San Francisco Playhouse to Present Bay Area Premiere of 'Shining City'

The SF Playhouse (Bill English, Artistic Director; Susi Damilano, Producing Director) is pleased to launch its 2008-09 season with the Bay Area Premiere of Shining City by Conor McPherson. Amy Glazer will direct.
 
Shining City opened on Broadway in 2006 where it received two Tony Award nominations, including Best Play and prompted the London Telegraph to describe Conor McPherson as 'the finest dramatist of his generation...'.
 
Set in present-day Dublin, a man seeks help from a counselor, claiming to have seen the ghost of his recently deceased wife. However, what begins as just an unusual encounter becomes a struggle between the living and dead-a struggle that will shape and define both men for the rest of their lives. In this contemporary ghost story, Conor McPherson explores what it means to lose faith-in God, in relationships and in one's self.

The cast features former Artistic Director of Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival, Paul Whitworth, Alex Moggridge and Beth Wilmurt. A fourth actor will be announced shortly.
 
Conor McPherson (Playwright) Born in Dublin and educated at University College Dublin, McPherson began writing his first plays there as a member of UCD Dramsoc, the college's dramatic society, and went on to found Fly by night theatre company which produced several of his plays.
 
He is considered one of the best contemporary playwrights not only in Ireland, but the world. His plays have attracted good reviews, and have been performed internationally (notably in the West End and on Broadway). The Weir won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play for 1999. His 2004 play Shining City prompted the London Telegraph to describe him as 'the finest dramatist of his generation...' In September 2006, to great critical acclaim, McPherson made his National Theatre debut as both author and director with The Seafarer which moved to Broadway in October of 2007. The Seafarer at The National Theatre won the 2007 Best Supporting Actor Laurence Olivier Award, and he picked up a Tony Award in 2008 for Best Featured Actor in a play. It will open at Marin Theatre Company November 2008.
 
The film of his first screenplay, I Went Down (Film), was critically acclaimed and a great commercial success. His first feature film as director, Saltwater won the CICAE award for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival. His second feature film was The Actors, which he wrote and directed.

Amy Glazer returns to The SF Playhouse after directing last season's hit The Scene, by Theresa Rebeck.  She has directed world, American, and West Coast premieres at Magic Theatre, including Sam Shepard's The God of Hell; Rebecca Gilman's The Crowd You're in With, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Blue Surge, and The American in Me; Steven Belber's Drifting Elegant and Tape; and Barry Gifford's Wyoming. Her other Bay Area credits include Frozen, Displaces, Life x 3, My Old Lady, The Music Lesson, Misalliance, Candida and Indiscretions (Marin Theatre Company); Stonewall Jackson's House and Trust (Eureka Theatre); Spinning into Butter, Pride's Crossing, An American Daughter, Conversations with My Father, Marvin's Room, and Mrs. Klein (TheatreWorks). The recipient of Dean Goodman, Drama-Logue, and Bay Area Critics' Circle Awards and finalist for TCG's 2003 Alan Schneider Director Award. Amy is an associate artist at Magic Theatre and is a theatre and film professor at San Jose State University. Her short film, Ball Lightning, premiered at the Locamo International Film Festival, and her feature film, Drifting Elegant, premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Amy is currently adapting and directing the film version of The Scene.

About The SF Playhouse
Founded by Bill English and Susi Damilano in 2003, The SF Playhouse is Union Square's intimate, professional theatre. Using professional actors and world class design, The SF Playhouse, which won the Bay Guardian's 2006 Best Off Broadway Theatre Award and about which the San Francisco Chronicle raved, "San Francisco's newest theatre isn't just another tiny stage carved out of a storefront . . . its an enticing introduction to a new company," has become an intimate theatre alternative to the traditional Union Square theatre fare, garnering multiple Bay Area Theatre Critic nominations and awards. Providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theatre lovers converge, The SF Playhouse, hailed as a "small delicacy" by SF Weekly and "eclectic" by the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and "local theater's best kept secret" by San Francisco Magazine, strives to create works that celebrate the human spirit.

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