Cutting Ball Theater's World Premiere of TENDERLOIN Begins Previews Tonight

Annie Elias brings her years of experience in documentary theater to Cutting Ball with the World Premiere of TENDERLOIN, an unforgettable piece about the people and places in Cutting Ball Theater's neighborhood. Written by Annie Elias, with Tristan Cunningham, Siobhan Doherty, Rebecca Frank, Michael Kelly, Leigh Shaw, David Sinaiko, and David Westley Skillman, and directed by Elias, TENDERLOIN strives not only to bring Cutting Ball fully into its community, but literally brings the neighborhood into the theater.

Using transcripts of interviews conducted by Elias and the cast, seven actors portray the subjects they interviewed, creating living portraits from which a portrait of the Tenderloin itself emerges. A powerful and confirming experience, TENDERLOIN honors the essence of the Tenderloin through the stories of the everyday people that make up this historic, and underrated, downtown San Francisco district.

TENDERLOIN was workshopped last spring as part of Cutting Ball Theater's RISK IS THIS...The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival, one of the only play festivals in America solely dedicated to experimental works for the stage.

Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. Cutting Ball Theater has partnered with Playwrights Foundation, the Magic Theatre, and Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental works. The company has produced a number of World Premieres, West Coast Premieres, and re-imagined various classics. Voted "Best Theater Company" in the 2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian Best of The Bay issue, Cutting Ball Theater also earned the Best of SF award in 2006 from SF Weekly, was selected by San Francisco Magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007, and received the 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie award for outstanding talent in the performing arts. Cutting Ball Theater was featured in the February 2010 issue of American Theatre Magazine.

DATES: Previews: April 27, 28, 8pm; April 30, 5pm

Opens: May 3, 2012 (Press opening: May 3, 7:30pm; Gala Opening: May 4, 8pm)

Closes: May 27, 2012

All performances Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday-Saturday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 5pm

WHERE: The Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor, 277 Taylor St., San Francisco

TICKETS: For tickets ($10-50) and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 415-525-1205; student discounts available.

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