Custom Made Theatre Co. Stages Gina Gionfriddo's RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN

Not since Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize winning The Heidi Chronicles has a play taken on the complexities of the women's liberation movement with such intimacy and acerbic wit. Custom Made Theatre Company presents Pulitzer Prize finalist Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn, November 17 - December 17 at Custom Made's theater at 533 Sutter Street in San Francisco. Leah Abrams (Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with Andre the Giant) directs.

Gionfriddo reunites three old friends confronting mid-life questions of paths and purpose, hilariously and painfully exploring the concept of trying out that life you rejected. After grad school, Catherine built a career as a rockstar academic, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other's life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs-the prize being Gwen's husband. With searing insight and trademark wit, this comedy is an unflinching look at gender politics in the wake of 20th-century feminist ideals.

Cast: Linda Ayres-Frederick+, Amanda Farbstein*, Ryan Hayes*, Lauri Smith and Teri Whipple*

+ member, Actors Equity Association; *member, Custom Made Theatre Co.

Creative Team: Beth Hall*, Austin Kottkamp, David Shimmelman, Maxx Kurzunski*, Ryan Lee Short*, Stephanie Dittbern, Chrissy Chu

Playwright Gina Gionfriddo: Gina Gionfriddo is an American playwright and television writer. Her play Becky Shaw was a 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and her play Rapture, Blister, Burn was a 2013 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She has written for the television series House of Card, Law & Order, whose executive producer hired her after he read her play After Ashley. He said: "[Gionfriddo] really has an ear for the dialogue of everyday Americans and the quirkiness of everyday Americans... the kind of people you see being interviewed on Nancy Grace." She graduated from Barnard College and completed Brown University's MFA (MFA 1997) playwriting program where she studied with playwright Paula Vogel In addition to writing her own material, she has also taught playwriting at Brown University, Providence College, and Rhode Island College.

CURTAIN TIMES AND TICKETS

Venue: Custom Made Theatre, 533 Sutter Street, San Francisco

Previews: November 17 - 19 , 8:00 pm;

Opens: Sunday, Nov. 20 at 7:00 pm

Runs: Wed-Sat until Nov 17th. (see custommade.org/raptiure fo exact showtimes)

Running Time: 2 hrs

Tickets: $50 Opening Night; Other times $28-32 (415) 798-CMTC (2682), www.custommade.org