Lutalica Theatre Presents GROUNDED

Lutalica Theatre presents: Grounded- the story of an ace fighter pilot whose career in the sky is ended early due to an unexpected pregnancy. Reassigned to operate military drones from a windowless trailer outside Las Vegas, she hunts terrorists by day and returns to her family each night. As the pressure to track a high-profile target mounts, the boundaries begin to blur between the desert in which she lives and the one she patrols half a world away.

Presented as part of the Vancouver Fringe Festivals Dramatic Works Series, director Danielle Lavallée takes on this poetic and striking piece (written in the style of Homer's Odyssey) with mentorship from Alley Theatre's Marisa Smith. "Producing published works is a mainstay of our theatrical culture and directors are key players within our theatre community," says Fringe's Executive Director David Jordan, who has listed "Grounded" as one of the most promising shows in this year's festival.

Lavallée chose the piece "around the time of the San Bernardino Shooting and a month or so after multiple ISIS attacks in Europe." She was "deeply horrified and frustrated at the endless violence that was engulfing the world," and found a means of expressing this in Brant's text. "I wanted to explore it from both sides, why the public dehumanizes those who shoot and how attackers dehumanize their victims." Joanna Gaskell, (Edda in the award-winning web series "Standard Action") carries this one-woman show. "The story is a highly emotionally-charged, highly personal, and highly compressed journey of a woman in a traumatic and confusing situation," says Gaskell. "And the story, while fictional, is a very real account of the kind of lives drone pilots are living in America right now."

Artistic Team: Director/Producer Danielle Lavallée, Starring Joanna Gaskell, Featuring Iris O'Neill, Assistant Director Sarah Lubbe,Technical Director/Sound Coordinator Taylor Janzen, Stage Manager/Co-Producer/Assistant Set Designer Gillian Hanemayer, Set and Prop Designer/Assistant Stage Manager Josie Lee, Lighting Designer Jonathan Kim, Costume Designer Alexa Fraser, Original Song Composition Carmine Santavenere, Production Dramaturg Katie Gartlan-Close, Producing Assistant Lily Cryan, Dramatic Works Mentor Director Marisa Emma Smith

Playing Sept 10th7:40pm, 13th 7:00pm, 15th 5:15pm, 16th 9:45pm, 17th 12:30pm, 18th 8:00pm at The Vancity Culture Lab 1895 Venables St, Vancouver BC V5L 2H6. Tickets $14 plus Fringe membership, visit vancouverfringe.com

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