West Theatre Company Presents BAKERSFIELD MIST

Off Broadway West Theatre Company ("OBW"), a San Francisco non-profit 501(c)(3) theatre company, is celebrating its 12th Theatre Season by producing Stephen Sachs' play, Bakersfield Mist. Based on actual events, this play questions appraisals of authenticity in art, and by extension, our relationship to one another. The play premiered in 2011 at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles and enjoyed a three-month run (2014) on London's West End, starring Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid.

Maude, a middle-aged unemployed bartender, from Bakersfield, California, purchased a painting from a local thrift shop for only a few bucks. She was going to destroy it, but now she's convinced the painting might be a long-lost Jackson Pollack masterpiece worth millions. Lionel, an expert from New York, visits her trailer park home to authenticate the artwork, and what they discover is far beyond what either could have ever imagined.

Stephen Sachs, a prolific American playwright and director, was born in San Francisco, but grew up in Los Angeles. In 1990, he co-founded (with Deborah Lawlor) the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. He is also the Fountain's co-Artistic Director. For the last 20 years, he has directed and written many of their well-received productions and won every award given to a playwright and/or director in Los Angeles. He is the author of 14 produced plays, some of which are: Arrival & Departure, Heart Song, Dream Catcher, Miss Julie: Freedom Summer, Open Window, The Golden Gate, and The Baron in the Trees. He wrote the teleplay for Sweet Nothing in my Ear, a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie, starring Marlee Matlin and Jeff Daniels.

Preview: May 2, 2019; Opens: May 3, 2019; Closes: June 1, 2019, 8:00 p.m. Curtain (Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays) - 3:00 p.m. Saturday Matinees (May 11 & 25). The Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason Street, 6th Floor (between Geary & Post) San Francisco, CA

TICKETS: $40.00 General Admission (TBA, Senior, Student & Group Discounts Available). Advance Tickets: 1-800-838-3006 or 415-407-3214.