DEFINITION OF MAN Returns To Los Angeles

Definition of Man, which had its world premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June 2017 and recently finished an international tour returns to the LA stage this January. The one-act play had an oversold run during Hollywood Fringe and was nominated for multiple awards including Best World Premiere and won Best of Fringe in Dance & Physical Theatre, the "Ripest Show" sponsored Award from Cherry Poppins, and an Encore Producers Award. At Edinburgh, they enjoyed a successful twenty-one show run that critics called a five-star "unmissable" production (everything- theatre.co.uk) where the "quality of writing, thought and performance going into the show...is a pleasure to see" (thescotsman.com).

Performances of Definition of Man will take place at the Arena Theatre on the Cal State LA Campus January 10th-27th with shows at 7PM Thursday-Saturday and 2PM on Sundays. Tickets are available on dconstructionarts.org.

The production is being produced by DConstruction Arts, a local nonprofit performance organization cofounded by Jane Rose (Disney Imagineering) and the show's co-director Tavi Stutz (Cirque du Soleil) that is "committed to conceiving, creating and producing the highest quality theater, multimedia, and social experiences... that explore themes derived from conversations in our society that effect our identities and understanding of self."

A sexier, more violent Waiting for Godot, Definition of Man is a physicalized post-modern decreation myth. Drawing from Kenneth Burke's essay of the same name, the show investigates the human drive to communicate and the inevitable breakdown that results from the inherent incompleteness of language. The one-act was created by Nikki Muller and Jason Rosario by synthesizing personal narratives, academic texts and Russian counterbalancing to explore issues of identity, race, gender performance and communicative breakdown.

In the abstracted setting of a burnt-out, post-apocalyptic ruin, the cast of two serves as a stand-in for all of humanity while grappling with their own personal struggles to maintain a sense of self in a world that has ceased to exist. In a tightly-paced narrative progression, they move and shift between verbal and physical intimacy, exploring how these intersect and overlap from start to finish. Nameless but for their titles of XX and XY, they are both universal and specific, two sides of one coin, speaking from their own divergent experiences to reach a place of mutual understanding.

For her writing of Definition of Man, co-creator, co-star and writer Nikki Muller advanced to one of 24 semi-finalists out of 374 submissions in The Playwrights Realm's 2016-2017 Writing Fellows Program and received a nomination for the Inkwell Playwright's Promise at the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival. She previously co-wrote two musicals with the improv team Robot Teammate and the Accidental Party. As an undergraduate at Princeton, Muller received the Fagels Prize for her Creative Thesis in Comparative Literature and the Francis LeMoyne Page Award from the Department of Theatre and Dance. She received her M.F.A. at the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University, studying at The American Repertory Theatre and the Moscow Art Theatre School, where she first trained in Russian partner movement and counterbalances, which inspired the physical element of the play, and is currently a company member of Sacred Fools Theatre.

Co-creator and co-star Jason Rosario is a Los Angeles-based actor who works regularly in television and film. His work in Definition of Man sprung from his desire to return to his theatrical roots, craving something emotionally and physically challenging. In the play, he draws from his personal experiences growing up in Puerto Rico and incorporates a dexterous muscularity acquired from years of martial arts training. Rosario is also an amateur Muay Thai fighter and competes regularly.

Director JJ Mayes has been working in the L.A. theater community for the past 16 years. In addition to directing Definition of Man during the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June 2017, he produced last year's Best Comedy winner, Easy Targets. He is currently a member of the Sacred Fools Theater Company and an associate member of both Theatre of Note and the Burglars of Hamm. He served as Co-Artistic Director of Sacred Fools for 3 seasons and has produced and directed 8 shows for them. The shows JJ has either directed or produced have won a total of 24 local theater awards: 7 Garland awards, 5 Ovation awards, 5 LADCC awards, 5 Stage Raw awards, and 2 L.A. Weekly awards. In 2013 he was chosen by the Los Angeles theater community to sit on a committee of volunteers to write the bylaws for what would eventually become the Theatre Producers League of Los Angeles. JJ was subsequently elected to serve on the League's inaugural Leadership Committee.

Co-director and movement choreographer Tavi Stutz has worked as a director, actor, dancer, writer, aerialist and yoga instructor on both the East and West Coast. In New York City he performed at the Roundabout Theater Company, at Broadway Dance Center, and with the Siti Company. Tavi also studied at Harvard and through this connection was invited to Moscow by the Bolshoi Ballet to train with them and to take gymnastics lessons at Dinamo. He also taught movement to college students at MXAT and to Harvard graduate students. Upon returning to America, Tavi began performing with the Cirque du Soleil, eventually settling in Los Angeles, where he continues to work in television, circus, film and theater, and is co-founder of his own non-profit, DConstruction Arts, which focuses on multimedia and movement performance.

An original score and soundscape for Definition of Man was created by Chris Thomas, a seasoned composer of both cinematic and orchestral scores. Chris has won awards for Best Soundtrack at SXSW film festivals, Best Film & TV Music at the World Music Awards, and the Gold Medal Prize from the Park City Film Music Festival. In 2010, Chris wrote music for the documentary, Woman Rebel. The film was short-listed for an Academy Award and nominated for an Emmy Award. He was also nominated for Best Orchestrator at the Academy of Film & TV Music Awards in Hollywood. In the concert world, Chris orchestrated and arranged large works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Master Chorale's Easter Celebration at the Hollywood Bowl. He recently collaborated with the Invertigo Dance Theatre, featuring the quirky Sugar Plum Jam at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. His own works have been performed and recorded by the Hollywood Studio Orchestra, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Rose City Chamber Orchestra, University of Southern California Symphony, Angeles String Quartet, Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra, Fear No Music ensemble, Willamette University Chamber Choir, Oregon East Symphony, A-Sharp Youth Symphony and various American festival ensembles.

To increase accessibility, Definition of Man has added two ASL interpreted shows to their January run in Los Angeles. The show's co-stars and creators are teaming up with local ASL interpreters David Hernandez and Brianna Barber for their performances on Friday, January 18th at 7PM and Friday January 25th at 7PM.

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