3LD Art & Technology Center Ends Run of THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, 4/12

Aaron Louis (Producing Director, 3LD Art & Technology Center) in association with New Georges and The Essentials, will present the world premiere of THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, written by Marielle Heller, adapted from the hit graphic novel of the same name by Phoebe Gloeckner, and directed by Sarah Cameron Sunde and Rachel Eckerling in a multi-media production. Performances began on Sunday, March 15 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street (just south of Rector Street). The production will end its run Monday, April 12.

THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (www.diarytheplay.com) is a story about female sexuality and unabashed optimism. Told from the point of view of fifteen-year old Minnie, Diary tells the story of her growing up in the chaos of the 1970s, in the haze that is San Francisco. Minnie is incredibly bright and self-reflective. She is gut-wrenchingly honest, and curious about the world around her. And she has just begun an affair with her mother's boyfriend, Monroe. Ouch. The play contains mature themes that may not be appropriate for children.

Writer and actress Marielle Heller adapted THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL after having read the book, which she found to be a jarring and life-changing experience. She immediately contacted the publisher for the rights. Initially dismissed and written off having never pursued the rights to anything, Heller wouldn't take no for an answer. She persisted for months, and finally got her pitch through to Gloeckner, who was impressed with her vision. With Gloeckner's blessing secure, Heller began to develop the adaptation, first with the mentorship of Berkeley Rep's Artistic Director Tony Taccone, and then in collaboration with the directing team of Sarah Cameron Sunde and Rachel Eckerling.

Most recently Ms. Heller starred in Evie's Waltz directed by Loretta Greco at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. She starred in Peninsula by Madelyn Kent at Soho Rep, Sa Ka La by Jon Fosse with Oslo Elsewhere, and was in the world premiere of David Edgar's Continental Divide directed by Tony Taccone (TIME magazine's theater event of the year) at Berkeley Rep, Birmingham Rep in England, the Barbican Theater on the West End, and the La Jolla Playhouse. Marielle has worked at San Diego Rep, ACT in San Francisco, Cherry Lane, Naked Angels, Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theater, and New Georges, where she is an affiliated artist. Her screenplay Fifteen to Life, penned with writing partner Cailin Goldberg-Meehan, is currently in development.

Sarah Cameron Sunde was recently named one of nytheatre.com's People of the Year, 2009. Her directing credits include the U.S. premieres of: The Amish Project by Jessica Dickey (Rattlestick, Fringe et al.), What May Fall by Peter Gil-Sheridan (Guthrie Theater), The Asphalt Kiss by Nelson Rodrigues (59E59), and her own translations of Night Sings Its Songs, deathvariations and Sa Ka La by Norway's Jon Fosse (Oslo Elsewhere at 59E59 and 45 Below). Sunde is the Associate Director of New Georges, co-founder of Oslo Elsewhere, and recipient of a Princess Grace Directing Award. For six years, Rachel Eckerling worked closely with Francis Ford Coppola workshopping various projects, including the director's film Youth Without Youth. Mr. Coppola also commissioned Eckerling and her company, Tea Girl Productions, to write the film adaptation of the best-selling novel The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. In New York, she recently directed an original work with a new company, The Combustibles, at The Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The five-member cast will be: Marielle Heller (as Minnie), Jon Krupp (Pascal), Michael Laurence (Monroe), Mariann Mayberry (Charlotte), and Nell Mooney (Kimmie). Ms Heller (for credits see earlier paragraph). Mr. Krupp's New York theater credits include The Jonestown Project (directed by Leigh Fondakowski), Lisa D'Amour's 16 Spells to Charm the Beast (Clubbed Thumb), and Multi-Use Space (at the Atlantic). Mr. Laurence was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance in Krapp, 39 (which he also wrote) performed at the Soho Playhouse. He has been seen recently on Broadway in Talk Radio and Desire Under the Elms, and Off Broadway in Opus at Primary Stages. Ms. Mayberry is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company since 1993. Included among her many Steppenwolf performances are those in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (both in Chicago and on Broadway) and most recently in the Tony Award-winning Best Play August: Osage County (at Steppenwolf, Broadway, and at the Royal National Theatre in London). She also appeared in Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses on Broadway, and in Ms. Zimmerman's The Notebooks of Leonard Da Vinci at Second Stage. Ms. Mooney has been seen Off-Broadway in Gorilla Man at P.S. 122 and in No. 11 Blue and White at the McGinn/Cazale directed by Daniel Aukin.

The sets will be designed by Lauren Helpern Bug, (OBIE Award), The Amish Project (Rattlestick, on tour in 2010), None of the Above (Hewes nomination), Dragapella, Underneath the Lintel, and the Broadway production Voices in the Dark. Video designer C. Andrew Bauer returns to 3LD where he designed Ellen Beckerman's Milk & Honey. Recent work includes Blessed Unrest's Nick (dir. Jessica Burr; Interart, undergroundzero Festival, PS 122) and the Young Company's Romeo and Juliet (dir. Tony Speciale, CSC). He recently assisted designer Peter Nigrini on Broadway for 9 to 5: the Musical (dir. Joe Mantello, Marquis Theatre) and Fela! based on the life of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (dir. Bill T. Jones, Eugene O'Neill Theatre). The costumes will be designed by Emily DeAngelis (We Declare You a Terrorist, The Public, SPF; The Dome, Prospect Theatre Company; The Angel Eaters Trilogy, NYITA nominee); the lighting design by Laura Mroczkowski (Big Dance Theater, Los Angeles Opera Company, The Walker Arts Center); the prop design by Lauren Asta; and the sound design by Marcelo Añez (4-time Grammy Award-winner for his work as a recording and mix engineer). The general manager will be Lisa Dozier and the production stage manager will be Erin Koster.

Phoebe Gloeckner, the recipient of a 2008 Guggenheim fellowship, is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and novelist. Her comics work, in the form of short stories published in a variety of underground anthologies including Wimmen's Comix, Weirdo, Young Lust and Twisted Sisters, was sporadic and rarely seen until the 1998 release of the collection A Child's Life and Other Stories. This was followed by her 2002 novel The Diary of a Teenage Girl, which revisited the troubled life of the young character previously featured in some of her comics, this time in an unusual combination of prose, illustration, and short comics scenes. Her novel and many of her short stories are semi-autobiographical, a frequent cause of comment due to their depiction of sex, drug use, and childhood traumas; however, Gloeckner has stated that she regards them as fiction. Less controversial, and actually intended for children, is her book Weird Things You Can Grow, published by Random House, and books in the series beginning with Tales too Funny to be True published by HarperCollins, for which she did the illustrations. Former curator of the MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) Bill Roundy will curate a show of Ms. Gloeckner's artwork at 3LD for the run of the show and Gloeckner, herself, is expected to be in town for the first week of performances.

Aaron Louis (Producer), the Producing Director at 3LD Art & Technology Center, is a founding member of the film and theatre Production Company Aviles Street Productions, whose last project was the feature film Things That Hang From Trees. The film premiered at the MoMA and Lincoln Center in the NYC Film Society festival New Directors/New Films series, and won "Best Film" at the Corto Imola International Film Festival (Bologna, Italy) and "Best American Independent" in Troia International Film Festival (Lisbon, Portugal). The film received nationwide DVD distribution by Radio London Films in November 2007. Aaron Louis is the author of the Southern Gothic novella Things That Hang From Trees and the screenplay for the Aviles Street Productions film adaptation. In 2003 Barnes & Noble sponsored a book signing tour that took him to over twenty different cities. Aaron began his career as a musician, and after several years as the principal singer/songwriter for the eleven-piece acoustic band, Dandelion Wine, he went on to release a solo album called If So on Cell records/Tropia in 2000. Aaron was the in-house booking agent for four live music venues in central Florida: Up & Atom, Black-Eyed Susan, The Main Street Pier, and The Underground, producing over 1000 shows with regional and national bands. He was also the owner of Galaxie 500, a live music venue and performance space in Northern Florida. Upcoming literary works include the novel Great Inland Waterways and the novella If You Can't Act Normal, Go To Bed.

New Georges (Associate Producer) is the OBIE Award-winning downtown theater company founded in 1992. The company's most recent productions include: Heidi Schreck's Creature; Eisa Davis' Angela's Mixtape; Jenny Schwartz's God's Ear; Wendy Weiner's Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy With a (Somewhat) Happy Ending; Susan Bernfield's Stretch (a fantasia); and Sheila Callaghan's Dead City (a winner of the 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the first production to officially open at 3LD in 2006. The company, in addition to producing regular seasons, is a play and artist development organization, providing essential resources and opportunities to a community of venturesome artists.

The Essentials (Associate Producer) is a New York-based theater company dedicated to making ambitiously entertaining theater, and teaching students to do the same. Recent plays include Perfect Harmony (Theatre Row, FringeEncores, FringeNYC, Chashama, NYU Graduate Acting Studio Tisch) and MOTHER (Wild Project) with Buck Henry and Holland Taylor. The Essentials' education program partners with some of New York's premiere high schools, and their work was recently profiled in the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education's Urban Education Journal.

3LD Art & Technology Center (www.3ldnyc.org) is a community-oriented and artist-run production development studio for emerging and established artists and organizations that create large-scale experimental artworks of all kinds. 3LD is owned and operated by 3-Legged Dog Media & Theater Group, an experimental media and theater group founded in 1994 to produce original works in theater, performance, media, installation and hybrid forms. Since its inception, 3-Legged Dog has performed and exhibited at the Kitchen, the Ontological, PS 122, La MaMa, the Signature Theatre, the Venice Biennale, and at their home, 3LD Art & Technology Center.