Announcing: Lyric Theatre on LaBrea Announces 2012 Season of Plays

THE LYRIC THEATRE ON LA BREA
ANNOUNCES 2012 SEASON OF PLAYS

FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE
WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF BY NTOZAKE SHANGE,
WORLD PREMIERE OF JUPITER ZOOM BY CALLIE KIMBALL,
WORLD PREMIERE OF FEEDBACK BY JANE MILLER,
AND AFTERSHOCKS BY DOUG HAVERTY

The Lyric Theatre on N. La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, Dorrie Braun, Founder and Executive Director, JC Gafford, Artistic Director, has announced a season of four plays for 2012, which will kick off February 10 with a new production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange, followed by two world premieres, Jupiter Zoom by Callie Kimball, and Feedback by Jane Miller, and concluding with Aftershocks by Doug Haverty.

The 2012 season begins with a new production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. The Tony Award nominated and Obie Award-winning play weaves lush movement and graceful verse into a truly stirring portrait of seven amazing black women trapped in their sex, color and consciousness. Each woman’s journey is unique, yet each seamlessly blends with the stories of the other six women to form one, united voice of pride and power. The play, which premiered on Broadway in 1976, was the inspiration for Tyler Perry’s recent film For Colored Girls. Directed by Lyric Artistic Director JC Gafford, the show begins previews on February 8 with an official opening night scheduled for Friday, February 10. For Colored Girls … will run through March 4.

Family breeds contempt in Jupiter Zoom, a comedy-drama by Callie Kimball that traps a chiropractor, a baked snowboarder, two sets of sisters, and a guy named after a planet, in a posh DC townhouse for three whole days. At a family gathering to celebrate one of the sisters’ 50th birthday, a long-buried secret is exposed, revealing how a violent night 25 years ago fractured the family forever. Callie Kimball’s plays have been produced and developed at Washington Shakespeare Company, Project Y Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Electric Pear Productions, and the Capital Fringe Festival. She has received a MacDowell Fellowship, a Ludwig Vogelstein grant, the Rita and Burton Goldberg Prize at Hunter College, and she has been nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn award. Jupiter Zoom, directed by Richard Tatum, begins previews on March 14, with opening set for Friday, March 16, and runs through April 8.

Jane Miller’s Feedback is the tale of Holly, who, trying to cope with the loss of her mother, spends her inheritance on a PR firm that specializes in rebranding people. Her entire life is put under a microscope by a hard-nosed professional and a free-wheeling eccentric who dissects every facet of her appearance, behavior, and relationships to create a new and improved version of Holly. Jane Miller is a playwright and screenwriter living in Brooklyn, NY, whose work has been produced by Aporia Theatre, Looking Glass Theatre, The Wellesley Project, Squeaky Bicycle Productions, and The Network. She is a contributing artist in the developmental group, The Pack, part of Packawallop Productions. Feedback, directed by Craig Jessen, starts previews on April 18, opens Friday, April 20, and runs through May 13.
Concluding the season will be Aftershocks, a newly revised version of a play by Doug Haverty. In this play, two escaped housewives from Ohio are having the time of their lives living in a Valencia trailer park and being extras in the movies. Everything is great until someone’s past shows up on their aluminum doorstep. Doug Haverty’s award-winning plays and musicals have been presented around the world. Several of his plays are published, including Could I Have This Dance? (chosen by the American Theatre Critics Association as Best New Play to be produced outside NYC). Doug’s musical (co-written with Adryan Russ) iGhost had its world premiere at the Lyric Theatre in the spring of 2011. Aftershocks, directed by JC Gafford, will begin previews on May 23, open on Friday, May 25, and close on June 17.

For more information on the Lyric Theatre, the 2012 season of plays, and purchasing tickets, visit www.LyricTheatreLA.com. The Lyric Theatre is located at 520 N. La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, 90036. Street parking is available.

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12-13-11