Day Without A Mexican."

PETER SINN NACHTRIEB (Playwright) is a San Francisco-based playwright whose works include T.I.C. Trenchcoat in Common, boom, Hunter Gatherers, Colorado, Meaningless, and The Amorphous Blob. Hunter Gatherers received the 2007 American Theatre Critics Association/Steinberg New Play Award for best new play to premiere outside of New York and the 2007 Will Glickman Prize for best new play in the Bay Area. His work has been seen off Broadway and across the country at Ars Nova, SPF, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Seattle Rep, Cleveland Public Theatre, Brown/Trinity Playwrights Rep, the Bailiwick Theatre, Wellfleet Harbor Actor's Theatre, Dad's Garage, and the Magic Theatre, Encore Theatre Company, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Killing My Lobster, Playground and Impact Theatre in the Bay Area. He is currently under commission from South Coast Rep and is a 2008 Resident Playwright at the Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco. Peter holds a degree in Theater and Biology from Brown and an MFA in Creative Writing.

Sam WoodHOUSE (Director) co-founded San Diego REPertory Theatre with D.W. Jacobs in 1976, and has since served as its producing and artistic director. He has worked as a director, producer and actor on more than 150 REP productions. He has performed as an actor on the REP stages in the title role of King Lear, Proof, Hamlet, K2, Beyond Therapy, as Elvis in Are You Lonesome Tonight? and with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in the title role of Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat. In 2003, he was awarded the Patté Shiley Award for Lifetime Achievement by KPBS and the prestigious Alonzo Award by the Downtown San Diego Partnership. In January 2006, he and Jacobs were honored with the Craig Noel Award by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for 30 years of artistic dedication to downtown and diversity.
Boom Surround Events
Don't miss out on these explosive boom inspired events! Admission to the following surround events is free, but guests are encouraged to purchase a ticket and stay to see the show!

Comet Cuisine with Dr. Phil
Saturday, January 9 @ 7pm
(prior to the 8pm show)
What are comets made of? Where do they come from? What happens when a comet collides with a planet? Dr. Philip Blanco, lecturer in astronomy at Grossmont College and coordinator for the San Diego Project ASTRO education program, will give us the inside scoop on our latest knowledge of the composition and origins of comets, and will attempt to make a model comet right on the stage!

The Birth of the Universe in Physics and Mythology
Sunday, January 10 (after the 7pm show)
What happened in the first billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second after the universe was formed? A fascinating post-show discussion with two eminent figures, astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr. Brian Keating from UCSD's Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, and Professor William Propp, one the most popular scholars of the Hebrew Bible and Near Eastern literature. Best known for his commentary on Exodus, published in the Anchor Bible series, Propp has been a member of the UCSD Judaic Studies faculty since 1983. Keating, who received the PresidentiAl White House
Science Award, is one of the leaders of a collaboration building a telescope and observatory, called POLARBEAR, that allowing physicists for the first time to measure the "gravitational waves" that emanated from the universe during the first moments of its creation.

Give Blood, Give Life
Wednesday, January 13, 12-5:30pm, Broadway Circle
Christmas is coming up. Why not give the gift of life? An American Red Cross bloodmobile will be stationed at Horton Plaza from 12 noon to 5:30pm in front of the Arts Tix booth on Broadway Circle (at 3rd Avenue). The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families.
The Red Cross is a charitable organization- not a government agency-and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. Come by for a chance to help save a life and pick up some REP goodies! Please eat a meal one hour prior to donating and drink plenty of water. Don't forget to tell your friends who live or work downtown!

If a Comet Hit the Earth Tomorrow...
Wednesday, January 13 @ 6pm
(prior to the 7pm show)
...would you be prepared enough to survive? Join the American Red Cross-San
Diego/Imperial Counties, The County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services, and 211
San Diego, the region's primary sources for community, health and disaster information, in a special disaster preparedness information session. The Red Cross will lead a 30-minute presentation beginning at 6:15pm, which includes an overview of disaster risks in San Diego County, how to develop an emergency plan, what to include in an emergency kit, and how to stay informed.

Talkin' Theatre with Todd (post-show)
Thursday, January 14 (after the 8pm show)
Great actors are versatile, passionate, expressive. Great acting is inspiring, riveting, sometimes terrifying! How do actors make their magic night after night and how do they make a living? Join Associate Artistic Director (and acting teacher) Todd Salovey for an intimate discussion of the acting craft with the boom cast. Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson has won numerous awards in a prolific career that has included memorable roles in Fences, Intimate Apparel, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Steven Lone has dazzled audiences with numerous leads at Ion Theatre. Rachael VanWormer seems to be on every San Diego stage cementing her reputation as our city's most gifted ingénue. After the play, stay for this chat with the stars.

Meet the Artists
Wednesday, January 20 (after to the 7pm show)
Stick around after the performance for a revealing and unpredictable conversation with the cast of boom and REP resident artists.

Sam's Salon: Witnesses To History
Thursday, January 21 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)
A select few newscasters have shouldered the responsibility of reporting for decades some of the most important world and local events to San Diegans-September 11, the Persian Gulf and Iraq Wars, the Rodney King Civil Rights trial, the Northridge Earthquake, numerous wildfires and much more. Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse hosts a provocative conversation with two local news legends, both multiple Emmy award winners, who have much to say about their personal experiences reporting from the front lines of life-altering events. Sam hosts 40-year veteran Ha l Clement, news anchor for 10News, and Susan Taylor, local NBC 7/39 news anchor, for a revealing presentation about the challenges and rewards of reporting the biggest stories of our lifetimes.

Friday, January 22 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)
boom, boom, BOOM! (+ mingle@theREP)
Percussion plays a subtle but important role in boom. Come learn the art of drumming by playing the djembe, the West African drum featured in the 2007 award-winning film "The Visitor." Ali
Thomas, a certified teacher from Tam Tam Mandingue USA, will lead a pre-show playshop demonstrating sounds and rhythms on this important cultural instrument. Tam Tam Mandingue USA (TTM USA) is a school of West African drumming dedicated to preserve and transmit Mandingue musical tradition as a tool to promote tolerance, understanding, equality and international peace. Visit ttmusa.org for more information.
This night only: stay for the performance and get two free drinks for only $25! Use promo code MING when ordering tickets.
Meet the artists: Stick around after the performance for a revealing and unpredictable conversation with the cast of boom and REP resident artists.

Surviving in the Wilderness
Thursday, January 28 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)
Tom Beasley (along with Susan Conniry) of Ready or Not Survival Disaster Survival has created the urban disaster survival training program, the "Travelin' Road Show." Because emergency services personnel are often understaffed and under-budgeted, Tom's approach adapts wilderness skills to an urban environment, allowing communities to take care of themselves. Tom demonstrates that by utilizing simple methods, anyone can create a safe haven in their office, school, home or vehicle, anywhere, any environment. Don't panic, be prepared!

Coming up next at the REP ~ America's premier Latino comedy troupe Culture Clash returns to the Lyceum Theatre February 18- March 7, 2010 with Culture Clash IN AMERICCA, an astonishing portrait of America in the 21st t century, including some new San Diego-specific material. From March 21 - April 11, 2010, the REP will present the workshop production of A WEEKEND WITH PABLO PICASSO, Herbert Siguenza's new one-man show which pays homage to one of the greatest and most controversial artists of the 20th century.

The REP's box office is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12pm - 6pm on non-performance days and 12pm - curtain on performance days. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets at a discounted rate. For more information, please see our website at www.sdrep.org.
Subscriptions run $68-$282. The REP offers subscribers an extensive package of benefits, including the lowest prices available; free ticket exchange privileges; discounts on individual tickets; and the opportunity to upgrade to a Premier Patron Package which features seating in the best 75 seats in each theatre venue. Premier Patron seating also offers an additional voucher for a friend and free drink coupons for the season.

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