SpeakEasy Stage Company to Present APPROPRIATE, 9/12-10/10

From September 12-October 10, 2015, SpeakEasy Stage Company will proudly present the New England Premiere of appropriate, the thrilling new drama about race and identity by acclaimed African-American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

A 2014 Obie Award-winner for Best New American Play, appropriate follows the estranged members of the Lafayette clan as they gather at their crumbling Arkansas plantation home to mourn the loss of their father and settle his estate. While sifting through a lifetime of memories and junk, they make a gruesome discovery that forces them to examine their own lives and confront their family's dark past.

Jacobs-Jenkins has said in interviews that, when writing appropriate, he was inspired by and "appropriated" bits from iconic American Family Drama plays such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Long Day's Journey into Night, Buried Child, and August: Osage County. By remixing and riffing on his source material, Jacobs-Jenkins uses a genre traditionally dominated by white American playwrights to comment on race relations in both America's history and theatre.

Director M. Bevin O'Gara returns to SpeakEasy Stage to direct the New England premiere of appropriate. This is her fourth project for the company, having directed A Future Perfect, Tribes (Elliot Norton and IRNE Award, Best Production) and Clybourne Park. Bevin is the Associate Producer at the Huntington Theatre Company and a recipient of the Lois Roach Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Boston Theatre Community.

To bring the Lafayette family to vivid life, Ms. O'Gara has gathered an exceptional cast of Boston-based actors: Bryan T. Donovan, Katie Elinoff, Tamara Hickey, Melinda Lopez, Brendan O'Brien, Alex Pollock, Eliott Purcell, and Ashley Risteen.

The design team includes Cristina Todesco (scenic), Tyler Kinney (costumes), Wen-Ling Liao (lighting), Arshan Gailus (sound), and Angie Jepson (fight choreography).

appropriate will run for five weeks, from September 12 through October 10, in the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston's South End.

Ticket prices start at $25, with discounts for students, seniors, and persons age 25 and under.

For tickets or more information, the public is invited to call the box office at 617.933.8600 or visit www.SpeakEasyStage.com .

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