Norén's 'War' Makes US Premiere with Rattlestick Theater, Begins Jan.31

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater continues its 13th anniversary season with the American Premiere of War, the internationally acclaimed play by Lars Norén, Sweden's most prolific playwright.  Due to health reasons, Norén is unable to travel from Sweden to direct the production as previously announced.  Instead, Anders Cato (Miss Julie), a fellow Swede will helm the production with the assistance of  Ulrika Josephsson, who together with Norén has been Artistic Director of Riks Drama, Riksteatern, Sweden's national theater company.  Performances begin Thursday, January 31st, 2008.  Opening night is Monday, February 11th at 7pm.  The show will run through Sunday, March 2nd, 2008.

War, in a translation by Marita Lindholm Gochman, is set in a year of ethnic cleansing.  A mother and her two daughters, their father missing and presumed dead, think only of survival.  When the father returns unexpectedly, they must confront a world gone completely wrong.   Through this simple family tale, Norén creates a powerful human statement that becomes, through the use of multi-ethnic casting, a history of genocide in our age.

The cast of War includes Ngozi Anyanwu (Ghosts), Rosalyn Coleman (Radio Golf, The Piano Lesson), Flora Diaz (Tooth and Claw, The Disappeared), and Alok Tewari (Betrothed, The Servant of Two Masters).

War will have the following performance schedule: Tuesday – Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $40.00 and are available through SmartTix ( 212-868-4444 ) or www.smarttix.com. Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is located at 224 Waverly Place (off Seventh Avenue South – between West 11th & Perry Streets).

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is a multi award-winning company which has produced over thirty-eight world premieres in the past twelve seasons and this year's recipient of the Ross Wetzsteon Memorial OBIE Award for its work developing new and innovative work.  For more information visit www.rattlestick.org. 

Photo of Lars Norén by Marta Huldt