World Premiere of HOMEFREE Begins Tonight at Road Theatre

The Road Theatre Company and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, are thrilled to announce the cast for the first show of its 2015-2016 - 25th Anniversary Season, the World Premiere of HOMEFREE, written by Lisa Loomer and directed by Ovation Award-winner Michael Matthews.

HOMEFREE will open tonight, September 18 at 8pm and run through Sunday, November 8th at the Road Theatre Company's second home, the Road on Magnolia, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood.

HOMEFREE is a dark urban fairy tale about three cast out teens and the flip side of the American dream. Franklin, Breezy, JJ. Kicked out for being gay, for being pretty, for being nuts. Their journey is crazy, funny and frightening, beginning in a conservative city in Oregon -- where grandma's house is a meth house, where bed's an underpass, and the safest place you can wander is the mall. When tragedy hits, they travel to another America. An idyllic liberal town, right smack in the forest. But is there shelter here? Or is home each other? And, when push comes to shove, as it always does... is each other enough?

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST:

LISA LOOMER (Playwright) Her plays, including Living Out, The Waiting Room; Distracted; Café Vida; Expecting Isabel; Two Things You Don't Talk About At Dinner, Birds, Bocón!; Maria! Maria, Maria, Maria;and Broken Hearts have been produced at such theatres as The Mark Taper Forum, Arena Stage, South Coast Repertory, The Kennedy Center, Seattle Rep, Denver Theater Center, La Jolla Playhouse, OSF, Trinity Repertory, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Cornerstone, and, in New York, at The Roundabout, The Vineyard, Second Stage, Intar, and The Public Theater. Her work has also been produced in Mexico, Israel, Egypt and Germany. She's a two-time winner of the American Theatre Critics Award, and has also received awards from the Kennedy Center, the Imagen Foundation, the Jane Chambers Award (twice), and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, among others. Her newest play, ROE, about Roe v Wade, will premiere at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2016. Currently, she is writing the book for a musical for Broadway.

MICHAEL MATTHEWS (Director) Los Angeles: Sons of the Prophet (LA Premiere), Psyche; a Modern Rock Opera (World Premiere), Rabbit Hole (La Mirada), Funny Girl (3D Theatricals, Ovation Nomination Best Director), Peter Pan; The Boy Who Hated Mothers (LA Weekly Nominations Best Director and Best Production, Play; LA Premiere),Wolves (LA Premiere), Justin Love(LADCC Award, Best Musical; World Premiere), All Your Hard Work (World Premiere), Very Still and Hard To See(LA Weekly Nominations Best Director and Best Production, Play; World Premiere), The Color Purple, The Musical (Ovation and LA Weekly Awards Best Director and Best Production, Musical), Nerve (LA Premiere), What's Wrong With Angry?(Ovation Nominations Best Director and Best Production,Play), Take Me Out! (Ovation Nomination Best Director, NAACP Award Best Director) The Women of Brewster Place, the Musical (Ovation Nomination Best Director, NAACP Award Best Director, Ovation Award Best Production ,Musical; West Coast Premiere), The Temperamentals (West Coast Premiere),Haram! Iran! (West Coast Premiere, GLAAD Nomination), Three Tall Women,The Santa Land Diaries (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), The Jazz Age (West Coast Premiere), The Prodigal Father (World Premiere), Porcelain, Stupid Kids (LA Premiere), Beautiful Thing (Ovation Nominations, Best Director and Best Production, Play), The Bacchae (Ovation Nominations, Best Director and Best Production, Play), Four (West Coast Premiere); Dead End (Assistant Director) Ahmanson Theatre and The Cherry Orchard (Assistant Director) Mark Taper Forum. Broadway: Butley (Assistant Director). Chicago: What's Wrong With Angry? (Jeff Nominations, Best Director and Best Production), In The Blood (Jeff Nominations, Best Director and Best Production), Porcelain (Jeff Nomination, Best Director), The Judas Kiss (Chicago Premiere), Being 11 (World Premiere), and...for colored girls who have considered suicide.... International: The Bacchae (Edinburgh Theatre Festival, 2010) Michael is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, National Shakespeare Conservatory, NY, and an alumnus of Director's Lab West 2008. Proud member SDC.

The cast of HOMEFREE features: Steve Apostolina, Chelsea Averill, Elizabeth Herron, Barret Lewis, Lockne O'Brien, Gabriela Ortega and Donald Russell.

HOMEFREE has assembled an award-winning design team. The Set Design is by JR Bruce. The Lighting Design is by Luke Moyer. The Costume Design is by Michele Young. The Sound Design is by David B. Marling. Prop Design is by Michael O'Hara. The Stage Manager is Maurie Gonzalez. HOMEFREE is produced by Andre Barron, Donna Simone Johnson & Kevin Shipp.

HOMEFREE will open on Friday, September 18 at 8pm and run through Sunday, November 8th at the RoadTheatre Company's second home, the Road on Magnolia, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood.

Performances are Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Ticket prices are $34; Students and Seniors are $17.50; Previews are $15.00. Special group rates available for parties of 8 or more. For tickets, call 818-761-8838 or visit www.RoadTheatre.org to purchase tickets online or to view complete schedule.

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