BUILD Runs Now thru 2/22 at City Lights Theater Company
Meet the current hotshots in video game design. Will is the Ferrari- driving office hound; Kip works from home in a bathrobe and a three-day beard. Together, they're working on the sequel to their virally popular game. But Kip is more interested in the creative potential of his game engine, and in the female Artificial Intelligence he developed on the sly. Never mind that this sexy and insightful A.I. looks just like his late wife.
Set in Palo Alto, Build tells the story of this high-tech trio while exploring the conflicting perceptions of engineering as art, and engineering as business-and the notion that love is the code that makes sense of it all. The show runs today, Jan. 22-Feb. 22 at City Lights Theater Company, 529 S. Second St., downtown San Jose. This is the play's Northern California premiere.
Build, which the Huffington Post has called "bizarre and innovative," is the brainchild of playwright Michael Golamco, a Los Angeles writer for the fantastical TV cop drama Grimm. Golamco also writes for film, and his other plays include Year Zero and Cowboy Versus Samurai. He is available for interviews. Originally written under commission from actors Joel de la Fuente (Law & Order: SVU) and Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Build premiered in 2012 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, directed by Will Frears.
This new production brings together an array of local talent, starring City Lights veterans George Psarras (the title role in Amadeus), Max Tachis (Truce: A Christmas Wish from the Great War), and Morgan Voellger (The Smell of the Kill).
Director Lisa Mallette is City Lights' longtime Executive Artistic Director. She has directed many City Lights shows, including Amadeus, the world-premiere production of Spacebar: A Broadway Play by Kyle Sugarman, The Rocky Horror Show, Rent, First Person Shooter, The Full Monty, Distracted, and Hair. She has appeared on stage in August: Osage County, Dead Man Walking, last season's The Language Archive, and many others. Mallette, a Peninsula resident and San Francisco native, is a recipient of the 2014 Silicon Valley Creates Artist Laureate Award.
Cast: George Psarras*, Max Tachis, Morgan Voellger. *Member, Actors' Equity Association
Designers: Ron Gasparinetti (Scenic), Pat Tyler (Costumes), Nick Kumamoto (Lighting and Video), George Psarras (Sound), and Christina Sturken (Props).
Sponsors and Supporters: These include Silicon Valley Creates, Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and many other individuals, corporations, and foundations.
In addition, the Tech Museum is City Lights' nonprofit partner for Build; City Lights will donate a portion of ticket proceeds to the organization, and the Tech is creating a display for the theater's back wall.
City Lights' 2014-15 season continues in March with M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang. After that: Exit, Pursued By A Bear (South Bay Premiere) by Lauren Gunderson, and West Side Story, by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim. For more information, go to cltc.org.
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