Bruno and Odiseo Bichir Make U.S. Stage Debuts in 'eXtras' at Rubicon

Following a critically hailed, highly successful extended run of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Rubicon Theatre Company continues the 2015-2016 Season with another American premiere -- eXtras by Sabina Berman.

Loosely adapted from Marie Jones' Olivier Award-winning comedy Stones in His Pockets, eXtras is the hilarious story of what happens when a Hollywood film company descends upon a small California/Mexico border town to shoot a major motion picture, wreaking havoc on the fragile ecosystem of the community.

Two acclaimed and accomplished stars of stage, television and film - brothers Bruno and Odiseo Bichir -- make their U.S. stage debuts in the Rubicon production. The two play more than 15 characters: producer, starlet, director, crew, and locals, some of who are cast as 'extras' on the set, and all of whom have different dreams and desires. Bruno is an Ariel Award-winner (the Mexican Academy Award) and currently may be seen on "The Bridge" on FX and "Narcos" on Netflix. Odiseo has been honored with awards from the Association of Mexican Theatre Critics, Theatre Newspaper Group, the National Actors' Association, and the International Theatre Institute (ITI) UNESCO. He has appeared in more than 30 Telenovas and had recurring roles in three television series. Both Bruno and Odiseo have played leading roles in numerous films distributed in Mexico, the U.S., and throughout the world; and they are part of a legendary family of artists dedicated to the performing arts in Mexico. Father Alejandro Bichir is a distinguished theatre director, mother Maricruz Nájera is a beloved actress, and third brother Demián Bichir (Oscar nominee in 2011 for "A Better Life"/star of the FX series "The Bridge") is also an actor of great renown. Bruno Bichir, in his U.S. directing debut, helms the Rubicon production, taking inspiration from Berman's original staging.

Rubicon's production also features pre-show music created by 17-year-old composer/performer Maya Burns, a young rising star who has opened for Linda Ronstadt and recorded multiple CD's. Burns and her combo will perform original music in Ranchero, Corrido and Mexican Surfer Rock styles starting thirty minutes before curtain (the house will open forty minutes prior).

"This play has been on our wish list for several years and we are thrilled to finally get to share it with our audiences," says Rubicon Producing Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns. "It is incredibly entertaining and full of laughs; it is also sharp social satire, and poses important cultural and political questions which we hope will encourage discussion on the way home from the theatre."

The team for the American premiere of eXtras includes Choreographer Ruby Tagle, Set and Lighting DesignerThomas S. Giamario, Production Stage Manager Kathleen J. Parsons, Stage Manager Kimberly De Leon and Assistant Directors Hasiff Fadúl, Kimberly Legg and Armando Rey (the latter also serves as Understudy). Special thanks go to Stefanie Sherk.

The production is sponsored by a returning anonymous contributor, who has also contributed to Rubicon productions of Gem of the Ocean and Tea at Five, among others. Rubicon's 2015-2016 Season Sponsors areDiane and Peter Goldenring, Janet and Mark L. Goldenson, Sandra and Jordan Laby, Barbara Meister, andAnne and Michael Towbes.

Regular performances of eXtras are in English (with some Spanglish, the vernacular of the characters), Wednesdays at 2 and 7 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Spanish-language performances have been added Tuesday, April 19 and Sunday, May 1 at 7 p.m. Low-priced daytime student matinees for high school and college students are scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday April 15 and 22 in Spanish, and Friday, April 29 at 10 a.m. in English/Spanglish. For tickets, go to www.rubicontheatre.org or call the Rubicon Box Office at (805) 667-2900.

eXtras is adapted by Sabina Berman, who is a Mexico City-based storyteller, essayist, media personality, filmmaker and theatre director. She is regarded as one of the most prolific and daring writers of her country and her generation. Four-time winner of the National Playwriting Award in Mexico (Premio Nacional de Dramaturgia en México) and the Juan Ruiz de Alarcon Award (Premio Juan Ruiz de Alarcón), Berman has also twice won the National Journalism Award (Premio Nacional de Periodismo). Her plays have been staged in the Americas, and her novel "Me" ("La mujer que buceó en el corazón del mundo") has been translated into 11 languages and published in 33 countries. Berman was born in Mexico into an Eastern European Jewish family, the daughter of Enrique Berman, who emigrated during the government of President Lazaro Cárdenas and was established in Mexico as a major industrial leader; and psychoanalyst Raquel Goldberg. Sabina studied Mexican literature and psychology at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and also trained in theatrical arts. In 1995, she was co-director of the film "Between Pancho Villa and a Naked Woman," with Isabelle Tardan. She also wrote and co-produced the film "Backyard," which was Mexico's entry for Best Foreign Film at the 2010 Academy Awards. She recently wrote the film "The History of Love" for Alfonso Cuarón and "Light" forAlejandro González Iñarritu. Among Berman's other successes are the plays Between Pancho Villa and a Naked Woman, Moliere, Freud Skating and eXtras. Berman is currently the host of the television show "Sha la lá," a weekly TV series of interviews with artists, politicians, scientists and literary figures in Mexico, broadcast on Televisión Azteca on Channel 13.

Bruno Bichir makes his U.S. stage debut as both director and actor with eXtras. Bruno won the Ariel, the Mexican Academy Award, in 1994 for "Best Actor" for his performance in Arturo Riptein's "Principio y Fin," based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz. He is the recipient of seven additional Ariel nominations, honoring his performances in "El Patrullero," "Golpe de Suerte," "El Jardín del Eden," (for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the International Film Festival of Cartagena, Colombia), "El Anzuelo," "Amorosos Fantasmas," "El Evangelio de las Maraveillas," and "Crónica de un Desayuno." Bruno produced the latter, which won the Caligari Film Award at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival.

Additionally, Bruno has appeared in John Sayles' "Casa de los Babys" with Marcia Gay Harden, Rita Moreno, and Maggie Gyllenhaal; Roger Spottiswoode's "Under Fire" with Nick Nolte, Ed Harris, and Gene Hackman; "Julia" with Tilda Swinton; "Don't Tempt Me" with Penelope Cruz, Gael García Bernal and brother Demián Bichir; and Ian Power's "The Runaway" with Kerry Condon and Demián.

Bruno appears on the second season of the critically acclaimed TV series "The Bridge" alongside Diane Kruger and his brother Demián in the role of Marco, a businessman who is not what he seems. Bruno may also currently be seen as Escobar's lawyer Fernando Duque in the acclaimed TV series "Narcos" for Netflix. (He just completed shooting for Season 2.)

In addition to his work in film and television, Bruno is a prominent theatre actor, producer, and director. He has won multiple awards from the APT (Mexican Press), the UCCT, and the Mexican Theater Critics' Association, including Best Child Actor in 1980 at the age of 13. He has starred in such acclaimed productions as David Halliwell's Little Malcom and his Struggle against the Eunuchs (directed by his father and co-starring his brothers Odiseo and Demián), Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!, the Mexican version of the musical Cabaret (as the Emcee); and in Harold Pinter's Betrayal, David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, Patrick Marber's Closer, and Zach Helm's The Good Canary (directed by John Malkovich).

Bruno currently serves as the Artistic Director of Foro Shakespeare (the co-producer of eXtras), and also heads the TRIFOPA (Triangular Forum for Performing Arts). In 2012, Bruno directed Nadando con Tiburones" (Swimming with Sharks), starring Demián Bichir; and in 2013 he directed, produced, and starred in the Don Nigro's Paisaje Marino con Tiburones y Bailarina (Seascapes with Shark and Dancer).

On the production side, Bruno's company Escarabajo Productions recently completed principal photography on the film "Refugio." The film was written and directed by Demián, who co-stars along with Eva Longoria and Jason Patric. In television, Bruno produces the food/travel show "Yo Sólo Sé Que No He Cenado," as well as "TAP (Taller de Actores Profesionales)," which is the Mexican equivalent of "Inside the Actors' Studio." He is also producing and staging Don Nigro's Una Historia del Diablo, and touring Mrozek's El Ultimo Preso (The Police), directed by his father Alejandro and starring Bruno and his brothers.

Bruno currently resides in Mexico City and Los Angeles.

Odiseo Bichir, who also makes his U.S. stage debut with eXtras, has been honored with awards from the Association of Mexican Theatre Critics, Theatre Newspaper Group, Theater Critics and Newspaper Group, The Harlequin, and The Cabrito de Plato of Monterrey N.L., among others. He was awarded the Medal of 25 Years Recognition from National Actors' Association, "My Life in Theatre" Medal from the Mexican Theatre Center, and the International Theatre Institute (ITI) UNESCO award.

Odiseo began his stage career in 1972 with the play Immaculate and has since spent his career performing diverse roles in television, theatre and film. He has appeared in leading roles in nearly 30 Telenovelas and has had recurring roles in three television series.

His film career began in 1999 with "Crónica de un Desayuno" and "No One Writes to the Colonel." These were followed by an immediate string of successes, including "Un dulce olor a Muerte," "Corazones Rotos," "Ciudades Oscuras," "Mosquita Muerta," "Flor de Fango," "Hecho en China," and "Colosio, el Asesinato." Additional film credits include "Better Than Nothing," "Five Violent Stories," "Stroke of Luck," "Secret Police," "Some Clouds," "A Sweet Scent of Death," "A Breakfast Chronicle," "Broken Hearts," "Dark Cities," "No One Writes to the Colonel," "Flower in the Slime," "Made in China," "The Fabulous Seven," and "Colosio: The Assassinator."

For the National Theatre Company, Odiseo has been seen in The Boy and the Fog, Ah, Wilderness!, The Imposter, Moctezuma II, The Adorations (performed in the Festival Internacional Cervantino - popularly known as El Cervantino), Wings Without Shadows and Crime and Punishment. He has been seen in Letter to His Father,Four Exes and Closer -- all for Foro Shakespeare. Other credits include Juan Ruiz de Alarcón's Everything is Luckand The Unlucky Pretender at the Festival Palafoxiano in Taxco, Guerrero, Delirium Tremens, The Model Pharmacy, A Rabbit Named Harvey, I Do Not Have...And I Do Not Pay, Impressions, Hallucinations, AIDS...Such Is Life, Beautiful Madness, Who Goes There?, The Doctor in Spite of Himself, The Secret Life of Anybody, Interiors,Malcolm Against the Eunuchs, Twelve Angry Men, In This Corner, Electra and the Falling Masks, Check Your Mail, The Night on the Beach, The Last Prisoner, and eXtras. Odiseo has been performing in the The Lady in Black since 2004. He has also contributed to the cultural supporting program "I Read Therefore I Exist," conducted by Maestro Andrés Torres of the National Institute of the Fine Arts.

Odiseo has worked with internationally renowned directors including his father Alejandro Bichir, José Quintero, Mercedes de La Cruz, Héctor Azar, José Caballero, José Solé, Renato de la Riva, Nancy Cárdenas, Donald Cortés, Luis Eduardo Reyes, Rafael López Miarnau, Alfonso Cárcamo, Alejandro Ricaño and Diego del Rio.

For Channel 13, Bruno's credits include "We the Children," "Basket of Mexican Stories" "LES MISERABLES," "The Players," "The Happy Prince," "Forbidden Games," and "The Pirates of the Halifax" and "The Sultan's Sword" (both adaptations by Enrique Alonso). On Channel 11, Odiseo's work includes "Crime and Punishment," "Ah, Wilderness!," "The Imposture Scapin," "Empty Walls" by Héctor Azar, and "Lectures on a Stand from Texts" by Rabindranath Tagore, translated by Terence Rattigan. On Channel 22, Odiseo was in the televised film of "Made in China"; on Channel 2, he was in "The Adventures of Capulina." Odiseo has also been in numerous soap operas. He has been in TV series including "The Lit Torch," "S.O.S.: Sex and Other Secrets," "The Pretenders," "Brothers and Detectives" and "Shouts of Death and Liberty." Teletheatre airings include "The Body," and "The Thief."

Composer and performer Maya Burns, age 17, has created original music which will be performed pre-show, and she will also contribute to the transitions and soundscape for the play. A native of Monterey, California, Maya's family moved to Ensenada, Mexico when she was four-years-old. She first learned Spanish by singing Ranchero to her kinder class. She grew up around music at art and craft festivals and began singing acapella between acts on festival main stages. At age 11, Maya was personally invited by Linda Ronstadt to open her San Jose Mariachi Concert. When Maya returned to Mexico, the Governor of Baja, California invited her to headline his program of talented children Talentos Artisticos, in which Maya represented Baja to elected officials and foreign dignitaries. Maya reads and writes music, plays multiple instruments (saxophone, piano, guitar and ukulele) and has three CDs of original compositions (Spanish and English) for which she recorded, sang and played all the instruments.

The source material for eXtras is Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones. The comedy originally premiered in West Belfast, Ireland, was further refined on tour and at the Edinburgh Festival, had a brief run in Dublin, and then opened in London, where it transferred to the West End and played to packed houses. The Broadway run opened 15 years ago this month (April of 2016). The play won the Irish Times/ESB Irish Theatre Award for Best Production, two Olivier Awards (Best New Comedy and Best Actor), and was nominated for three Tony Awards.

Playwright Sabina Berman and The Birchir Brothers separately conceived of the idea of adapting Marie Jones' popular play Stones in His Pockets into Spanish and transplanting the setting to a small Mexican village more than a decade ago. Once they discovered their shared interest, they joined forces, with Berman adapting and directing and the three Bichir Brothers rotating in the two roles. The production premiered in February of 2003 in the Teatro Julio Castillo, receiving critical raves and running continuously for 32 weeks in the 700-seat house. It reopened again in February of 2004 in the Theatro de las Artes of the Centro Nacional de las Artes, and played in various venues for nearly two years.

The American Premiere and first English-language production of eXtras is presented by Rubicon Theatre Company in association with Foro Shakespeare, one of the most respected and visionary independent theatres in Mexico. Originally founded by Hector Fuentes as a bookstore that welcomed the performing arts, Foro Shakespeare expanded in 2003 under the leadership of Bruno Bichir and now is home to five flexible and unique theatre spaces. The company creates socially conscious work which celebrates our shared humanity and produces plays which reach and connect artists to underserved audiences and communities.

Rubicon Theatre Company is a non-profit regional theatre based in Ventura, California. True to the name and the vision of founders Karyl Lynn Burns and James O'Neil, the company is committed to providing a nurturing environment for artists where exploration and experimentation are encouraged and supported. Now in its 18th Season, Rubicon has earned a reputation for innovative, reinvigorated productions of classics, and for the development of new works. The company has presented more than 115 diverse mainstage productions to more than 400,000 audience members. Described by critics as "the rising star of the Southern California cultural scene" and the "best theatre between Los Angeles and San Francisco," the company has won a New York Drama Desk Award, the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for "Sustained Excellence," 14 Ovation Awards, an NAACP Award, and multiple Indy, Garland and Robby Awards. Luminaries such as Susan Clark, Dana Delaney, Bonnie Franklin, Joel Grey, Bill Irwin, Harold Gould, Larry Hagman, Stacy Keach, Michael Learned, Ted Neeley, Paul Provenza, Linda Purl, Joe Spano, Bruce Weitz, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Stephanie Zimbalist have graced the Rubicon stage. Jack Lemmon and John Ritter made their final stage appearances with Rubicon.

Rubicon's association with Foro Shakespeare continues the company's history of international ties. Rubicon has collaborated on productions with the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Canada and Gare St Lazare, Ireland. During the Beckett Centennial, Rubicon hosted artists from five countries in a month-long festival of the works of Samuel Beckett.

To order tickets for eXtras, call the Rubicon Box Office at (805) 667-2900 or visit in person at 1006 E. Main Street (Laurel entrance), 7 days a week from Noon to 6:00 p.m. Single tickets for each of the shows are also on sale and available via the box office or the company's website: www.rubicontheatre.org.

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