Geva Presents I GOT SICK THEN I GOT BETTER 3/7-11

Geva Theatre Center's 2012 Nextstage Season kicks off with I Got Sick Then I Got Better, written and performed by Jenny Allen which begins performances on March 7 and runs in the Fielding Nextstage through March 11.

Diagnosed with and treated for ovarian cancer in 2005, writer and performer Jenny Allen tells her story of the dizzying tailspin following her diagnosis, combining biting humor with searing emotion in a witty, bittersweet monologue that limns the personal and family collateral damage brought by a life-threatening illness.

Jenny Allen makes her Geva Theatre Center debut with I Got Sick Then I Got Better. Her essays and articles have appeared for years in many magazines, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Vogue, Esquire, More, Huffington Post and Good Housekeeping. Recent essays appear in Disquiet, Please! a new anthology of humor pieces from The New Yorker; In the Fullness of Time: 32 Women on Life After 50 (Simon & Schuster) and in The 50 Funniest American Writers (Library of America). She is the author of a book of fables for grown-ups called The Long Chalkboard, illustrated by her husband, Jules Feiffer. She produces and performs stand-up comedy evenings in Manhattan, has appeared in Spalding Grey: Stories Left to Tell, and is a participating storyteller for The Moth, an acclaimed not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. She recently appeared in Love, Loss and What I Wore; an Intimate Collection of Stories by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron at The Westside Theatre in New York. Ms. Allen received the 2010 "It's Always Something" award from Gilda's Club NYC.

I Got Sick Then I Got Better was first performed on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 2007; director James Lapine then collaborated with Allen and with Darren Katz on shaping and expanding the material. New York Theatre Workshop produced the show in 2009, extending it three times. I Got Sick Then I Got Better has been performed at theatres around the country including the Berkshire Theatre Festival; Long Wharf Theatre; Wellfleet Harbor Actors' Theater; Robeson Center for the Arts; Lifeline Theatre's Fillet of Solo Festival in Chicago; Arts on the Lake in Kent, NY; the Hudson Opera House and Barrington Stage Company; in addition to hospitals, universities and at cancer conferences around the country.

I Got Sick Then I Got Better is directed by James Lapine and Darren Katz. James Lapine is perhaps best known for his collaborations as librettist and director with Stephen Sondheim: Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Passion. With William Finn he collaborated on March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, later presented on Broadway as Falsettos. Other Broadway credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Michel Legrand's Amour, the revival of The Diary of Anne Frank, David Henry Hwang's Golden Child, and his collaboration at New York Theatre Workshop with Claudia Shear, Dirty Blonde. He has written the plays Table Settings; Twelve Dreams; Luck, Pluck and Virtue; The Moment When; and Fran's Bed. For the NY Shakespeare Festival, Mr. Lapine directed A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale, and King Lear. He has directed the films Impromptu, Life with Mikey and Earthly Possessions, as well as the teleVision Productions of Into the Woods and Passion. Darren Katz is currently the Resident Director for The Lion King on Broadway. Other recent directing credits include The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee (National Tour); Happy Sunshine Kung Fu Flower (Zipper Factory); workshops of The Wasp Woman by Blake Hackler and Phillip Chernyak, Falling by Hyeyoung Kim and Dina Gregory, and A Day with A Thousand Faces by Tarik Davis; readings of Grand Delusion by David Rock and How To Make Friends and then Kill Them by Halley Feiffer (Second Stage).

The 2011-2012 Nextstage Season is dedicated to the memory of Donna Fielding. The 2012 Nextstage Season is supported in part by the Gouvernet Arts Fund at The Community Foundation.

I Got Sick Then I Got Better begins performances on March 7 and runs in the Fielding Nextstage through March 11.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

PERFORMANCES: Wednesday, March 7 @ 7pm
Thursday, March 8 @ 7pm
Friday, March 9 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, March 10 @ 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, March 11 @ 3pm

TICKET PRICES: Tickets start at $30.

RESERVATIONS: (585) 232-GEVA (4382), Website: www.gevatheatre.org

LOCATION: Geva Theatre Center, 75 Woodbury Blvd, Rochester, NY 14607

Geva Theatre CENTER

Founded in 1972, Geva Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional theatre company dedicated to creating and producing professional theatre productions, programs and services of a national standard. As Rochester's leading professional theatre, Geva Theatre Center is the most attended regional theatre in New York State, and one of the 25 most attended in the country, attracting over 170,000 patrons annually, including more than 16,000 students.

The 552-seat Elaine P. Wilson Mainstage offers a wide variety of shows, from musicals to American and world classics. The 180-seat Ron & Donna Fielding Nextstage is home to Geva's own series of cutting-edge drama, comedy and musical theatre; Geva Comedy Improv; Geva's New Play Reading Series and the Hornet's Nest - an innovative play-reading series facilitating community-wide discussion on controversial topics. The Nextstage also hosts visiting companies of both local and international renown.

Geva Theatre Center offers a wide variety of educational, outreach and literary programs, nurturing audiences and artists alike. Since 1995 the organization has been led by Artistic Director Mark Cuddy.

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