BLACKBIRD Premieres At The Repertory Theater 1/21

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) continues its 2008-2009 Studio Theatre series with the St. Louis premiere of David Harrower's Blackbird.

Performances of Blackbird will be given in the Emerson Studio Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Road, Webster Groves, January 21-February 8, 2009.

Curtain times are Tuesday at 7:00 pm; Wednesday-Friday at 8:00 pm; Saturday evenings at 5:00 pm; selected Saturday nights at 9:00 pm; and Sunday at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

All seating in the intimate 125-seat Emerson Studio Theatre is general admission. Ticket prices start at just $34. To purchase, visit The Rep Box Office, located inside the Loretto-Hilton Center, charge by phone by calling (314) 968-4925, or visit The Rep's online box office at www.repstl.org.

Ray has made a new life for himself, a new identity, a fresh start, leaving his past and his past mistakes behind him, if such a thing is possible. But one day Una shows up unexpectedly at his office to confront him about their disastrous relationship 15 years earlier, when she was only 12 years old.

Because while Ray has started over, Una has found herself almost frozen in time, able to think of little else and, after spotting a photo of Ray in a trade magazine, she has come to challenge him with questions about their ill-fated affair.

Gripping and volatile, surprising and haunting, Blackbird plumbs the pair's depths of guilt and raw emotions, and examines the line between love and abuse.

Playwright David Harrower was inspired to write Blackbird after reading the real-life, well-documented story in Manchester, England, of a former United States Marine who met a 12-year-old British girl in an online chat room and began a relationship with her.

Blackbird premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005 and subsequently transferred to London's West End the following year, where it was honored with the 2007 Olivier Award for best new play. The play was produced off-Broadway in 2007 at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and is currently being adapted as a motion picture.

One of the United Kingdom's most electrifying contemporary writers, David Harrower's first play, Knives in Hens, was produced at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh in 1995. He is also the author of Kill the Old, Torture Their Young; The Chrysalids; Presence and Dark Earth. He has adapted versions of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of An Author, Chekhov's Ivanov and Buchner's Woyzeck. Harrower also recently wrote a new version of Odon von Horvath's Tales from the Vienna Woods for London's National Theatre.

The cast of Blackbird at The Rep is Carmen Goodine as Una and Christopher Oden as Ray.

Blackbird is directed by Amy Saltz. The creative staff includes Luke Hegel-Cantarella, scenic designer; Elizabeth Eisloffel, costume designer; Mary Jo Dondlinger, lighting designer; Rusty Wandall, sound designer; and Champe Leary, stage manager.

For more information about Blackbird, including a guide introducing the characters, plot and background on the play; photos and video related to the production; and more, visit The Rep's comprehensive website at www.repstl.org.