Staircase Theatre to Present MOVIN' ON UP Staged Readings, 8/23

Staircase Theatre presents Movin' On Up-Staged Readings. In its inaugural year, Movin' On Up will feature two brand new one act plays by two local, emerging (and very talented) playwrights, Scott Button and CR Packer. Scott Button's play, Better is a claustrophobic thriller and a dissection of class in our contemporary world. Better features Vancouver theatre veterans, Dawn Petten and Katherine Venour. CR Packer's play, Avril, Finally revolves around a funeral and three men brought together in unlikely circumstances. Avril, Finally features the talents of Sebastian Kroon, Byron Noble and Robert Salvador. The two plays will be directed by local directing star, Chelsea Haberlin. Movin' On Up-Staged Readings takes place at the CBC Studio 700 on August 23rd, 2014.

Better, by Scott Button: Laurie is a night janitor. Victoria is a marketing executive. On the surface, these two women couldn't be more different. It seems like the only thing they have in common is that they both work for Symax, a large congolomerate. At the end of a long workday, they get trapped together in a stalled elevator. Victoria is convinced they've never met. Laurie, on the other hand, distinctly remembers a chance meeting they had over four years ago - an encounter which changed her life forever.

Avril, Finally, by CR Packer: In a spare room in the basement a church, three men happen upon each other in an effort to escape the reception of the funeral they have all just attended. Matthew is there to mourn his wife; Greg and Thomas, their ex-girlfriend. Over the course of the play, these men get stoned, shout, rage, laugh, and piss each other off, in the search for the answer to the question of whether or not we can ever really know our lovers' inner lives. What does death reveal about them?

Scott Button is a Vancouver-based actor and writer, and graduate of UBC. He has appeared in Proud (Firehall Arts Centre), tagged and Night Light (Green Thumb Theatre), Speech & Debate (Twenty-Something Theatre). He had his start as a writer at the LEAP Playwriting Intensive at the Arts Club, where he worked on the full-length thriller The Hunger Room. Since then, he wrote the fifteen-minute one-woman show Desire(e) (Pull Festival & Shift Festival), co-created the site-specific experience The Story of You and Me and wrote the comic webseries Ben Jonson's Vlog.

CR Packer is a graduate of UBC's BFA Creative Writing program. Past work includes Fallen Over Dry (LEAP Young Playwrights Festival) and Another Shot (Brave New Play Rites) and upcoming projects include an original web series, 30, for Nik Nok Media.

Staircase Theatre is a Vancouver-based, independent theatre company focused on the idea that theatre should stimulate the mind and the soul- with class, charm and polish. We provide intelligent, contemporary theatre that has not yet been staged in British Columbia. We are committed to bringing emerging and established artists together for opportunities to learn and grow- and to share that with the community. Past shows include Stewart Lemoine's Cocktails at Pam's, Lanford Wilson's Home Free, Evelyn Strange, and Will Eno's Oh the Humanity!

Entertainment/Theatre: Staircase Theatre presents Movin' On Up-Staged Readings, directed by Chelsea Haberlin | Saturday, August 23rd at 8pm | Venue: CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street | Tickets: Pay What You Can at the Door (suggested $10) or reserve a seat by emailing staircasexitheatre@gmail.com.