16th Street Theatre to Stage THE ART OF DISAPPEARING, 1/22-2/28

16th Street Theater presents the world premiere of THE ART OF DISAPPEARING written by STEPHANIE ALISON WALKER and directed by ANN FILMER January 22 - February 28, 2015 at North Berwyn Park District's 16th Street Theater, 6420 16th Street in Berwyn, with a press opening of Thursday, January 29 @ 7:30 PM. When Melissa receives a mysterious invitation to brunch from her mother after a two-year estrangement, she returns to a home where nothing is as it seems. Fathers lie, friends leave and she herself is failing in the artist's world she covets- as her mother practices the art of disappearing before her very eyes. The devastating truth she discovers in her parents' house threatens to tear all of them apart for good.

"Actors Joan and Tom have been with this play for two years," Ann Filmer states, "since I first cast them in the Chicago Dramatists' reading. They were my first choices in these roles, and I am thrilled they love Stephanie's play as much as I do to bring this beautiful story to its premiere at 16th Street."

Featuring Joan Kohn, (The Crowd You're in With) Tom McElroy (Jeff Award for The Farnsworth Invention at Timeline), Amanda Powell and Andres Enriquez, THE ART OF DISAPPEARING is the first offering in 16th Street's Season Eight 2015: FATHERS DAUGHTERS MOTHERS SONS.

THE ART OF DISAPPEARING has a running time of 2 hours including one intermission. Moderated post-show dialogues will take place following Thursday and Friday performances.

STEPHANIE ALISON WALKER was the winner of the 2011 Blue Ink Award given by Chicago's American Blues Theatre for her play American Home, which was also a 2010 semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award. She is a four-time Heideman Award Finalist for her plays Angelina Jolie is Stalking Me, Homer, An Average Man and Edward Cullen Ruined My Mother's Love Life. Her play Three Fittings was first produced in Los Angeles and then Ft. Lauderdale where it was the winner of the 2008 South Florida Theatre Festival Audience Favorite Grand Prize. The Art of Disappearing was a finalist for the Princess Grace Award for playwriting in 2008, a semi-finalist for the 2009 HotCity Greenhouse Festival of New Plays in St. Louis and a semi-finalist for the 2013 O'Neill Playwrights Conference. In print, she has several short plays published by Black Box Press and Smith & Kraus. On screen, her play Back Roads was turned into a short film that premiered at the 2008 Women's Int'l Film Festival in Miami. In 2008 Stephanie faced foreclosure and lived to tell the tale on her blog Love In The Time of Foreclosure which has been featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, NPR's Planet Money, American Public Media's The Story with Dick Gordon, Business Week Magazine, Chicago Magazine, The Huffington Post and ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer. Love in the Time of Foreclosure is also published as an ebook by Outpost19. Stephanie was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago and currently lives in Los Angeles with family. She is a proud member of Lizard Claw Playwrights, Chicago Dramatists Network Playwrights and The Dramatists Guild of America.

ANN FILMER is a director, adaptor and producer of new plays. She founded 16th Street Theater in 2007 where she has produced 41 new plays including directing The Ascension of Carlotta, The Scarlet Ibis, Kita y Fernanda, Mixin' It Up, Fires in the Mirror, Unveiled, The Last Barbecue, This Train, Menorca, The Beats, Our Dad is in Atlantis, Our Holiday Stories, Nickel History: The Nation of Heat, Love and Drowning, "8", Broken Fences (with Ilesa Duncan), Do-Gooder and Pinkolandia. Ms. Filmer also has directed at such theatres as Remy Bumppo (The Clean House), Victory Gardens (Disconnect), Goodman (Chicago Boys; Almost Done, Reunion, and Dark Pony), Red Orchid (Eric LaRue), Shattered Globe (House of Blue Leaves), Live Bait (Us and Them), Stage Left (Spare Change, In Times of War), Chicago Dramatists, CollaborAction, Circle (Golf), Theatre on the Lake, Porchlight, The Aardvark (The Last Barbecue). While Producing Director of Chicago Dramatists, Ann co-produced the National Showcase of New Plays and won an After Dark Award for her direction of The Liquid Moon as well as editing the anthology New Plays from Chicago. She recently adapted and directed The Midnight City -her fourth collaboration with renowned visual artist Tony Fitzpatrick and Stan Klein at The Steppenwolf Garage.

DETAILS:

THE ART OF DISAPPEARING
world premiere by Stephanie Alison Walker

Directed by Ann Filmer

FEATURING Joan Kohn, Tom McElroy, Amanda Powell and Andres Enriquez

RUNNING TIME: 2 hours including one intermission.

WHEN: January 22 - February 28, 2015; Previews: Jan 22 & 23 @ 7:30 PM, Jan 24 @ 8:30 PM; No 5pm Sat Jan 24; Press Opening: Thursday, January 29 @ 7:30 PM; Regular Run: Thursdays & Fridays @ 7:30 PM, Saturdays @ 5:00 & 8:30 PM

WHERE: 16th Street Theater, 6420 16th Street in Berwyn

DESIGNS BY Joanna Iwanicka (scenic), Barry Bennett (sound), Cat Wilson (lights), Rachel S Parent (costumes) and Jesse Gaffney (properties). STAGE MANAGED BY: Mallory Bass.

TO PURCHASE TICKETS, visit wp.16thstreettheater.org, call (708) 795-6704, or in person at North Berwyn Park District, 1619 Wesley Ave., Berwyn

HOW MUCH: General Admission: $18 Group Tickets $15 for 8+

PARKING: Free parking one block west in lot at 16th and Gunderson across from Lincoln School

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