HURRICANE DIANE Comes to Rec Room Arts in May

Rec Room Arts will present the Houston premiere of Hurricane Diane, Madeleine George's (Hulu's Only Murders in the Building) Obie Award-winning play that turns the Greek god Dionysus into Diane, a lesbian permaculture gardener whose secret mission is to save the planet from the ravages of climate change. Lily Wolff (Alley Theatre) will direct the production. Preview performances begin May 5, with an official press opening on Saturday, May 7. Performances will run through May 28.

Rec Room kicks off Houston's hurricane season with a boisterous and searing comedy about...climate change. Loosely based on Euripides' The Bacchae, Hurricane Diane infiltrates the lives of four tenacious women who have established comfortable roots on a New Jersey cul-de-sac. Equal parts Greek tragedy and 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey,' playwright Madeline George describes the production as "a sequel to The Bacchae in sitcom form." Hurricane Diane uses absurdism and comedy as a way to explore humanity's complex reactions to global warming and our capacity for change. "What can comedy let us see or think about or ask in a way that we can't bear to see or think about or ask in drama? Does comedy open a door?" asks George.

The complete cast of Hurricane Diane includes Kasi Love (Diane), Jeanee Harris (Carol), Chelsea Ryan McCurdy (Pam), Jasmine Renee Thomas (Renee), and Elizabeth Marshall Black (Beth).

Hurricane Diane will feature scenic design by Stefan Azizi, costume design by Harri Horsley, lighting design by Madeleine Reid, sound design by Robert Meek, vocal consultation by Teresa Zimmermann, and fight and intimacy direction by Skye Bronfenbrenner. Trin Ho is the assistant director and Jessica Casanova is the production stage manager.

Rec Room Arts is committed to welcome audiences back to its beloved downtown home. To play our part in helping to protect everyone as we return, Rec Room has made renovations and upgrades to the bar, lobby, and theater. In addition, all artists and staff have been fully vaccinated and take part in weekly COVID testing. Patrons are encouraged to mask inside the theater. All policies are subject to change and are dependent on CDC guidance.

BIOS

Madeleine George (Playwright) plays include Hurricane Diane (Obie Award), The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Pulitzer Prize finalist; Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Susan Smith Blackburn finalist), Precious Little, and The Zero Hour (Jane Chambers Award, Lambda Literary Award finalist). Honors include a Whiting Award, the Princess Grace Award, and a Lilly Award. Madeleine's translation of Chekhov's Three Sisters is set to premiere at Two River Theater in 2022, and her audio adaptation of Alison Bechdel's comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For is forthcoming from Audible Originals. Madeleine is a founding member of the Obie-Award-winning playwrights' collective 13P (www.13p.org), the Mellon Playwright in Residence at Two River Theater, and a writer on the Hulu mystery-comedy Only Murders in the Building. Since 2006, she has worked with the Bard Prison Initiative at Bard College, where she currently serves as Director of Admissions.

Sophia Watt (Director) is the Literary Manager at the Alley and works passionately on the Alley All New initiative. Formerly from Austin, she has directed at Hyde Park Theatre, the Vortex Rep, Trinity Street Theatre, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, ZACH Theatre, Ground Floor Theatre, The Back Pack, UT Austin, Southwestern University, and Santa Cruz Theatre. Austin directing credits include: The Madres (NNPN Rolling World Premiere), Cry It Out, A Bright Room Called Day, The Effect, Fahrenheit 451, Lungs ("Best Direction" Austin Critics Table), As You Like It, and Gidion's Knot. Lily has assistant directed at the Contemporary American Theater Festival, Cornerstone Theatre Company, and ZACH Theatre, among others. Developmental work includes plays by Hilary Bettis, Claire Kiechel, Kyle John Schmidt, Tegan McLeod, Barbara Hammond, Charles Fuller, Bess Wohl, Neil LaBute, Christina Anderson, Johnna Adams, Julie Marie Myatt, and Gabriel Jason Dean. Lily is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Single tickets are now on sale and range from $10 - $50. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at https://www.recroomarts.org/dance-nation.

Hurricane Diane begins performances on Thursday May 5 and will run through Saturday May 28, with an official press opening on Saturday, May 7.

The performance schedule is Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

All performances are downtown at Rec Rom, 100 Jackson Street 130C, Houston, TX 77002

ABOUT REC ROOM ARTS

Rec Room Arts is a non-profit theatre organization whose mission is to develop innovative performances by emerging and established artists in order to energize a new generation of audiences for the arts. Rec Room Arts is interested in providing unique and enjoyable experiences through theatre that enhance the cultural imagination and social wellbeing of Houston. Rec Room believes in the theatrical examination of individual experiences and operates under the principles that theatre shapes behaviors, patterns, and The Collective Unconscious. Furthermore, Rec Room believes in the importance of making the overall experience of going to the theatre pleasurable. Therefore, audiences are invited to arrive early and stay late to socialize in our bar.

Matt Hune is Artistic Director/Co-founder; Stefan Azizi is Managing Director; Sophia Watt is Associate Artistic Director.

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