IF COLORADO HAD AN OCEAN Begins 12/4 at La MaMa

La MaMa presents the World Premiere of IF COLORADO HAD AN OCEAN... by Mike Gorman. Directed by David Bennett, previews begin December 4 with opening night slated for Thursday, December 11, 2014.

IF COLORADO HAD AN OCEAN... is set in 1988 in the whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Jim is an aspiring young writer. His big brother Steven is a construction worker with dreams of being a successful commercial fisherman; he is also a heroin addict. When Jim joins Steven on a construction job, he hopes to help his brother combat the great white whale that is addiction. But rarely do things go as planned -- especially when another addict and a dealer with ties to Moby Dick enter the picture.

Produced by The Forty Hour Club, the production features costumes by Angela Wendt (Rent), set by Obie winner Donald Eastman, sound by Obie winner Tim Schellenbaum, lighting by John Eckert, and music composed by Rebecca Hart. The cast features Matt Hurley (Medeia, directed by Kristin Linklater), Melody Bates (Partial Comfort's Booty Candy), Alan Barnes Netherton (Jean Claude van Italie's America Hurrah, Labapalooza! at St. Ann's Warehouse), Nick Lawson (The Amoralists; Collision and The Bad and the Better), J.Stephen Brantley (Outstanding Lead Actor NY Innovative Theater Award nominee for Pirira), Jeff Pagliano, (Outstanding Featured Actor NY Innovative Theater Award nominee for Fracturing) Caitlin Johnston (titular Ondine, directed by Colman Domingo) and Shuhei Kinoshita (Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki at Lincoln Center Festival). The stage manager is Eloise Sherrid.

IF COLORADO HAD AN OCEAN... is one of a series of plays by Michael Gorman to deal with the common threads of addiction, recovery and the commercial fishing community. Two other plays in the series, UltraLight and The Honor and Glory of Whaling, were previously produced at La MaMa.

Running concurrently with IF COLORADO HAD AN OCEAN... is Fishing for Paradise, a multimedia installation featuring text, video and testimonial by Mike Gorman, painting and sculpture by Gregory De La Haba, graphic art by Bob Demetrius and set models and elements by Donald Eastman. The exhibit runs December 11 - 20, 2014 at La Mama Galleria at 47 Great Jones Street between Bowery and Lafayette Street.

Mike Gorman is a playwright in residence at La MaMa where he has presented works including How and Why I Robbed My First Cheese Store (2011), The Honor and Glory of Whaling (2008), Death by Joinery (2006), Counting Coup (2002), Single-Action-Shotgun (2001), UltraLight (2000) and A Funny Old Bird (1998). His plays have also been seen at The Portland Stage Company and Gloucester Stage Company (Israel Horovitz, Artistic Director), among others. He began his playwrighting career at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts where received a degree in Literature (1988). At Clark, Mike was nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship and was nominated for induction into the Clark University Athletic Hall of Fame.

David Bennett is a NYC based director and actor. Directing credits include Biffing Mussels (Stonington Opera House, Maine), The Poet and the Lumberjack (La MaMa), and How and Why I Robbed My First Cheese Store (La MaMa), all by Mike Gorman. Recent acting credits include R & J & Z at the Stonington Opera House, the Conni's Avant Garde Restaurant productions of Illyria and Little West 12th Night, and the NY premiere of Adam Szymkowicz's The Why Overhead. He has worked closely with Mike Gorman for the past 14 years.

La MaMa is a remarkable arts institution with a worldwide reputation for producing daring work in theater, dance, performance art, and music. Founded in 1961 by theater pioneer and legend, Ellen Stewart, La MaMa has produced and presented more than 3,200 theatrical productions to date and is a vital part of the fabric of cultural life in New York City and around the world. La MaMa provides a supportive home for artists and takes risks on unknown work. Artists such as Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Philip Glass, Robert Wilson, Harvey Fierstein, Blue Man Group, David and Amy Sedaris and other luminaries began their careers at La MaMa. International artists introduced to America by La MaMa include Tadeusz Kantor, Andrei Serban, Kazuo Ohno and, more recently, the acclaimed Belarus Free Theatre. La MaMa has been honored with more than 30 OBIE Awards, dozens of Drama Desk and Bessie Awards, and, in 2006, Ellen Stewart was recognized with a special TONY Award for Excellence in the Theater. An integral part of New York City's cultural landscape, La MaMa has a worldwide reputation for producing daring work in theatre, dance, performance art, and music that defies form and transcends boundaries of language, race, and culture. Founded in 1961 by theatre pioneer and legend Ellen Stewart, La MaMa is a global organization with creative partners and dedicated audiences around the world. La MaMa presents an average of 60-70 productions annually, most of which are world premieres. To date, over 3,500 productions have been presented at La MaMa with artists from more than 70 nations. Honored with more than 30 OBIE Awards, dozens of Drama Desk and Bessie Awards, La MaMa's programming is culturally diverse, cross-disciplinary and draws audiences from all walks of life. For the second consecutive year, La MaMa will offer its 10@$10 program whereby 10 tickets are made available for every performance in every theatre in advance for only $10.

IF COLORADO HAD AN OCEAN... runs December 4 - 21, Thursday - Saturday at 7:30 PM & Sunday at 2:00 PM. La MaMa is located at 74A East Fourth Street (between 2nd Avenue & Bowery -- accessible from the F train at 2nd Ave). Tickets are $18 / $13 for students & seniors, available at 646-430-5374 or www.lamama.org.