Quantum Dragon Theatre Will Present AN INVITATION OUT

Quantum Dragon Theatre, the San Francisco Bay Area's premiere science-fiction/fantasy theatre company, continues its ambitious third season with the west coast premiere of Shualee Cook's science-fiction comedy-of-manners An Invitation Out. This production, directed by Kieran Beccia, will open at the Potrero Stage-located at 1695 18th St, San Francisco-on Saturday, December 14 at 8 PM.

"Nothing makes a person so vain as thinking they truly know someone."

Like most successful young men in the somewhat distant future, Wridget has lived his entire life completely online, designing high-end custom avatars and throwing lavish parties in a Neo-Victorian world of his own devising. But when a mysterious Outdweller logs on to one of his virtual soirées, Wridget finds himself pulled between two realities, each with its own perils and promises.

The nine-person cast features actors old and new from around the greater SF Bay Area. Among them are Bay Area stage mainstay Don Wood (Shotgun Players, Mugwumpin, Anton's Well), and returning QDT favorites Emily Dwyer (Fahrenheit 451), James Aaron Oh (Fahrenheit 451), and Caitlin Evenson (The Do's and Don'ts of Time Travel). Will Livingston, Regina Leon, Caroline Portante, Alex Chernow, and Isabel Langen round out the ensemble cast.

On what originally attracted them to the play, director Kieran Beccia explains, "I was initially drawn to the questions it raises about permanence and identity in an intangible world. Shualee's characters exist in conflicting states of desire and defiance. The implications of their actions are twofold, rippling through both virtual and physical space. I don't want to give too much away," they add, "but coming in, audiences should be prepared to question the identities that they project online."

"The idea for An Invitation Out hit me nearly a decade ago," notes playwright Shualee Cook, "when platforms like Facebook and Twitter were still sparkly and new. As countless posts skittered across my computer screen, I started to notice a trend - a sizable number of the things getting 'liked' or shared around were quick, two or three sentence attempts at humor or cleverness, a form that Oscar Wilde made his public reputation from. 21st century social media had found a new stage for the witty epigram."

"My present moment at the time was a complex one," she continues. "I conceived and wrote the first two drafts of the play when I was finally coming to terms with being transgender. It was a period marked by long stretches of feeling like a stranger in a strange land pretty much everywhere I went. And in a way, the online/offline worlds of the play became a way for me to discuss the experience of venturing outside of a worldview you'd grown comfortable with that doesn't quite fit anymore, and the rewards and consequences that come with such a step."

An Invitation Out is presented as part of PlayGround's Potrero Stage Presenting Program.

An Invitation Out runs December 14 (8pm; opening night celebration) and 15 (2pm); 19 (8pm; pay-what-you-can tickets), 20 (8pm), 21 (8pm), and 22 (2pm); and 26 (8pm), 27 (8pm), 28 (8pm), and 29 (2pm). Tickets and more information at www.quantumdragon.org; season passes available at patreon.com/qdt.