Dragon Theatre Closes Out Its 2016 Season With Twisty Dramedy Fiction

The only thing harder than dying with a secret is living with one.

This notion is the driving force behind Fiction, a mind-bending work by PEN U.S.A. Award-winning playwright Steven Dietz, whose cunningly plotted play has been called a "mental Rubik's cube." Fiction creates and then destroys a seemingly conventional love triangle involving long-married writers Linda and Michael Waterman, and their mutual muse, Abby Drake.

Like Dietz's earlier acclaimed works Becky's New Car and Private Eyes, (both big hits at Dragon in 2013 and 2011 respectively), Fictionunsparingly examines what it takes for a long-term partnership to survive the politics and pressures of modern life. In this case the Watermans also battle professional jealousies, as first Linda's and then Michael's career becomes ascendant. But when Linda is diagnosed with a brain tumor and given only weeks to live, the gloves finally come off. Linda wants to read Michael's personal diaries before she dies, and as she does, the carefully constructed foundation of their 20-year relationship crumbles.

Yet what's revealed in Michael's diaries is only the first in a series of plot twists that-layer by layer-reveal the ongoing struggle between art and life, love and betrayal, and fact and fiction. Dietz brilliantly explores the diverging viewpoints of three closely connected but distinct individuals in a Rashomon-like manner that raises the unsettling specter of whether truth is something we can ever really know.

Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Steven Dietz is one of America's most-produced playwrights. He received the PEN U.S.A. Award in Drama for Lonely Planet (widely considered his masterpiece) and the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award for Fiction and Still Life With Iris). Dietz has also won the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Award for The Rememberer, the Yomiuri Shinbun Award for his adaptation of Shusaku Endo's Silence, and the 2007 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Mystery for his adaptation of William Gillette's and Arthur Conan Doyle's 1899 play Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure. In 2016, Dietz received the Steinberg New Play Award Citation for Bloomsday.

Fiction is the final Dragon 2nd Stages production of 2016, co-produced by the Young Theatre Company.

Actors & Director: This production reunites actors Laura Jane Bailey and Michael Shipley who previously produced Monday Afternoon's acclaimed 2016 production of The Quality of Life and acted together in Boxcar Theatre's 2010 production of Equus (directed by Fiction's Erin Gilley).

Laura Jane Bailey* (Linda) was recently seen in Aurora Theatre's Mud Blue Sky and has performed with SF Playhouse, City Lights and Impact where she won a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for her work in Crevice. Learn more about her at www.laurajbailey.com

Michael Shipley* (Michael) is a longtime Bay Area actor, teacher, and director who has worked at theatres including Aurora Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Sacramento Theatre Company, American Players' Theatre, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and many others. Learn more about him at www.michaelshipley.net.

Emily Keyishian (Abby) has performed at Marin Theatre Company, A.C.T., SF Playhouse, Golden Thread Productions, and Piano Fight.

Fiction is directed by Erin Gilley, who has worked throughout the Bay Area and London. Gilley is currently directing Boxcar Theatre's The Speakeasy. Learn more about her at www.eringilley.com

Designers & Production Team: Linsay Almassey (Assistant Stage Manager), Patricia Rish Austin (Costume Designer), Laura Jane Bailey (Producer), Marc Blinder (Sound Designer), Elizabeth Coy (Assistant Producer), Ashley Taylor Frampton (Production Manger), Erin Gilley (Director), Dan Garrett (Lighting Desinger and Projections Designer), David Koeppel* (Stage Manager),Charles McKeithan (Technical Director), Karen Altree Piemme (Director of the 2nd Stages Program), Jesse Ploog (Scenic Designer)

A name with an * indicates that person is a member of the Actor's Equity Union.

WHEN: December 2-18, 2016

Thursdays - Saturdays, 8pm, Sundays, 2pm. Doors open 30 minutes before the show.

Pay What You Will Preview, Thursday, December 1 at 8pm.

Opening Night Friday, December 2 at 8p with a post-show reception.

Post-show discussion with the cast and director Sunday, December 11.

WHERE: Dragon Theatre in downtown Redwood City

2120 Broadway Street at the intersection of Broadway and Theatre Way

TICKET PRICES:

$30 for general admission seats. $25 for student/senior tickets.

$15 rush tickets on Thursdays and Fridays starting 2nd week. Limited availability and cash only at the door.

Pay what you will preview on Thursday, December 1-no reservation necessary, just walk up and pay cash at the door. Doors open at 7:30p; show starts at 8p.

$175 for the VIP box (seats 4 people and includes champagne and chocolates.)

CONTACT THE BOX OFFICE: Leave a voicemail at 650-493-2006 x 2 and your call will be returned within 2 business days. If you'd rather email, contact Josiah at tickets@dragonproductions.net. The Dragon Box Office is not staffed 7 days a week so there might be a delay in response. Buying tickets online at http://www.dragonproductions.net is the very best way to reserve a ticket in advance, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

BUY TIX & MORE INFO: http://dragonproductions.net/

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