The Landing Theatre Company Announces Their 8th Season

David Rainey, Executive Artistic Director of The Landing Theatre Company (LTC), announces the company's eighth season, featuring the 2018 winners of its annual New American Voices Play Reading Series, a Co-Production with Obsidian Theater of the World Premiere of Alexis Schaetzle's Wanda, Daisy and the Great Rapture, the Regional Premiere of Christopher Chen's 2017 Obie Award-winning play Caught, and David Mamet's Off-Broadway hit Oleanna.

2018 NEW AMERICAN VOICES PLAY READING SERIES

April 7-8, 2018 @ Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway

Now in its seventh year, the New American Voices Play Reading Series gives voice to some of America's most promising new plays. Annually LTC receives hundreds of submissions from playwrights across the country, and chooses four plays to showcase in its yearly series. This year's winners are:

THE BARGAIN I HAVE MADE by Gwendolyn RiceSaturday, April 7 @ 1pm
Otto Kannenberg is an aged recluse, living in a tiny apartment in Munich. Although he has very little human contact, he is not lonely - he immerses himself in the worlds of hundreds of paintings that fill his dingy flat, many by masters of Modernism, Expressionism, Cubism, Impressionism and Dadaism including Klee, Kirchner, Picasso, Monet, and Chagall. When the German government begins investigating how Otto acquired so many rare and wonderful pieces, his world is thrown into turmoil. He and the authorities must decide how to make peace with the past and make amends for Hitler's war on "Degenerate Art."

THE FORBIDDEN FRUITS OF HONEY FROST by Fengar GaelSaturday, April 7 @ 7pm

On the stage of the operating theatre of the Wards Island Hospital, a seriously ill estate lawyer speaks to an audience of medical specialists, attempting to fathom the origin of her affliction. She relates the arrival from London of Honey Frost, the sole heir of an American antiquities dealer who made his fortune looting the buried treasures of the Middle East. Honey's inheritance includes an apple orchard that's infested with worms; however, the wormy pulp can be brewed into a cider, which has a euphoric effect, is highly addictive, and proves to be extremely profitable. When the cider is later exposed as the cause of a potential pandemic, thousands of victims are quarantined on Wards Island and forced to face the catastrophic possibility of species extinction.

PIECES OF THE PIE by Shelli Pentimall Bookler Sunday, April 8 @ 1pm

Carole and Dan have been married for over 30 years. Carole is a strong, dutiful wife and mother, and Dan is a recently retired police officer. They are looking forward to spending their "golden years" together, with their daughter Sarah, son in law Kevin, and their dog Puddles. But Dan begins to forget things. It starts out as little details but progresses quickly. Dan has vascular dementia. Carole struggles to take care of him on her own, but as Dan becomes more confused, and at times aggressive, she feels pressure from her sister Diane and son in law to put him into a long term care facility, and pressure from Sarah to get home health care. Carole is adamant about keeping him at home, having watched Dan's mother's dignity and desire to live wither away in a facility, but his violent behavior may be too much for her to handle. A terrifying decision that no family wants to make, but in this case is forced to make.

THE AMERICAN DREAM by Juan Ramirez Jr. Sunday, April 8 @ 7pm

Corina is an immigrant from Guatemala who has smuggled her way across the border guided by Efren, her coyote aka human smuggler. Instead of finding freedom, she finds herself imprisoned by Efren, who now holds her inside a safe house, awaiting the final Western Union payment from her husband. Set in the last hour and twenty minutes, Corina begs for her freedom but letting her go is against everything Efren stands for.

NAV TICKETS:

Admission is FREE. Reservations can be made at www.landingtheatre.org. Patrons also have the option to become a SUPPORTER OF THE SERIES donor, to benefit new works at the Landing

2018 LANDING THEATRE COMPANY SEASON LINEUP

WORLD PREMIERE
WANDA, DAISY AND THE GREAT RAPTURE
By Alexis Schaetzle

A Landing/Obsidian Co-Production

@ Obsidian Theater
Directed by David Rainey

Previews begin May 17, Opens May 20, Through June 9, 2018

It's a sticky hot summer in the swamplands of Pawley's Island, South Carolina. Step-sisters Wanda and Daisy struggle to get by as the people they love disappear; Wanda's mother has recently died, and Daisy's father's mysterious illness worsens, and his obsession with an impending rapture intensifies. The girls try to repair their fractured relationship by summoning dark memories in hopes of finding a little light. A magical story about how we hold onto family, the past and ourselves while we seek better lives, and wait patiently as the Great Rapture hails us--or doesn't.

REGIONAL PREMIERE
CAUGHT
By Christopher Chen

@ Redbud Gallery in the Heights
Directed by Stephen M. Miranda

Previews begin June 21, Opens June 24, Through June 30, 2018

An art gallery hosts a retrospective of the work of a legendary Chinese dissident artist who was imprisoned in a Chinese detention center for a single work of art. Recently profiled in the New Yorker, the artist himself is present, and shares with patrons the details of an ordeal that defies belief. A labyrinthine exploration of truth, art, social justice, and cultural appropriation, where nothing is as it first appears.

OLEANNA
By David Mamet

@ 14 Pews

Previews begin July 19, Opens July 22, Through August 11, 2018

A college student, Carol, drops by her professor's office in an effort to gain his help to do better in class. John, the professor, in the midst of buying a house to celebrate his nomination for tenure, at first seems distant. As the first meeting progresses the two discuss the nature of understanding and judgment in society, as well as their very own natures and places in our society. It seems as if a bond has been made. When next they meet we find that a report has been filed to the tenure committee. Carol accused John of sexually harassing her during their first meeting. Their second meeting dissects the first; every word, every nuance of the first meeting has been twisted into something else. Or has it? Against the advice of the court, the couple meets a third time in desperate hope for a seemingly unattainable resolution. A seething investigation of "political correctness" in a time when the nation's morality has been tested by increased incidents of sexual harassment.

TICKET AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LTC productions will feature a variety of ticket levels. General ticket pricing starts at $25 and Gold Reserve seating, which includes priority seating and a complimentary beverage, starts at $35. Discounted pricing is available for students and seniors. Subscribers can purchase Season Tickets online for a 3-play package at the General and Gold Reserved level starting at a discounted $67.50 (10% off the per-show pricing). Season Tickets can be ordered online (landingtheatre.org) or by phone (562.502.7469).

Tickets for the New American Voices Play Reading Series are free, and can be reserved online, or you can support new works with a Supporters of the Series VIP Pass. For $50, you'll receive guaranteed seating for all four readings and a complimentary beverage at each. Plus you'll be an active supporter of new works at the Landing, covering the necessary expenses of the reading process, and helping lower travel expenses for playwrights.

ABOUT THE LANDING THEATRE COMPANY

The Landing Theatre Company has become known for bold risk-taking and a passion for cultivating new work. Created in 2010, the company is devoted exclusively to American playwriting. Since then it has developed 19 new plays, produced three world premieres, been nominated for more than 20 awards, and engaged more than 700 artists. In addition to its creative work, it has developed a number of opportunities for arts education and training, including internships, in-school arts programs and many professional workshops and classes for the professional arts community. Rarely engaged in pure entertainment, the Landing is thinking man's theatre, which often tells new stories that are stimulating and have something important to say.

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