Custom Made Theatre Co. Stages Bay Area Premiere of Amy Herzog's BELLEVILLE

Custom Made Theatre Company opens 2017 with the Bay Area Premiere of Belleville, by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog. The thriller is directed by M. Graham Smith. It runs January 4-28 at Custom Made Theatre, 533 Sutter Street in San Francisco.

Young Americans Zack and Abby have the perfect ex-pat life in Paris: a funky bohemian apartment in up-and-coming Belleville; a stable marriage; and Zack's noble mission to fight pediatric AIDS. But when Abby finds Zack at home one afternoon when he's supposed to be at work, the questions and answers that follow shake the foundation of their seemingly beautiful life.

Their relationship is shown in contrast to their Senegalese-born, but younger, landlords, who have struggled their whole lives to have what Abby and Zack take for granted. Belleville is a timely examination of privilege, the lies we tell to keep it at all costs, and the changing view of America overseas. A tense and claustrophobic thriller, Belleville slowly raises the threat of violence until it explodes into a cacophonous and bloody conclusion.

Belleville stars Custom Made regulars Justin Gilman* (Middletown, The Pain & Itch), Alisha Ehrlich (Six Degrees of Separation, The Crucible) and exciting new faces Nkechi Emeruwa (Crowded Fire's The Shipment) and Nick Sweeney (Custom Made's Voices of The Quilt workshop). It is directed by M. Graham Smith (Shotgun's The Rover, Crowded Fire's She Rides Horses Like the Stock Exchange) in his Custom Made debut.

Belleville's scenic designer is Carlos Aceves (Breadbox's The Awakening). It is costume designed by resident designer Brooke Jennings (Six Degrees, The Crucible), lighting design by resident designer Maxx Kurzunski (Chess, Middletown), sound by resident designer Ryan Lee Short (Rapture, Middletown). Props by Chrissy Curl (Rapture). Maddie Gaw serves as dramaturge and Wesley Rou is the assistant director.

*member, Actors' Equity Association

Playwright Amy Herzog

Amy Herzog is an award winning young American playwright. Her play 4000 Miles, which ran Off-Broadway in 2011, was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Her plays have received nominations for the Lucille Lortel Award and the Drama Desk Award.

Herzog received a Masters in Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama. Her teachers included Richard Nelson and John Guare. Jim Nicola, producer of Belleville at the New York Theatre Workshop, said that "the distinction of Herzog's work is her belief 'that private, individual experience is always inseparable from public, historical processes, when she explores human lives.'"

Richard Nelson said: "She has great, great facility for dialogue... It's clean, it's simple, it's evocative, it's witty. It's alive and easily spoken. Very, very actable. That's a given talent." John Guare noted "Amy came fully formed." Guare also mentioned her "warm-hearted, cold-eyed sympathy for her characters."

Belleville was commissioned by the Yale Repertory Theatre and had its world premiere at Yale Rep in 2011. The play then opened Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop in March and April, 2013.The play also received 2013 Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Actress in a Play (Maria Dizzia). For Belleville, Herzog was a finalist for the 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Herzog's other plays include After the Revolution(2010), 4000 Miles (2011), and The Great God Pan (2012). Her new play, Mary Jane, will premiere at Yale Rep in April, 2017

About Custom Made

Winner of the 2015 and 2012 SF Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle award for Best Overall Production, under 99 seats, and the recipient of its 2015 Paine Knickerbocker Award for making a lasting contribution to Bay Area theatre, The Custom Made Theatre Company is committed to producing plays that awaken our social conscience, focusing on the strength of the ensemble, and creating an intimate theatrical experience.

Now in its 18th season, Custom Made is a cornerstone San Francisco independent company with a 6-play season, a new play development program (in partnership with the Gallery Café and the Exit Theatre), and supporting dozens of artists and thousands of patrons each season. Co-founded by Artistic Director Brian Katz and Executive Director Leah S. Abrams, Custom Made continues to grow exponentially each season, and is now in its second season at the newly branded Custom Made Theatre, a 99-seat intimate venue at 533 Sutter St (formerly San Francisco Playhouse).

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