New Play BARE STAGE Sets World Premiere In Boston

Announcing the world premiere of bare stage, a new play by award-winning Boston Playwright Michael Walker (Absolutely Dead, Dancing in the Garden). bare stage gives voice to the challenges and difficulties all participants face in a play with nudity, while calling into question the issues of censorship, artistic freedom, body-shaming, exploitation and simple morality surrounding the writing, production and performance of plays with nudity. bare stage seeks to answer the critical question - "When is nudity essential to the play, and when is it exploitation and a distraction?"

bare stage will run from February 8-March 2, 2019 at the Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts (539 Tremont Street, Boston 02116), featuring IRNE Award Nominee Ashley Risteen as "Kate," Allie Meek as "Rachel" and Kevin Cirone as the playwright, "Parker." Conceived and Written by Michael Walker, bare stage is Directed by A. Nora Long. Performances: Wednesday through Friday (8pm), Saturday (2pm & 8pm), Sunday (2pm). General admission tickets will be on sale January 1st; please see www.bcaonline.org or call 617-426-5000 after that date for discount information and purchases.

"I am thrilled bare stage is finally coming to life; I have wanted to confront the issues of censorship, artistic freedom and objectification for some years," said Playwright Michael Walker. "With this play I have sought to illustrate how difficult it is for actors to decide to accept a role with nudity. In addition, I wanted to shine a light on the tremendous imbalance of power between actors and directors when a play calls for nudity; that inequity can easily result in actor abuse and body shaming, as well as sexual harassment and assault during the rehearsal process. After watching bare stage, I hope audiences will feel, as I do, that playwrights who include nudity in their plays have a responsibility to create scripts in which the nudity is vital to the dramatic action of the play and not just a sensational titillation."

Michael Walker is an award-winning playwright living outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He has dedicated his efforts to creating powerful roles for women and to illuminating issues critical to women in the twenty-first century. His dramas, mysteries and thrillers have been produced in Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Massachusetts and New York City. Walker's play Absolutely Dead was the 1st Place Winner, 2012 International Mystery Writers' New Play Competition, and the First Runner-up for the Robert J. Pickering Award for Excellence in Playwriting.

Two young actresses - Kate and Rachel -- are best friends, but polar opposites in professional experience, financial security, family support and body type. Both are cast by Parker, a 'rising star' playwright/director in the premier, out-of-town production of a neoclassical drama headed to New York. They are cast in the chorus of men and women, who must appear naked throughout the performance. Their friendship, personal lives and values are tested as they each bring their individual passions and needs to the production and they both clash with the demands of the playwright/director and with each other.

bare stage centers on the difficulties and arguments surrounding the writing, production and performance of plays with nudity. Censorship, artistic freedom, objectification, exploitation and simple morality are called into question in this drama presented without intermission.

bare stage will feature IRNE Award Nominee Ashley Risteen as "Kate," Allie Meek as "Rachel" and Kevin Cirone* as the playwright, "Parker." *Indicates member of Actors Equity Association

Michael Walker, Playwright: Michael Walker is an award-winning playwright living outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He has been an actor, director and producer in professional theatre for over forty years.

Although he has written screenplays, Michael concentrates on writing full-length plays for the stage. While dramatic action and audience enjoyment drive his plays, Michael dedicates his efforts to creating powerful roles for women and to illuminating issues critical to women in the twenty-first century. His dramas, mysteries and thrillers have been produced in Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Massachusetts and New York City. Soon, he'll be adding New Hampshire and Kansas to the list.

His ten full-length plays include, among others, Dancing in the Garden; Aftershock (winner, Penobscot Theatre's 2009 Northern Writes New Play Festival and finalist, 2010 Playwrights First's (NYC)); Absolutely Dead (Winner, 2012 International Mystery Writers' Festival and 2nd Place, Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting), La Fin du Silence (Semifinalist, Ashland New Play Festival and Quarterfinalist at PlayPenn) and bare stage.

Previously, Michael held positions as the Artistic Director and Producer at Foothills Theatre Company; Executive Producer and Artistic Director at Summer Theatre at Mount Holyoke; Artistic Director at Beanpatch Theatre Company; Executive Director of Hampshire Shakespeare Company; and Director of Development at Stoneham Theatre (now, Greater Boston Stage Company).

As a professional actor, he has appeared in over a hundred roles on tour, in summer stock and at resident companies in plays by Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Moliere, Chekhov, Ibsen, and Miller as well as modern comedies and a dozen musicals including his final role, appearing as Mr. Ryan, with John C. Reilly playing the title role in MARTY at the Huntington Theatre Company.

He holds a BA in Theatre Arts from UMass (Amherst) and an MFA in Playwriting from Brandeis University, and is a member of Actors' Equity Association and the Dramatists Guild.

Nora Long (Director): Nora Long is a freelance director, writer, and dramaturg based in Boston. She served as the associate artistic director at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston for eight seasons, where she directed Virginia Woolf's Orlando, Murder for Two, Mr. Burns: a post-electric play, and Dear Elizabeth. She is one of the artistic directors for New Exhibition Room (NXR), a fringe company that specializes in developing cheeky ensemble-based new work. With NXR she has spearheaded productions including Shh!, an exploration on the role of censorship which attended the New York International Fringe Festival after a sold-out run in Boston; The Paper Bag Princess, Midnight at the Last Night Cabaret and EEP! Show. Other recent directing credits include The Clean House (Threshold Stage Company); Cymbeline, Macbeth (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Apprentice Program), Noises Off!, Ruthless: the Musical! (Hackmatack Playhouse), and Three (Boston Public Works), among others. She received her MFA in Dramaturgy from The American Repertory Theatre/ Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and her BA from Sarah Lawrence College in theatre and Italian. https://www.anoralong.com/

bare stage will run from February 8- March 2, 2019 at the Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts (539 Tremont Street, Boston 02116). Tickets will go on sale January 1st; please see www.bcaonline.org or call 617.426.5000 after that date for discount information and purchases.

An integral part of the cultural fabric of the city, BCA utilizes its historic campus in the vibrant South End to present world-class exhibitions and performances, provide affordable work space, engage cultural consumers throughout the region, and nurture artists with the resources to take risks and develop new works.

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