AND IF I DON'T BEHAVE THEN WHAT By Serbian Playwright Iva Brdar Gets West Coast Premiere At Open Fist

If I resist, if I cross that line, if I don't conform ...what then? Open Fist Theatre Company presents the West Coast premiere of the 2021 Eurdram English-language Committee Award-winning And If I Don't Behave Then What by Berlin-based Serbian playwright Iva Brdar, translated by Ana Brdar and directed by Beth F. Milles. Performances take place January 28 through March 4 at Atwater Village Theatre.

A provocative, explosively funny and moving exploration of how "being good" can shape our lives, And If I Don't Behave Then What takes the audience on a lyrical and bracingly pungent journey.

"There is an ethereal elegance, a luminescent essentialism at the core of each scene," says Milles, who previously staged the 2018 world premiere of Brdar's Rule of Thumb at The Cherry Arts in Ithaca, NY. "Iva is a dynamic truth teller - her stories move, they shift, they evolve. Her words and images deftly surprise and delight, revealing and unveiling deeper questions about the complicated nature of our lives as women, as daughters and as mothers."

The Open Fist production stars Cynthia Ettinger, Carmella Jenkins, Howard Leder and Debba Rofheart. The creative team includes set designer Richard Hoover, lighting designer Russell Champa, composer and sound designer Marc Antonio Pritchett, projection designer Gabrieal Griego, costume designer Mylette Nora, properties designers Bruce Dickinson and Ina Shumaker, and graphic designer Liam Carl. The assistant director is Taylor Bazos, the rehearsal stage manager is Jennifer Palumbo, and the production stage manager is John Dimitri.

Brdar's other plays include Rule of Thumb, Geraniums Can Survive Anything and Tomorrow Is (For Now) Always Here. She is the recipient of the Brücke Berlin Award and the Sterija Award, and the winner of Heartefact's Competition for the Best Contemporary Full Feature Drama Text. Her plays have been staged at Schauspiel in Stuttgart, the Kosmos Theater in Vienna and Cherry Arts in Ithaca, New York, with readings at New York Public Library, Théâtre du Nord in Paris, and Berlin's Deutsches Theater. She has a Masters in theater studies from the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris.

Performances of And If I Don't Behave Then What take place January 28 through March 4 on Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. There will be one additional performance on Friday, March 3 at 8 p.m. General admission to all performances is $20, with $15 tickets available to seniors and $10 tickets available to students with valid ID.

Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. Parking is free is in the ATX (Atwater Crossing) parking lot one block south of the theater.

To purchase tickets and for more information call (323) 882-6912 or go to www.openfist.org.

 

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