Pirira at Luna Stage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT: Miriam Gardin, Luna Stage 347-496-6413
miriam.gardin@lunastage.org

Pirira by J. Stephen Brantley, Directed by Ari Laura Kreith
Launches Luna Stage 2019-19 Season
4 desperate people, 2 small rooms on 2 separate continents, one deadly riot, one ray of hope.

West Orange, NJ (October 5, 2018) – Luna Stage will launch its 2018-19 Season with J.Stephen Brantley’s award-winning play Pirira, directed by Luna’s new Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith. Set in Malawi amidst riots that took place in the city of Llilongwe on July 20, 2011, Pirira introduces us to American aid worker Jack and MBA auditor Ericka who are forced to take shelter in the storage room of Jack’s struggling NGO. Meanwhile, half a world away, Malawian college student Gilbert and his gay co-worker Chad begin another day in the back room of a Manhattan florist. The shadows of HIV, poverty, drought and gender based violence cloak the lives of these four young people. Pirira is the winner of the New York Innovative Theater Award for Best Premiere of a Play.

“Bringing this play to Luna allows us to frame our first season as a series of powerful cross-cultural conversations about central issues that affect us all,” says Kreith. Playwright J. Stephen Brantley adds, “At a time of such tribalism in our own country, it’s useful to look beyond our borders—beyond both our national boundaries and our personal biases—to consider how our choices can impact people, for good or bad, in far off places.”

Pirira explores the challenges of international aid across interpersonal borders, and asks how we bridge seemingly impossible cultural divides. The cast includes John P. Keller, Kevis Hillocks, Naja Selby-Morton and David Gow. Pirira is inspired, in part, by Brantley’s experiences as a writer for Madonna’s NGO Raising Malawi and also by William Kamkwamba’s autobiographical The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Pirira runs Thursday-Sunday from October 4-28. Tickets are on sale now at www.lunastage.org/pirira.

Pirira by J. Stephen Brantley, Directed by Ari Laura Kreith
At Luna Stage, 555 Valley Street, West Orange, NJ 973 395 5551
October 4th through October 28th, Performances Thursday through Sunday
Tickets: www.lunastage.org/pirira
Running time: 70 minutes, no intermission. www.lunastage.org

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