Árpád Schilling's Collaboration With The Imaginists Will Debut at Z Space in May

S D A (Someone Dies Again) explores the American right to own a gun (aka 'bear arms') and the ensuing ripple of consequences, complications and ironies that flow from that; following the 7 SF performances at Z Space the production will move back to the company's home-base in Santa Rosa for 6 more performances.

San Francisco: May 19 (preview), 20 (premiere), 21, 25, 26, 27, and 28; all shows at 8 pm; sliding scale tickets $15-$45 (preview) and $25-$55 (premiere, shows); all seats general admission. Tickets go on sale May 1, 2022 at zspace.org

Santa Rosa: June 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11; all shows at 8 pm; sliding scale tickets $15-$50 (all shows); all seats general admission. Tickets go on sale May 1, 2022 at theimaginists.org


San Francisco, CA, April 19, 2022 - Santa Rosa's The Imaginists theater company and internationally acclaimed Hungarian director Árpád Schilling are coming together to collaborate on an original theater piece entitled S D A (Someone Dies Again).

The United States leads the world in gun ownership rates, which perhaps is not surprising as the right to own one (aka the right to bear arms) is guaranteed by the constitution. Over time it has come to be understood as a "right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property."

And it is this idea the forms the basis for the play as it looks at gun ownership and the ensuing ripple of consequences, complications and ironies that flow from that. Hungarian director Árpád Schilling with his outsider's eye has been working with the company on S D A (Someone Dies Again)-a recipient of a Hewlett 50 Arts Commission-to examine the central role of guns and gun violence in contemporary American society.

Audiences can expect an experience-one that at times will employ dark and/or surreal humor to explore not only "the gun" and America's preoccupation with it, but also our relationships, our problems with one another and ourselves. There is a truism in theater that if you put a gun on a mantlepiece in the first act, it needs to go off at some point. So it is perhaps with culture at large. If the gun is present should we find it surprising if it finds a way to go off? And what of the irony that a right designed to protect liberty is so often used to violate it?

Knowing the answers to all these things are complicated, Schilling and his collaborators have been "building" the play for some months through a process of improvisations, questions, discussions, tasks, and research, with everyone in the ensemble involved. The finished play will finally see the light of day when it debuts at Z Space in San Francisco with 7 performances before the production heads back to Santa Rosa for 6 more in June. The new work will highlight a shared artistic sensibility that prizes risk-taking, experimentation, and theater as instigation and provocation.

"I'm a theater director, but I'm ultimately interested in everything that connects us humans in coexistence, community, and society," said Schilling. "Art gives us room and the freedom to think and express ourselves, and social activism helps us to get to know the actual makeup of reality and our relationship to one another. Everything that I've learned during my professional career in Europe can now be tested in the U.S. This is a special moment in my life and not only in a professional sense. I am honored to be invited to collaborate in the United States by such dedicated artists as the Imaginists."

For their part, the Imaginists are thrilled to finally to be at the point where both the collaboration and the play itself will be made manifest. "We are incredibly excited to be working with Árpád whose brilliant and deeply committed work has touched us profoundly and with whom we share an especially strong affinity for creating in community," said Imaginists Artistic Director Amy Pinto. "This is a collaboration years in the making, and one that has faced many seemingly insurmountable obstacles, not least the global pandemic. It is also an especially critical moment, with the war in Ukraine unfolding, to be having dialogue about the escalation of violence globally. We're especially proud to be developing this project here in Sonoma County with our Santa Rosa community."

Ensemble Cast: Alex Bravo, Amy Pinto, Brent Lindsay, David Roby, Emma Attwood, John Craven, John Most, Karina Pugh, Stephen K. Patterson, Tessa Rissacher, Yareny Fuentes Jara and Zahira Diaz