Please Don't Slow Me Down at Little Boxes Theater & Space 1308

DIY-House-Show-Meets-Theatre-Piece to Run in SF and Oakland

October 13, San Francisco CA – MELINA COHEN-BRAMWELL, he/him, is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16, Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. His poetry Bar Fights For Sad Kids is available via Finishing Line Press, and many of his cutting-edge theatrical works have received professional readings in the Bay Area. His writing has been described as “unapologetically visceral and vivid” and “leave you with a gut punch message leavened by humor.”

Now, his latest play, Please Don’t Slow Me Down, a dark comedy about mental illness, will receive its premiere as a part of an immersive theatrical experience featuring live music opening acts and ending in an inclusive dance party. 

With Bay Area theatres closing left and right, from major establishments like Cal Shakes and Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre, to the former homes of underground new works like Cutting Ball, Exit Theatre, and Piano Fight, PDSMD sets its sights on a new audience and a new form of theatremaking. A recent KQED article highlighting top professionals’ thoughts on how to save Bay Area theatre, proposes solutions such as investing in diversity, community, uniqueness of the work, accessibility, hiring locally, and focusing attention on more indie projects over large commercial endeavors.

Please Don’t Slow Me Down is all of those ideas made manifest -- it taps into a thrilling new voice in playwriting, features all local talent, including Dom Refuerzo (SFBATCO's Cuckoo Edible Magic), Ling Ling Lee (We Players' Macbeth), Elenor Irene Paul (Oasis Arts Jurassiq Parq), Myles Bell (Oakland Theatre Project's Hamlet), Michelle Zheng, and Peter Malmquist. With Sound Design by prolific Bay Area Sound Designer Michael Kelly (SFBATCC winner), and Lighting by Riley Richardson (Berkeley Rep, Shotgun, Playground, UC Berkeley). It has received Theatre Bay Area's CA$H Performs Grant and is otherwise crowdfunded. The event will create an intermingling with parallel art scenes that are full of young creatives hungry to connect in the wake of a pandemic and the rise of technologies that are steadily making us more disconnected. 

Please Don’t Slow Me Down follows a bipolar millennial, and the physical embodiment of his cyclical moods, during one last, manic hurrah at the site of his former elementary school. 

The play isn’t polite or careful. It’s not sugarcoated. It is a celebration. Of queerness, creative expression, and (yes) mental illness. It dives into loneliness, and the very human difficulty of navigating reality. It’s for people on psychoactive medication, and for people who have chosen not to be on psychoactive medication. It’s for people who love to dance, who love live music, who maybe have never seen a play before. Its surreal setting in a rave and its bookends of young punk bands, vocalists, local DJs, and instrumental guitarists will give the whole experience an ephemeral nature. It points directly to Millennial and Gen-Z audiences’ experiences, and broadens the image of what “a play” can be.

So let’s dance! Tickets are available here for San Francisco and here for Oakland shows. For press tickets, queries, or to interview Melina or the cast, contact Emily Anderson at pdsmdtickets@gmail.com.

CONTACT
Emily Anderson, Producer

pdsmdtickets@gmail.com

SAN FRANCISCO SHOW DATES:

Little Boxes Theater

1661 Tennessee Street, San Francisco CA 94107

Doors at 7, Show at 7:30

Thursday, October 30th (Preview)

Friday, October 31st (Opening)

Saturday, November 1st

Sunday, November 2nd

Wednesday, November 5th

Thursday, November 6th

Friday, November 7th

Saturday, November 8th

OAKLAND SHOW DATES:

The Space 1308

1308 Broadway, Oakland CA 94612

Doors at 7, Show at 7:30 

Friday, November 14

Saturday, November 15

MORE INFO

CAST 

BENJI … Dom Refuerzo 

MANIA … Elenor Irene Paul

ENSEMBLE … Myles Bell 

ENSEMBLE … Michelle Zheng

ENSEMBLE … Peter Malmquist

ENSEMBLE … Ling Ling Lee

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director: Lana Richrds

Production Stage Manager: Jenna Stein-Corman
Sound Design: Michael Kelly

Lighting Design: Riley Richardson

Set Design: Jenna Lauren Carroll

Costume Design: Marie Morley

Social Media & Marketing: Emily Anderson, Libby Anderson

Please Don’t Slow Me Down is produced by Emily Anderson, Melina Cohen-Bramwell, and Lana Richards. 

SF Ticket Link

Oakland Ticket Link