MEDIA ADVISORY
Professional L.A. director duo takes reins of 4 new student plays
John Lion New Plays Festival at Cal State L.A.
Apr. 29-May 2, May 6-8
WHAT: The 2010 John Lion New Plays Festival featuring four new student plays.
WHEN: April 29-May 1, 7:30 p.m.; May 2, 2:30 p.m.;
May 6-7, 7:30 p.m.; May 8, 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: Music Hall, on the Cal State L.A. campus.
TICKETS: General, $16; seniors and students, $12; and CSULA students, $8. Tickets are available at /dept/theatre_dance/
DETAILS: For more information, call (323) 343-4110.
Los Angeles, CA -- Featuring four new plays by CSULA student playwrights, the 12th annual John Lion New Plays Festival stages a two-week run, Apr. 29-May 2 and May 6-8. It is presented by the Cal State L.A. Theatre Arts and Dance Department.
The one-act plays—to be held at the Music Hall of the CSULA campus—will be performed by Cal State L.A. students and professionally directed by two of L.A.’s most innovative theatre directors.
Beloved Woman, Wife and Mother
In Beloved Woman, Wife and Mother (written and performed by Staci Mitchell), a writer discovers the inner world of her main character, and also discovers her own inner most fears and desires.
Different
In Different (written by Katria Alvarez), a chance meeting in the park transforms the life of a young woman when she inadvertently encounters a troubled young man.
The Civil War
In The Civil War (written by Alicia Tycer), three friends are in for more than a history lesson when they put on a play for the school’s talent show.
The Devil’s Sister
In The Devil’s Sister (written by Leslie Stallone), an aging nun, named Sister Margaret, tries to bargain with God, and then the Devil, in an attempt to save her beloved school. Will she choose a pair of wings and a harp, or horns and pair of maracas?
The John Lion New Plays Festival is named for the former producing director of the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival in acknowledgement of John Lion’s achievements in theatre and education. Lion founded the award-winning Magic Theatre in San Francisco, which has helped develop many of America’s contemporary playwrights, including Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard.
The festival director is playwright José Cruz González, 2006 CSULA Outstanding Professor, and festival dramaturg is Susan Mason, 2008 CSULA Outstanding Professor. Joining González in directing the new plays is CSULA alumna Jill Brennan—a professional guest director who has been featured as an actress on TV shows, such as Gilmore Girls, Boston Legal and Desperate Housewives. Joshua Truett, first-year MFA in dramatic writing, is acting as associate producer.
The showtimes are Thursday-Saturday, April 29-May 1, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, May 2, at 2:30 p.m.; Thursday-Friday, May 6-7, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, May 8, at 2:30 p.m.
Performance tickets are $16 general; $12 for seniors and students; and $8 for CSULA students. They are available at /dept/theatre_dance/. For details, call (323) 343-4110.
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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 210,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu