City Lights Theater Presents 'FIRST PERSON SHOOTER' 1/22

City Lights Theater Company of San Jose proudly presents the South Bay's premier of FIRST PERSON SHOOTER
Written by Aaron Loeb
Directed by Lisa Mallette
January 22 - February 22, 2009, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 pm, Sunday Evenings at 7 pm (February 1 & 8), Sunday Matinees at 2 pm (February 15 & 22)
Run time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with one intermission

General Admission Tickets $30
Student, Educator, Senior and Group Discounts Available (Subject to availability, excludes Gala & Preview) Wheelchair Accessible.

City Lights Theater Company
529 South Second St.
San Jose, CA 95112
Box Office (408) 295-4200 * www.cltc.org

December 26, 2008. San Jose, CA.
City Lights Theater Company of San Jose proudly presents FIRST PERSON SHOOTER by Ba Area playwright Aaron Loeb. The production previews on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 and Friday, January 23rd, 2009, with the Gala Opening Performance on Saturday, January 24th, 2009. A post-show discussion will be held on Sunday, February 1st. The production is scheduled to run through February 22nd, 2009.

FIRST PERSON SHOOTER. After a Columbine-type shooting, the creator of a violent video game receives a letter from the shooter, written just before his rampage and suicide, thanking him and his company for the "practice" that the game provided. A timely examination of culpability and responsibility, FIRST PERSON SHOOTER asks the ultimate question: in a society in which violence has become a game, who is really at fault when the violence becomes all too real?

Author Aaron Loeb was inspired to write the play by the polarized public response he witnessed to the 1999 school shootings at Columbine High School. Then a videogame journalist, Loeb received multiple inquiries from the media asking him to respond to claims that violent videogames caused the tragic shooting. The experience motivated him to write a play clarifying the issue and bringing light to the complicated nature of these violent incidents and the sometimes forgotten humanity of the people involved and affected.

Aaron Loeb's full-length play, FIRST PERSON SHOOTER, was world premiered in 2007 by SF Playhouse and PlayGround. Based on his work as a journalist covering videogames in the late-90s, the play won the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic Circle's award for Best Original
Script, 2007 and was named a Top 10 Theater Event of 2007 by the SF Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune. His next play, ABRAHAM LINCOLN"S BIG GAY DANCE PARTY world premiered at SF Playhouse in December, 2008. His short plays have been featured by the Bay Area Theater Company, Playground, in six Best of PlayGround Festivals as well as the San Francisco Fringe Festival and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival BASH. Aaron has BFAs in Dramatic Writing and Dramatic Literature from NYU. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. By day, Aaron is the CEO of Planet Moon Studios, an independent developer of videogames.

Lisa Mallette is proud to be not only the Director for the South Bay premier of FIRST PERSON SHOOTER, but also the Executive Artistic Director of City Lights Theater Company. She has worked for City Lights for 8 seasons, 5 as Executive Artistic Director, and has also appeared in and directed nearly a dozen productions for the company. Ms. Mallette is a member of Theatre Bay Area and TBA Theatre Services Committee, representing South Bay small and mid-size theatres. This year, Ms. Mallette has been accepted into Community Leadership San Jose. A San Francisco native, Lisa Lives on the Peninsula with her husband, actor-director and City Lights Associate Artistic Director Kit Wilder.

THE CAST features Thomas Gorrebeeck (A FEW GOOD MEN, LYSISTRATA) as Kerry Davis, the CEO of Jet Pack Games, a San Jose based videogame company that produced the ultra-violent videogame "Megaton." After a troubled young fan of the game named Billy Cahill thanks Davis and his staff for all of the "practice" they gave him before going on a killing rampage at his Illinois high school, finally killing himself as well, the national media descends on Davis and his employees Tommy Damotta, played by George Psarras (SHAKESPOD, VOLUNTARY AMNESIA), Tamar Resnick, played by Amanda Folena (JACOB MARLEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL), and Wilson Fong, played by Terry Ma in his City Lights debut.

One of Cahill's victims was the only African-American student at his school, Jonathan Jamison. Jamison's father, Daniel, played by Manny Martinez in his City Lights debut, becomes another epicenter of the ensuing media maelstrom when, at the encouragement of Jonathan's stepmother, Rose, played by Rachel Bakker (BOY GETS GIRL, WISE WOMEN), he sues Kerry Davis and Jet Pack games for their alleged responsibility for his son's death.

City Lights recognizes its donors, without whom this production would not be possible. FIRST PERSON SHOOTER is supported as a part of City Lights 2008-2009 Season by Arts Council Silicon Valley, the City of San Jose, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and by the contributions of many generous individuals.

City Lights Theater Company of San Jose's production of FIRST PERSON SHOOTER is the South Bay's premier of a local playwright's timely examination of video game and violence-performances are already selling out! The production is scheduled to run through February 22nd, 2009. Please call the City Lights Box Office at 408-295-4200 for tickets or more information.

Run time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with one intermission

 

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