Charlestown Working Theater Presents ACT A LADY, 4/16-5/1

Theatre on Fire closes its fifth anniversary season at the Charlestown Working Theater with JorDan Harrison's hilarious farce ACT A LADY from April 16 - May 1, 2010.

When the men of a small Prohibition-era town decide to put on a play dressed in "fancy-type, women-type clothes," the whole community is affected: gender lines blur, eyebrows raise, identities explode, and life and art are forever entangled. ACT A LADY is a thoughtful and exuberant Midwestern fable about the woman in every man, the man in every woman and the power of theatre to uncover both. Accompanied by accordion.

ACT A LADY premiered in 2006 at The Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival. It was hailed as the festival's "most uproarious comedy, a farce of outlandish proportions, [that] takes on and celebrates the art of theater itself...Part Waiting for Guffman and part Dangerous Liaisons." (Cleveland Plain Dealer) It was also recognized as ""a source of camp pleasures and a fount of social commentary" by American Theatre Magazine and "smoothly entertaining [and] imaginative" by Variety.

For more information on ACT A LADY or Theatre on Fire, please visit www.theatreonfire.org. Tickets are available online at www.charlestownworkingtheater.org, or by phone at 866-811-4111 (toll free).

 

ACT A LADY features a cast of returning Theatre on Fire favorites and newcomers alike: Lisa Caron Driscoll, Craig Houk, Crystal Lisbon, Greg Maraio, Chelsea Schmidt, and Chris Wagner.
Theatre on Fire is small theatre company dedicated to producing hot, high-quality shows that take you out of your comfort zone. We don't do cute and we don't do boring. TOF has been nominated for seven IRNE awards in its first four seasons. Now in its fifth season, Theatre on Fire is proud to be a Resident Company at the Charlestown Working Theater (CWT). Darren Evans explains: "CWT has given us a wonderful opportunity to grow and thrive in these Early Stages of our existence. It's a great organization, a funky facility, and a truly welcoming environment." TOF is also a member of the Small Theatre Alliance of Boston.

The Charlestown Working Theater was founded on the idea that a theater and a community can engage in a dialogue which results in creative, artistic expression, an exciting exchange of ideas, and a deeper understanding of the people who make up the community. CWT has maintained this philosophy throughout its history and has remained dedicated to serving the cultural needs of Charlestown and greater Boston. CWT's Resident Artists Program was established in 1997 to create the opportunity and environment for area theatre artists to develop, rehearse, and perform creative theatre productions, teach workshops, and engage with our community. Today, the Resident Artists Program features the work of local, national, and interNational Theatre companies and artists.

 

JorDan Harrison grew up on an island near Seattle. His play Doris to Darlene recently premiered at Playwrights Horizons and his play Amazons and Their Men was produced Off-Broadway by Clubbed Thumb. Mr. Harrison's plays Act a Lady, Kid-Simple, and Fit For Feet premiered in the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and have been produced all over the country. His play Finn in the Underworld had its world premiere at Berkeley Rep under the direction of Les Waters. Mr. Harrison's work has also been produced or developed at Actor's Express, American Theater Company, Ars Nova, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, NYTW, Perishable Theatre, PlayLabs, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Rep, Soho Rep, SPF, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Mr. Harrison is the recipient of the Kesselring Fellowship, the Heideman Award, a Theater Masters' Innovative Playwright Award, two Jerome Fellowships and a McKnight Grant from The Playwrights' Center, a Lucille Lortel Fellowship, and a NEA/TCG Playwright-in-Residence Grant with The Empty Space Theatre. He has received commissions from Arden Theatre Company, Berkeley Rep/Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cypress Films, Guthrie Theater/Children's Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, and South Coast Rep. His plays are published by Playscripts, Inc., Samuel French, Smith and Kraus, and Heinemann. A graduate of the Brown University MFA Playwriting program, Mr. Harrison is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and an Associate Artist with The Civilians. He has taught playwriting at Brown, The Playwrights' Center, and SUNY Purchase. With Sally Oswald, he edits Play A Journal of Plays, dedicated to reinventing the life of plays on the page.

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