Capital T Theatre Presents EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR, Now thru 9/8

Capital T Theatre presents Exit, Pursued by a Bear by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Mark Pickell and starring Joey Hood, Molly Karrasch, Stephen Mercantel and Indigo Rael, August 16-September 8, 2012.

The show runs Thursday-Saturday at 8pm. Running time 1 hour 15 minutes no intermission at the Hyde Park Theatre, located at 511 West 43rd St Austin, Texas. Tickets are $15-$30 sliding scale and can be reserved by calling 479-PLAY or visiting www.capitalT.org.

Nan is finally fed up with her abusive husband Kyle and is going to make a run for it but not until she’s duct taped him to a recliner, covered him in honey and invited the neighborhood bear in for a snack. But before she leaves, Nan is going to act out all of Kyle’s wrongdoings in front of him with a little help from her best friend Simon (acting as her emotional—and actual—cheerleader) and a stripper named Sweetheart (whose stage name is Bunny). Lauren Gunderson’s gut-busting, outrageous revenge comedy is about dreams, healing, and the simple joy of duct-taping a dickhead to the living room chair.

Cap T presents the regional premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s southern-fried, finger-lickin comedy starring Joey Hood as Kyle (KILLER JOE, BUG, THE ALIENS), Molly Karrasch as Nan (TIGERS BE STILL), Indigo Rael as Sweetheart and Stephen Mercantel as Simon (SPIRITS TO ENFORCE) and directed by two time Austin Critics Table Award-winning Director Mark Pickell (HUNTER GATHERERS, KILLER JOE)

CAST

Kyle – Joey Hood

This is Joey’s fourth appearance with Capital T Theatre. Last summer he appeared as Frankie in A LIE OF THE MIND. He appeared for Cap T in both KILLER JOE and BUG (Austin Critics Table Nomination Best Actor in a Leading Role) . He was most recently seen in Zach Scott’s production of DIVIDING THE ESTATE. Other Credits include THE ALIENS (Austin Critics Table Nomination Best Supporting Actor), THE ATHEIST (Austin Critics Table Best Actor Award), FLYING, ZOO STORY. THE COLLECTION, BOMBS IN YOUR MOUTH , HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ASSASINATED?, THE WATER PRINCIPLE, THE GLORY OF LIVING (Austin Critics Table Nomination Best Actor) TWIGHLIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992(Austin Critics Table Nomination Best Supporting Actor) THE METAMORPHISIS (B Iden Payne Nomination Best Actor) BLUR (B Iden Payne Nomination Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy), Fish (B Iden Payne Nomination) and STADIUM DEVILDARE. Joey is originally from South Mississippi and has been treading Austin stages since 1997. Joey is also Hyde Park Theatre core company member.

Nan – Molly Karasch

This is Molly’s first appearance with Capital T. She was last seen as Sherry in TIGERS BE STILL for Hyde Park Theatre. Other Austin credits include: Rita in EDUCATING RITA (Sidetrack/Austin Playhouse), Moth/Mercade in LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST (Austin Shakespeare), Catherine in PROOF, Annnelle in STEEL MAGNOLIAS, Rachel in INHERIT THE WIND, Mary in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Austin Playhouse). Molly is a member of the Austin Playhouse Acting Company, co-founder of Sidetrack Productions and writes about anxiety, food and funny for www.ActClassy.com. She has a BFA in Theatre from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.

Simon – Stephen Mercantel

This marks Stephen’s return to the Capital T theatre stage after appearing as Fragrance Fellow in SPIRITS TO ENFORCE. He also appeared onstage as Davey in SICK Cap T. Other credits include BODY AWARENESS for HPT (B Iden Payne Nomination Best Supporting Actor), and CABARET for Summer Stock Austin as Heir Schultz. He has also worked backstage on Cap T’s BUG, I HEART WALMART, and HUNTER GATHERERS. He is currently completing his degree in theatre at St. Edwards University.

Sweetheart – Indigo Rael

EXIT PBAB is Indigo Rael’s Austin stage debut. She studied art at the University of North Texas before moving to an ex-patriot community near Lake Chapala in Jalisco, Mexico. During her year-long hiatus from higher education she performed in the Lakeside Little Theatre’s production of John Patrick Shanley’s DOUBT. Encouraged to pursue an acting career, she moved to Austin four years ago to study improv and acting for film. She can be seen in improv shows around town, local independent films, and several television commercials. Indigo is also a passionate artist and activist. She is currently writing, producing and starring in a web show about The Plastic Mermaid from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Lauren Gunderson – Playwright

Lauren is a playwright, screenwriter and short story author from Atlanta, GA, who lived in NYC before finding San Francisco. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch, where she was also a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship.

Her newest play, I and You, will be featured at South Coast Rep’s Pacific Playwrights Festival this April.

Her 2011 3-city rolling world premiere of Exit, Pursued By A Bear, was featured in American Theatre Magazine and The Week. Bear started at Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta and San Francisco’s Crowded Fire last summer. The play will reach at least 5 cities this year and will be published by Playscripts.

Her first musical, The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful and Her Dog! for The Kennedy Center opened last fall to rave reviews. Her play Silent Sky premiered at South Coast Rep 2011. Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Tonight (Samuel French) was commissioned and premiered at South Coast Rep in 2009, running across the country. Fire Work was developed at The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and is a 2011 winner for Aurora Theatre’s Global Age Project. She is commissioned for 2 musicals with The Kennedy Center, a musical with Harry Connick Jr., and new plays for South Coast Rep, Crowded Fire, and SF Playhouse. She has developed plays with Second Stage, Red Bull, and Primary Stages in NYC; New Rep in Boston; Playwrights Foundation, Crowded Fire, TheatreWorks, Aurora Theatre, and The Magic Theatre in San Francisco; Kitchen Dog Theatre in Dallas; Synchronicity, Actor Express and Horizon Theatre in Atlanta; JAW at Portland Center Stage in Portland; WORDBridge, Brave New Works, and others. She received a Sloan Science Script Award (2008) for her screenplay Grand Unification. She teachers and speaks on the intersection of science and theatre, and is in development with MTV for a pilot about science fairs.

Her work has received national praise and awards including the Berrilla Kerr Award for American Theatre, Global Age Project. She is commissioned for 2 musicals with The Kennedy Center, a musical with Harry Connick Jr., and new plays for South Coast Rep, Crowded Fire, and SF Playhouse. She has developed plays with Second Stage, Red Bull, and Primary Stages in NYC; New Rep in Boston; Playwrights Foundation, Crowded Fire, TheatreWorks, Aurora Theatre, and The Magic Theatre in San Francisco; Kitchen Dog Theatre in Dallas; Synchronicity, Actor Express and Horizon Theatre in Atlanta; JAW at Portland Center Stage in Portland; WORDBridge, Brave New Works, and others. She received a Sloan Science Script Award (2008) for her screenplay Grand Unification. She teachers and speaks on the intersection of science and theatre, and is in development with MTV for a pilot about science fairs.

Her work has received national praise and awards including the Berrilla Kerr Award for American Theatre, Global Age Project, Young Playwright’s Award, Eric Bentley New Play Award and Essential Theatre Prize. She has been commissioned by The ALLIANCE THEATRE’s Collision Project, Marin Theatre Company, Actors Express Theatre, Dad’s Garage Theatre, Theatrical Outfit, City University of New York and Synchronicity Performance Group. Leap was published with Theatre Emory’s Playwriting Center (2004), and her first collection of plays,Deepen The Mystery: Science and the South Onstage, is published with iUniverse (2006). She has developed plays with Second Stage and Primary Stages in NYC, New Rep in Boston, Playwrights Foundation, Crowded Fire, Aurora Theatre, and The Magic Theatre in San Francisco, Kitchen Dog Theatre in Dallas, Actor Express and Horizon Theatre in Atlanta, JAW/West in Portland, WORDBridge, Brave New Works, and others. She received a Sloan Science Script Award (2008) for her screenplay Grand Unification. Leap was published with Theatre Emory’s Playwriting Center (2004), and her short story, “The Ascending Life”, won the Norembega Short Fiction Award and was published in the anthology, The Shape of Content; her science play Background was published in ISOTOPE: A Journal of Nature and Science Writing. Her string theory poem “Hook of a Number” was published in the anthology Riffing On Strings.

She has spoken nationally and internationally on the intersection of science and theatre and Arts Activism. She is a Playwright in Resident at The Playwrights Foundation, a Dramatists Guild member, and was a member of Just Theatre’s New Play Lab. She writes for The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and tweets @LalaTellsAStory.

Named “Company of the Year” for 2009 by the Austin Theatre Examiner, Capital T Theatre has quickly established itself as one of the leading young theatre companies in Austin. In its brief six year history Capital T's 17 productions have been nominated for over 75 awards and the plays have been met with both critical and box office success. Every year at least one of Capital T’s productions have been nominated or won an award for outstanding production from the B Iden Payne Awards and/or the Austin Critics Table Awards.

Capital T Theatre was founded in October 2005 when theatre artists Tal Lostracco and Mark Pickell sought opportunities for ambitious young artists to present their work in Austin. Since the success of their first production of Edward II, Capital T has fully produced 17 plays in Austin including: A Brief History of Helen of Troy by Mark Schultz, La Dispute by Marivaux, Mr. Marmalade by Noah Haidle, Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, i google myself by Jason Shafer, Blackbird by David Harrower, The Bird and The Bee by Al Smith and Matt Hartley, Killer Joe by Tracy Letts, I ♥ Walmart an Original Script, Sick by Zayd Dohrn, Dying City by Christopher Shinn, Bug by Tracy Letts, Hunter Gatherers by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Spirits to Enforce by Mickle Maher, A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard, Precious Little Talent by Ella Hickson, and boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb. note: bolded text denotes nomination or win for best production by BIP and/or Austin Critics Table Awards.

 

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