Theatrical Outfit Launches THE UNEXPECTED PLAY READING FESTIVAL 1/21-22, 2017

Theatrical Outfit's is proud to presents its first festival of play readings, The Unexpected Play Reading Festival. Witness top notch talent bring characters and plots to vivid life as four new or newish scripts not only stir the soul but maybe even unsettle it. Think of it as T.O. Stage 2 - unpredictable and exciting fare that stretches The Outfit aesthetic in either content or form. Preview tomorrow's hit play today. This brand new programming runs January 21-22, 2017 continuing Theatrical Outfit's 40th Anniversary Season of Hope!

ABOUT THE FOUR PLAYS

Just Like Us
by Karen Zacarías
Directed by Jaclyn Hofmann
Featuring: Wendy Melkonian*, Diany Rodriguez*, Julissa Sabino*, Maria Sager*, Luis Hernandez, Blanca Augero, Laura Lorena Morales, Denise Arribas and Juan Carlos Unzueta
Saturday, January 21, 2017 @ 2:30pm

What makes someone "American"?

Based on Helen Thorpe's bestselling book, this documentary-style play follows four Latina teenage girls in Denver-two who are documented and two who are not-through young adulthood. Their close-knit friendships begin to unravel as immigration status dictates the girls' opportunities, or lack thereof. When a political firestorm arises, each girl's future becomes increasingly complicated. Just Like Us poses difficult, yet essential questions about citizenship in today's United States.

Spooky Action at a Distance
by Matthew Buckley Smith
Directed by Tom Key, Theatrical Outfit's Artistic Director
Featuring: Randi Garza* and Adam Fristoe*
Saturday, January 21, 2017 @ 7:30pm

Can two people be irrevocably connected, regardless of action or distance?

It's 1971, the Vietnam War grinds on, and Simon Pirklowski avoids the draft, studying physics at Berkeley. But when he befriends a bartender and agrees to tutor his wife, Simon is schooled in just how thrilling uncertainty can be. Spooky Action takes its title from Einstein and Neils Bohr's theory of quantum entanglement debate - can two particles be linked in such a way that a change in one would have an instantaneous effect on the other? Theoretical physics smashes up against earthly desire in the present, in the past and in alternate realities. May be inappropriate for children.

Boy
by Anna Ziegler
Directed by Melissa Foulger
Featuring Clifton Guterman*, Theatrical Outfit's Associate Artistic Director, and Ann Marie Gideon*, David de Vries*, Tiffany Morgan and Matthew Myers
Sunday, January 22, 2017 @ 2:30pm

Does nature or nurture determine who and how we love?

Inspired by a true story, Boy explores the tricky terrain of loving oneself and others amidst the confusion of sexual identity and an inextricable bond between a doctor and his very special patient. In the 1960s, a well-intentioned physician convinces the parents of a male infant to raise their son as a girl after a medical accident. In the 1980s, the repercussions and all-too-human realities of that choice continue to unfold and alter lives. May be inappropriate for children.

Nope. That's Just My First Name: A Nearly One-Woman Show
by and featuring Suehyla El-Attar
Directed by Topher Payne
Sunday, January 22, 2017 @ 7:30pm

Deep down, we all wanna go where everybody knows our name. Or at least knows how to say it.

Born to Egyptian-Muslim parents and raised in Mississippi, one boundless girl can't find a license plate key chain with her name on it no matter where she goes. In this hybrid of theatre, TED talk and comedy routine, Suehyla El-Attar invites us to consider her true American story - one that might be titled "What's in a Name?"

*Member of Actors' Equity Association
Titles, personnel and performers subject to change.

TICKETS
Performances: January 21, 2017 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm and January 22, 2017 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm

Tickets are $10.80 (including tax) per individual reading. A four-reading packet is available for $37.80 (including tax). Full season subscribers receive one free ticket to one reading of choice. Tickets may be purchased online at www.theatricaloutfit.org/special-events/ or by calling 678.528.1500.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EVENTS:
Artists Panel and Reception - Sunday, January 22, 2017. 5pm-7pm in the Balzer Theater at Herren's and lobby. Engage in a moderated discussion with the creative teams of the festival - producers, actors, directors, writers. Enjoy lite food and drinks. Come to the matinee and stay, or attend to the panel and remain for the evening reading. Or both! Open and free to all patrons with a ticket to any reading.

THANK YOU TO OUR SEASON SPONSORS: Fulton County Office of Cultural Affairs, Turner Broadcasting, City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs, Jackson Spalding, Publix Super Markets Charities, The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund

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