Alice Eve Cohen's WHAT I THOUGHT I KNEW to Close Out Kitchen Theatre's 22nd Season, 6/12-30

"Mrs. Cohen, we found a baby in you." This was the news that greeted Alice Eve Cohen after six months of doctor's appointments and concern over her feelings of lethargy and discomfort - and the alarming lump growing in her abdomen. Cohen's funny and frightening story was the basis for an acclaimed 2009 memoir that she has now adapted for the stage. What I Thought I Knew runs at the Kitchen Theatre from June 12 to 30, with preview performances June 12, 13 and 14. Opening Night is June 15, and the closing performance is on June 30.

After receiving the unexpected news at age 44 that she was six months pregnant, with no prenatal care and no physician willing to take on her high-risk pregnancy, Alice was inundated with opinions from doctors and friends telling her what was ethical, what was loving, and what was right. With humor and candor, Cohen describes her unexpected odyssey through doubt, a broken medical system, and the complexities of motherhood and family in today's world.

Alice Eve Cohen* has written for Nickelodeon, the Children's Television Workshop and CBS and has toured nationally as a playwright and author. At the Kitchen, she has performed two of her works for young audiences - The Parrot and The Balinese Frog Prince ­- and her solo piece for adults, Thin Walls. Her play Hannah and the Hollow Challah was a sell-out in 2009. Her memoir, also entitled What I Thought I Knew, won the Elle's Lettres 2009 Grand Prix for non-fiction and was selected as a Best Book by Oprah Magazine. Anne Lamott called it her favorite book of 2009, saying, "It is just lovely, everything we love in a book - profound, honest, hilarious, humane, surprising. It's the book I foisted on everyone."

What I Thought I Knew was originally directed by Elizabeth Margid, Alice's long-time collaborator and head of the directing program at Fordham University. Kitchen Theatre Company Artistic Director Rachel Lampert has restaged the play for the Kitchen's performance space. The set designer is Alexander Woodard (at the Kitchen: Waiting for Spring), lighting design is by Tyler M. Perry (recent designs at the Kitchen: And, lately..., The Motherf**ker with the Hat, The Whipping Man, Opus), and the sound design is by NYC designer Eric Nightengale. The stage manager is Jennifer Schilansky*. Performances take place in the Kitchen Theatre, located at 417 W. State / Martin Luther King, Jr. Street in Ithaca's West End neighborhood, just three blocks from The Commons.

In conjunction with the Ithaca premiere of What I Thought I Knew, the Kitchen Theatre Company will present a number of ancillary events: free pre-show discussions with local experts on issues related to the play and post-show talk backs with Alice Eve Cohen and Rachel Lampert. Pre-show talks are scheduled for Thursdays June 20th and 27th, and talkbacks are scheduled for Fridays, June 21st and June 28th. Cohen will be signing books at the Ithaca Barnes and Noble on Saturday, June 22nd. Please check our website for more events: www.kitchentheatre.org.

Photo Credit: Evan Jake Cohen

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