NEWS RELEASE — BRIMMER STREET THEATRE COMPANY PARTNERS WITH MY FRIEND’S PLACE FOR GENEROSITY.COM FUNDING CAMPAIGN

BRIMMER STREET THEATRE COMPANY
PARTNERS WITH
MY FRIEND’S PLACE
HOMELESS YOUTH RESOURCE CENTER IN HOLLYWOOD

LAUNCHING GENEROSITY.COM FUNDING CAMPAIGN
FOR BRIMMER STREET’S PRODUCTION OF
“AND THEN THEY FELL”
A NEW PLAY BY TIRA PALMQUIST

100% OF ALL TICKET SALES WILL BENEFIT
MY FRIEND’S PLACE

Brimmer Street Theatre Company has announced a unique partnership with My Friend’s Place, a non-profit homeless youth resource center in Hollywood. A Generosity.com fundraising campaign has been initiated for the production of a new play about homeless youth that will donate 100% of its ticket sales to health and wellness services for homeless youth in Los Angeles.

The Generosity.com campaign goal is $20,000. This money will complete the production budget for BSTC’s production of And Then They Fell, a new play by Tira Palmquist about two teenagers who find themselves without stable homes. Brimmer Street estimates it can bring in as much as $60,000 during the planned September run of the show at the Atwater Village Theatre, every penny of which will go to My Friend’s Place. In addition, funds that are raised in excess of the $20,000 production goal will also be donated to My Friend’s Place.

And Then They Fell tells the story of Jordan and Cal, two teenagers who find themselves without stable homes. Jordan has fled a home wrecked by alcoholism and sexual abuse while still trying to graduate high school with honors. Cal is a young transgender boy set adrift by his family’s intolerance and the failure of adults and institutions to help him through a severely vulnerable period of his young life. These two teens find each other, and for a while, they give each other the hope and security they so desperately need.

The My Friend’s Place mission: to assist and inspire homeless youth to build self-sufficient lives. It is a professionally staffed drop-in resource center serving over 1,400 homeless youths ages 12 to 25 (and their children) each year. The primary goal is to lower traditional barriers to service and provide homeless youth with the opportunity to improve their psychological, intellectual, and physical capacity to reach their potential.

Brimmer Street Theatre Company is a non-profit Los Angeles-based performance company with a commitment to develop original theatre and welcome artists whose work challenges established forms and expectations. BSTC strives to form a close ensemble with these artists, craftsmen, students, and benefactors to produce work of exceptional innovation and character.

For more information about the Brimmer Street/My Friend’s Place partnership:

For more information on BSTC: http://www.brimmerstreet.org/.

For more information about the services offered by My Friend’s Place: http://myfriendsplace.org/.

Direct access to the funding page: https://www.generosity.com/fundraisers/and-then-they-fell-a-benefit-for-my-friends-place.

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05-09-16

NEWS RELEASE — BRIMMER STREET THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES PUBLIC STAGED READINGS IN APRIL

BRIMMER STREET THEATRE COMPANY
ANNOUNCES PUBLIC STAGED READINGS
OF TWO NEW PLAYS AS PART OF ITS
BREAKING GROUND PLAY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

RAW CUT
BY CHRISTIAN DURSO
AND
AND THEN THEY FELL
BY TIRA PALMQUIST

As part of its 2015 Breaking Ground play development program, Brimmer Street Theatre Company has announced public staged readings of two new plays. Raw Cut by Christian Durso will be presented on Friday, April 3 at 8pm and Saturday, April 4 at 2pm and And Then They Fell by Tira Palmquist will be presented on Friday, April 10 at 8pm and Saturday, April 11 at 2pm. All presentations will be at the Lyric-Hyperion Theatre & Café in Silver Lake. Admission is free and no reservations are required. Following each reading, audiences will be invited to engage in brief discussions with the playwrights and participating artists.

Breaking Ground is Brimmer Street Theatre Company’s newest initiative dedicated to collaborative new play development. Over the course of the seven-week project, BSTC’s ensemble works with local playwrights to move drafts of original plays to finalized scripts through the discovery and collaboration of an abbreviated rehearsal process, design consultation, and finally a staged reading. Raw Cut and And Then They Fell were chosen by the BSTC ensemble from dozens of submissions.

In Christian Durso’s Raw Cut, the bitter ex-boyfriend of a fast-rising pop star signs on to do a TMZ-style smear story on her the night before the release of her first album. The ex-boyfriend is paid a visit by the pop star’s shark of a manager who wants him to drop the story, making him an offer he can’t refuse. Directed by David Jette, the reading will feature (in alphabetical order) Amy K. Harmon, Emilia Richeson, and Joseph L. Roberts.

Tira Palmquist’s And Then They Fell is a poignant drama. Jordan Matthews would be fine if her mother could hold down a decent job, or if her mother hadn’t been arrested on another DUI, or if her mother’s boyfriend wasn’t a hateful monster. But things aren’t fine and Jordan’s life is falling apart. The adults in her life are either impotent or disinterested, and her only solace comes from out of the blue. Directed by Amy K. Harmon, the reading will feature (in alphabetical order) Sasha Compere, Faith Imafodon, Tyler Jenich, Connor Kelly-Eiding, and Ian Madeira Sollenberger.

Audience members who would like to read either play in advance may email jbyrd@ brimmerstreet.org for scripts.

Brimmer Street Theatre Company is a non-profit ensemble theatre that creates and produces new works of theatre in order to cultivate artists and engage audiences in Los Angeles. By working from a select core of talented artists, BSTC aims to produce a unique brand of American theatre that is rooted in a common experience and driven by their commitment to building better theatre that is challenging, extraordinary, and inspiring.

The Lyric-Hyperion Theatre & Café is located at 2106 Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake, 90027.

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03-19-15