NCTC Presents ORANGE FLOWER WATER 6/23-7/20

New Century Theatre Company (NCTC), Seattle's newest professional theater, is gearing up to once again blow the lid off the Seattle theatre scene with the follow-up to their wildly successful debut production of Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine. NCTC consists of eleven well-respected Seattle theater artists - Hans Altwies, Paul Morgan Stetler, Amy Thone, Michael Patten, Stephanie Timm, Ray Gonzalez, Jennifer Lee Taylor, MJ Sieber, Darragh Kennan, Betsy Schwartz, and Peter Dylan O'Connor - who share a deep desire to help reinvigorate Seattle's national reputation as a vibrant force of cutting-edge, ambitious, relevant theater. 

Written in 2002, Craig Wright has created a stirringly complex and intimate contemporary story about marriage and family and what happens when complacency and selfishness get in the way. Orange Flower Water explores the painfully intense and, at times, darkly humorous, unraveling of two marriages through a series of scenes set in or around a single bed. As relationships become fractured and painful endings are a near certainty, a very fragile - yet authentically hopeful - new beginning takes root. The question we are left with is: "Is it worth it?"

"Do not be deceived by the lyrical, gently perfumed title of Craig Wright's play. This is a brutally honest drama about marriage and infidelity. An emotionally and physically lacerating ordeal, it is at once fiercely adult, shrewdly observant, often painfully graphic and most definitely not for the meek."-The Chicago Sun-Times 

(Mature Content and Sexual Situations. No One Under 18 Without Parent or Guardian.)

Craig Wright is best known as the Emmy Award-nominated writer for the acclaimed series "Six Feet Under." As a playwright, his "The Pavilion" was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and his other plays - including "Recent Tragic Events" "Main Street", "Grace", "Molly's Delicious" and "Melissa Arctic" - have been produced all over the country.
"Orange Flower Water" marks the first Seattle production of one of Mr. Wright's works and will be a Pacific Northwest Premiere.

Orange Flower Water will be directed by Allison Narver (former Artistic Director of Empty Space Theatre and recent Director of Euryidice at ACT Theatre and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers at 5th Avenue Theatre).

The cast features the acting talents of NCTC company members Hans Altwies (The Seafarer and The Three Musketeers at Seattle Rep) and Jennifer Lee Taylor (Daisy in NCTC's The Adding Machine) as David and Cathy Calhoun; and Ray Gonzalez (Waxwings at Book-It Repertory Theatre and Twelfth Night at Seattle Shakespeare Company) and Betsy Schwartz (All The King's Men at Intiman) as Brad and Beth Youngquist.
The all-Seattle based creative team includes: Lighting designer Geoff Korf and sound designer Rob Witmer (both returning from The Adding Machine), set and props designer Matthew Smucker, and costume designer Melanie Burgess. The Stage Manager is Michael Paul. Company members Michael Patten and Peter Dylan O'Connor are on board once again as the production and technical managers, respectively.
Performed at ACT's Bullitt Theatre Space (in association with Central Heating Lab*)

700 Union Ave.

Seattle, WA 98101
(*ACT's Central Heating Lab has arranged for NCTC a generous rental agreement that includes ticketing and marketing services in addition to rehearsal and performance space.)

Orange Flower Water will be produced under a Letter of Agreement with the Actor's Equity Association. Tickets are $25 ($20 for patrons under 25, with a valid ID) and are currently available at the ACT Ticket Office, 700 Union Street, downtown Seattle, (206) 292-7676 or online at www.acttheatre.org.
This production's $48,000 budget will be fully funded through individual donations from friends, family and the Seattle theater community, at large.
For more information about the New Century Theatre Company, please visit:
www.newcenturytheatrecompany.org