MTC Presents LIDLESS, 11/21

MTC's New Works Series presents staged readings of works by new and emerging playwrights.
Lidless tells the story of Alice, an interrogator at Guantanamo 15 years ago. The beta-blockers she took during her service have left holes in her memories, a fact she welcomes so she can get on with the new life she has created with her husband and daughter. When Bashir, a former detainee dying of liver disease, arrives to confront Alice, she can't remember ever having seen his face. He refuses to let Alice deny her past, demanding shocking payment for the damage she wreaked on his body and soul during their interrogations. Lidless is a story about embracing one's true nature and the quest to re-humanize a world losing sight of its common humanity.

WHO: Playwright Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig is Playwright in Residence at Marin Theatre Company this season through the National New Play Network's Emerging Playwrights ResidenCy Grant program. Her plays have been developed at the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, PlayPenn, the Alley Theatre, Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Playwright's Foundation, and Yale Repertory Theatre. Other honors include the Yale Drama Series Award, the Keene Prize for Literature, a Glimmer Train New Writer's Award, a commission from South Coast Rep, and grants from the MacDowell Colony, the Ragdale Foundation, Santa Fe Art Institute, the Playwright's Center, and Interact Theatre. She received her MFA in Writing from the James A. Michener Center for Writers at University of Texas at Austin, her BA in Sociology from Brown University, and a certificate in Ensemble Created Physical Theatre from the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Frances was raised in Philadelphia, Northern Virginia, Okinawa, Taipei, and Beijing.
Director Mei Ann Teo is a Singaporean theater filmmaker and educator working internationally. She is the founding director of Mahjong Films, a film and editorial Production Company, and the Resident Artist at Pacific Union College where she helms the drama program specializing in provocative original ensemble theater. She recently founded the first documentary theater program in China. Her films and Theater Productions tour nationally and have been featured in festivals including the the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, and the M1 Singapore Fringe. She has performed at the INFANT Experimental Theatre Festival in Serbia, and lectures at major academic conferences and universities worldwide on documentary theater and using the arts to reach marginalized and at-risk youth. Her work is supported by CA$H, the Asian Cultural Council, the Herber Awards, and the Center for Cultural Innovation.

The cast includes Jessa Brie Berkner, Denmo Ibrahim, Marissa Keltie, Yusef Lambert, and Johnny Moreno.

WHERE:  Marin Theatre Company | 397 Miller Ave, Mill Valley CA 94941 | Lieberman Theatre
TICKETS:  All performances are FREE. Call to reserve tickets, seating limited
Box Office, 415.388.5208 or www.marintheatre.org

In its expanded commitment to the development of new plays, MTC's New Works Series presents works by new and emerging playwrights both local and from across the country. MTC brings in playwrights to work with leading local artists in full-length, script-in-hand staged readings. Audiences experience the intimacy and excitement of new play development. A question and answer session with the playwright, director, and actors often follows each performance. The New Works Series is made possible by the generous support of N.J. "Sky" Cooper.
 
ABOUT MTC
 
Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area's premiere mid-sized theater and the leading professional theater in the North Bay. We produce a five- to six-show season of provocative plays by passionate playwrights from the 20th century and today in two intimate theaters-a 231-seat proscenium and a 99-seat thrust. We are committed to the development and production of new plays by American Playwrights, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes at least one world premiere each season, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards, numerous new play readings and workshops by the nation's best emerging playwrights, and a leadership position in the National New Play Network. Our educational programs serve more than 6,000 students each year.