Photo Flash: Emilia Sargent Stars in GROUNDED, Beginning Tonight at Tampa Rep

Tampa Repertory Theatre stars celebrated actress Emilia Sargent in George Brant's timely, powerful military drama Grounded tonight, January 6, through January 22, 2017 on the USF campus in Studio 120, 3837 USF Holly Drive, Tampa. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at Sargent in costume below!

Alone on stage in Grounded, Sargent plays an Air Force fighter pilot whose unexpected pregnancy ends her career flying F-16s. Repurposed to operating remote-controlled drones to find and kill suspected terrorists, she struggles to reconcile the moral ambiguities of her new role, her regret at being forced out of the sky, and the ups and downs of her relationship with her family.

Grounded has been honored with multiple awards for past productions, including The Smith Prize for Political Theatre. The play was shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, and was named a Top 10 play by both The Guardian and the London Evening Standard. It received a heralded Off Broadway production starring film actress Anne Hathaway and directed by Tony winner Julie Taymor.

Emilia Sargent is one of Tampa Bay's best known, most honored actors. She received Creative Loafing's "Best of the Bay" Best Actress award for her performance as Blanche DuBois in TampaRep's A Streetcar Named Desire. Mark Leib, longtime Creative Loafing theatre critic, wrote: "Sargent is Blanche as Tennessee Williams wrote her, and you may never see another live portrayal as definitive as this one." Sargent recently received a Theatre Tampa Bay "Best Actress" award for her performance in TampaRep's Silent Sky last season.

"Having directed Emilia in our Tennessee Williams trilogy, I'm excited to work with her on a contemporary play and in a very different kind of role," says C. David Frankel, director of Grounded and also TampaRep's Artistic Director. "As Brant's unnamed pilot, she'll take our audience on a roller coaster ride of thought and feeling."

Grounded comes on the heels of TampaRep's Season 6 premier The Realistic Joneses, and will be followed in June, 2017 with Sharr White's haunting drama The Other Place.

Performances are at 8 PM on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and at 3 PM on Sundays. Patrons may purchase tickets at the door or from TampaRep's website at www.tamparep.org/grounded.