Know Theatre to Present HARRY & THE THIEF, 8/8-30

Jeremy has a PhD in physics from Harvard. And a time machine. And a plan. Jeremy's plan is to send Mimi, his petty-thief cousin, back in time to 1863 to find Harriet Tubman. And give Ms. Tubman lots and lots of guns. In order to start a revolution.

Harry & the Thief is an epic summer blockbuster; a socially conscious riot of a play that mashes up Civil-War-era melodrama with an over-the-top action movie to tell a story full of adventure, social relevance, and answering the call of destiny. It runs August 8-30 on Know Theatre's MainStage.

Directed by guest artist Holly L. Derr, this social-political comedy will have audiences laughing, squirming, and questioning everything they've been taught about Harriet Tubman.

Harry & The Thief brings to Know Theatre an all-star cast of local favorites. Returning to Know are Torie Wiggins (Mimi), Piper Davis (Harry), Ken Early (Maddox), Burgess Byrd (Shilo), Darnell Benjamin (Knox), and Jon Kovach (Overseer Jones). Making their Know Theatre debuts, fresh from a year with Cincinnati Playhouse's Intern acting company, are Rico Reid (Jeremy) and Meggy Hai Trang (Anita). Sola Thompson (Vivian) appears in her Know debut following a season with Ensemble Theatre's intern company. And rounding out the cast is Cincinnati Shakespeare Company favorite Brent Vimtrup (Orry Main Scarlett) in his first outing on Know's Stage.

Guest director Holly L. Derr is a Los Angeles based writer, director, and professor of theater specializing in the Viewpoints & Composition, the performance of gender, and applied theater history. Currently an Artist-in-Residence at Skidmore College, Holly has also taught and directed at Marlboro College, Smith College, the American Repertory Theater, the Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company Consortium, and CalArts.

Some of Holly's favorite projects include Twelfth Night, American Medea, and The Front Page. Most recently she directed Romeo and Juliet at Opera House Arts at the Stonington Opera House. She is also a feminist media critic who has written for HowlRound, Ms. Magazine, and The Atlantic.

About Harry & The Thief, Director Holly L. Derr says:

"[Playwright Sigrid] Gilmer's new play about one of the most famous African Americans in history draws on both history and cultural memory to depict Tubman as we've never seen her before. ... I can't wait to get started translating this play into a production that can provide audiences with the opportunity to dream and imagine a future on a scale as grand as Gilmer's fictional one."

Know Theatre Producing Artistic Director Andrew Hungerford says:

"This show is exciting on so many levels. It's a hilarious, incisive show from an up-and-coming, bad ass American playwright; an exploration of race and power, using inherently theatrical techniques, that bends conventions of film and pop-culture to its will; and a fantastic opportunity to assemble a large cast of Cincinnati's brilliant actors under a stellar guest director. It's also going to be one hell of a good time."

This surprising, funny, and action-packed regional premiere runs August 8-30 at Know Theatre. Audiences won't see anything else like it in Cincinnati Theatre this season.

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