Custom Made Theatre Presents PRELUDE TO A KISS, Now thru 6/16

After a whirlwind courtship, Rita and Peter marry. Following their storybook wedding, an elderly man congratulates Rita with a kiss. But it is no ordinary kiss. By a quirky twist of fate, the kiss effects a soul switch - Rita finds herself living in the old man's body, and the old man in hers. Written in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis, Craig Lucas' charming, funny and poignant adult fairy tale challenges our assumptions of beauty, the limits of love, and the meaning of commitment.

Directed by Stuart Bousel, Prelude to a Kiss previews tonight, May 17-19, opens May 21, and runs through June 16 at the Gough Street Playhouse. 1620 Gough Street, San Francisco 94117. Tickets $15-30 at (415) 798-CMTC, www.custommade.org.

Featuring: Will Leschber, Charles Lewis III* (at CMT - The Last Days of Judas Iscariot), Jan Carty Marsh, Allison Page (at CMT - The Book of Liz), Elena Ruggiero, Dave Sikula (at CMT - Superior Donuts), Nick Trengove (at CMT - A Bright Room Called Day), and Richard Wenzel* (at CMT - Spalding Gray: Stories Left to TelI).

Creative team: Assistant Director - Dan Mack; Scenic Design - Andrew Cummings; Lighting design - Maxx Kurzunski*; Sound Design - Cole Ferriaoulo *member, Custom Made Theatre Co.

About the Playwright: In 1973, Craig Lucas left Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre and creative writing. His mentor, Anne Sexton, urged him to try his luck in New York City as a playwright. He worked in many day jobs while performing in Broadway musicals including Shenandoah, On the Twentieth Century, andSweeney Todd. Stephen Sondheim would later tell him he was a better writer than an actor.

Lucas met Norman René in 1979. Their first collaboration was Marry Me A Little in 1981. The two wrote a script incorporating songs that had been written for but discarded from Stephen Sondheim musicals, and René also directed. They followed this with the plays Missing Persons (1981) Blue Window (1984) andThree Postcards (1987), an original musical by Lucas and Craig Carnelia. In 1990 they joined forces for what would prove to be their biggest commercial and critical success, Prelude to a Kiss.

Following his early work on romantic comedies, Lucas began to write more serious works about AIDS, including The Singing Forest and The Dying Gaul, the latter of which was made into a film that Lucas also directed. Lucas also authored the book for the musical The Light in the Piazza, and directed the world premiere at the Intiman Theater in Seattle. The Lincoln Center production, directed by Bartlett Sher, garnered him a Tony Award nomination.

While some critics have divided his work into gay plays (Blue Window, Longtime Companion) and straight plays (Reckless, Three Postcards, Prelude to a Kiss), Lucas has always written about human problems in a universal manner. In late 2008, Lucas's play Prayer for My Enemy made its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons. The play touches on several topics including the Iraq War, homosexuality, alcoholism, and the definition of family. (Source: Wikipedia)

Prelude to a Kiss was made into a film in 1992, starring Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, and Ned Beatty. It was directed by Norman René with screenplay by Craig Lucas.

Director and Producer of the Custom Made Production: Stuart Bousel (Director) is a graduate of Reed College, where he majored in English/Creative Writing. Prelude to a Kiss marks his third time directing for Custom Made, having directed last year's Merchant of Venice, and earlier, M. Butterfly. He recently directed Measure for Measure at the San Francisco Theater Pub, where he is a founding artistic director.

Primarily a playwright, his work has been three times featured in the Bay One Acts Festival (Housebroken in 2010, Speak Roughly in 2011, Brainkill in 2012), and his recent full lengths The Edenites and Juno en Victoria were both produced in San Francisco by No Nude Men and Wily West Productions, respectively. His plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, Melbourne, Tucson, Portland and Dublin. Recently, he has seen the production of two of his films, Insomnia and Wish U Were Here. He is the founder and artistic director of The San Francisco Olympians Festival, now in its fourth year, and recently had a book, Songs of Hestia published by Exit Press and available on Amazon.com.

Brian Katz (Artistic Director) is the co-founder of the Custom Made Theatre Company. For Custom Made he has directed dozens of productions including A Bright Room Called Day, Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, all of which were regional premieres. He has directed or produced numerous SFBATCC nominated productions including Red Light Winter, A Delicate Balance and A New Brain. His productions of Sondheim's Assassins and the premiere of the musical Bye-bye, bin Laden! were named in multiple Top-10 production lists. Most recently, he directed Albee's The Play about the Baby at CMT and Next to Normal at Pinole Players. He will direct Next to Normal as Custom Made's initial production of its 2013-14 season. Brian has a B.A. in theatre literature and criticism from Clark University and interned in dramaturgy at the Goodman Theatre.

The production opens on Tuesday May 21, 8:00 pm, with previews tonight, May 17, 18 8:00 pm; May 19, 7:00 pm. The show runs Thurs-Sat 8:00 pm; Sun 7:00 pm through June 16. No shows March 28th and 29th. General Admission $30; Students/Seniors/TBA members $25; Previews $15-$20. Learn more & buy tickets at (415) 798-CMTC, www.custommade.org.

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