The SF Playhouse Presents The FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 9/26-11/7

The SF Playhouse (Bill English, Artistic Director; Susi Damilano, Producing Director) are pleased to open their 7th Season with the World Premiere of Billy Aronson's First Day of School.

What exactly are the parents up to when their kids go off to school? When a group of devoted parents decide to make their children's first day of school a "first" of their own, they turn their quiet little lives upside-down and give a whole new meaning to the term "physical education."

This hilarious new comedy from Billy Aronson, credited for the original concept for the musical RENT and a writer for MTV's Beavis and Butthead, takes what may seem on the surface to be a "soccer-Mom sex farce", and creates a scathing satire of the spiritual poverty in our culture and our terror of true intimacy.

Chris Smith will direct a cast of local favorites including; Zehra Berkman, Jackson Davis*, Bill English*, Torie Laher, Myles Landberg, Marcia Pizzo* and Stacy Ross* (*Appear courtesy of Actors Equity).

Chris Smith (Director) is proud to return to SF Playhouse, where he directed the award-winning production of Abraham Lincoln's Big, Gay Dance Party by Aaron Loeb (also at the New York International Fringe Festival). He has directed several dozen World Premiere productions in San Francisco, New York City and regionally, including works by Edna O'Brien, Charles Grodin, David Ives, Joyce Carol Oates, Romulus Linney, John Belluso, Gen Leroy, Joe Pintauro, Lloyd Suh, and four plays by Pulitzer Prize-winner Frank D. Gilroy (most notably Drama Desk Best Play Nominated Contact with the Enemy), and has won two Dean Goodman Awards for Best Direction. Upcoming projects include the holiday classic A Christmas Story at San Jose Rep, and the world premiere of Jane Prowse's A Round-Heeled Woman at Z Studio. Chris is the former Artistic Director of Magic Theatre (SF) and Youngblood (NYC), as well as the Founding Program Director of the EST/Sloan Project (NYC). He is a graduate of Brown University and lives in the Bay Area with wife Sheri Matteo and children Micaela and Anderson.

Billy Aronson's plays have been produced by Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and Wellfleet Harbor Actor's Theatre; awarded a commission from the Magic Theatre and a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts; and published in 3 volumes of Best American Short Plays. His new play First Day of School will receive simultaneous world premieres this fall, produced in San Francisco by SF Playhouse and in Philadelphia by 1812 Productions. His writing for the musical theater includes the original concept and additional lyrics for the Broadway musical Rent, and the book for the Theatreworks/USA musical Click Clack Moo which recently opened at the Lucille Lortel. TV writing credits include MTV's Beavis & Butt-head, Nickelodeon's Wonder Pets (head writer first season), Cartoon Network's Courage the Cowardly Dog, and PBS's Postcards From Buster (Emmy nomination). A graduate of Yale Drama School, Billy lives in Brooklyn with his wife Lisa Vogel and their children Jake and Anna. ("www.billyaronson.com").

Founded by Bill English and Susi Damilano in 2003, The SF Playhouse is San Francisco's fastest growing and most awarded Theater Company and hailed as a "small delicacy" by SF Weekly, "eclectic" by the San Francisco Bay Guardian and "local theater's best kept secret" by San Francisco Magazine. Located in Union Square, The SF Playhouse offers intimate, professional theatre with top notch actors and world class design. It has received multiple awards for overall productions, acting and design including the SF Weekly Best Theatre Award, Bay Guardian's Best Off-Broadway Theatre Award. The San Francisco Chronicle raved, "San Francisco's newest theatre isn't just another tiny stage carved out of a storefront . . . it's an enticing introduction to a new company." The SF Playhouse has quickly become the intimate theatre alternative to the traditional Union Square theatre fare, providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theatre lovers converge to create works that celebrate the human spirit.

DATES: Previews: September 22-25, 2009
Open: September 26, 2009
Close: November 7, 2009

Tuesday 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., plus Saturdays 3p.m. (no 3pm show on 9/26)

The SF Playhouse
533 Sutter Street (one block off Union Square, b/n Powell & Mason)

TICKETS: For tickets ($30 previews, $40 regular) or more information, the public may contact The SF Playhouse box office at 415-677-9596, or www.sfplayhouse.org.