Brava Theatre Presents RELUCTANT, 10/18-11/13

Brava Theater is proud to present the West Coast Premiere of Reluctant, created and performed by Joel Israel with music landscape designed by Mark Valadez.  Singaporean New York based director Meiyin Wang takes on this multi-disciplinary work.  Part radio play, part thriller, Reluctant runs October 23 through November 13, 2010 (press opening, Monday, October 25) at Brava Theater in San Francisco's historic Mission District. For tickets ($15-35) and information, the public can call the Brava box office at 415-647-2822 or visit www.brava.org.
 
Reluctant is the story of one man's imagination. Utilizing multilayered soundscapes and the effortlessness of great story telling, the piece encompasses the energy of the noir aesthetic on stage. In near darkness the audience is drawn into the imaginative realm, blending stories of ordinary people at the edge of sanity.  From supernatural tales of love-sick pirate princes to dark molting angels, the characters encountered are a race of discarded hoi polloi, including the story teller himself.  Creator/Performer Joel Israel spikes the narrative with fairytales injected with a sense of familiar interactions with strangers.
 
Each performance will feature a different local female guest in the production that will be having an improve conversation with the main character.   The interactive performances enhance the tale, allowing an audience to repeat the experience and discover new moments that had been missed on initial view.  Though the language is the same each performance - demographic of the actor, age, background informs Reluctant differently each time. Reluctant asks, 'Is fantasy our genuine reality?', 'Is reality false?' and ultimately, 'what is Reality?'
 
When asked about the piece, Meiyin Wang said, "The piece channels our modern day anxieties and fear of loneliness, inexplicable lack of control, self medication and tele-marketing", she continues, "the piece is part performance art, part radio play, and part Twilight Zone on speed."
 
Brava Theater Artistic Director Raelle Myrick-Hodges adds, "The play is startling, surprisingly scary yet engrossingly subtle in its narrative. It is a pleasure to produce the west coast premiere of Reluctant and I think the best Halloween event to check out in San Francisco. Hands down! I think its imperative for Brava to support women that choose projects that are not 'normal female projects'. Women don't just have to do 'emotional' plays. This project shows the depth of director Meiyin Wang."
 
Brava Theater will be having performances late night on weekends as well as 8pm performances on Thursday and Sundays. "Our intention at Brava is to allow the Bay Area to discover theater, not simply designate the traditional theater sentiment of how to go to the theater.  I love late night shows and this seems like the perfect play and the perfect time of year to have 10 pm performances." says Raelle.
 

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