NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ COEURAGE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS “Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight” BY LAUREN GUNDERSON ▪︎ OPENS 8/26

COEURAGE THEATRE COMPANY
LA’S PAY WHAT YOU WANT THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENTS
EMILIE: LA MARQUISE DU CHÂTELET DEFENDS HER LIFE TONIGHT
BY LAUREN GUNDERSON
DIRECTED BY JULIANNE DONELLE

OPENS SATURDAY, AUGUST 26
AT THE GREENWAY COURT THEATRE

EmilieCoeurage Theatre Company, LA’s Pay What You Want theatre company, has announced the second production of its eighth seasonå, Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight by Lauren Gunderson. Directed by Coeurage company member Julianne Donelle, there will be one preview performance on August 25 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, August 26 at 8pm. Emilie will play through September 17 at the Greenway Court Theatre.

The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Kari Lee Cartwright, Marc Forget, Nardeep Khurmi, Kim Reed, and Sammi Smith. Scenic design is by Tim Paul Vordtriede, lighting design is by Azra King-Abadi, costume design is by Tania Mustafa, sound design is by Joseph V. Calarco, and choreography is by Carly Wielstein.

Passionate. Brilliant. Defiant. Tonight, 18th century scientific genius Emilie du Châtelet is back and determined to answer her unresolved question: love or philosophy, heart or head? In this highly theatrical, fast, funny, and sexy rediscovery of one of history’s most intriguing women, the French physicist and mathematician defends her legacies — both scientific and romantic — and the groundbreaking work for which she was denounced until after her death.

Lauren Gunderson was America’s most produced living playwright in 2016. She is also a screenwriter and short story author. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch, where she was also a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her plays have been commissioned, developed, and produced at South Coast Rep (Emilie, Silent Sky, I And You), the Kennedy Center (Dr. Wonderful), the O’Neill Playwrights Conference (Fire Work), and her revenge comedy Exit, Pursued by a Bear was produced in a multi-city rolling premiere. Gunderson writes for the Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal.

Julianne Donelle is a founding member of Coeurage Theatre Company. She directed Assassins and served as assistant director on Cannibal! The Musical and The Yellow Boat. Her acting credits with the company include The Trouble With Words, Head Over Heels, The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love–Suicide, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and The Woodsman. Donelle is the creator/writer/director of the web series No Pillowfights, for which she received a Discovery Award nomination for direction at the Raindance Film Festival in London. The series also garnered multiple nominations including Best Director and Best Comedic Series at LA Web Fest in 2016. More info is available at www.juliannedonelle.com.

Coeurage Theatre Company exists to make impassioned theatre accessible for all audiences through Pay What You Want admission and fresh, challenging productions. The company’s name is inspired by a re–imagining of the word courage — coeur is French for heart, and rage, meaning fervor; on fire. Together, Coeurage (pronounced “courage”) is a heart enflamed with passion, which the company strives to bring to every production.

There will be one preview performance of Emilie on Friday, August 25 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, August 26, at 8pm. The regular running schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm through September 17. There will be additional performances on Wednesdays, September 6 and 13 at 8pm. The final performance is on Sunday, September 17 at 7pm. All seats are available on a Pay What You Want basis and may be reserved online at www.greenwaycourtheatre.org/emilie or by calling (323) 944-2165.

The Greenway Court Theatre is located at 544 N. Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, 90036. Free parking is available in the lot adjacent to the theatre.

# # #

07-28-17