DIDO OF IDAHO Comes to The Echo Theater Company in July

The Echo Theater Company will present a very dark comedy about the lengths to which a woman might go for the love of a good man. Abigail Deser directs the West Coast premiere of Dido of Idaho by Abby Rosebrock, running July 20 through August 26 at Atwater Village Theatre. Three Pay-What-You-Want previews are set for July 17, 18 and 19.

Alana Dietze (Echo productions of Everything Will Be Different,for which she was Ovation nominated, Gloria, An Undivided Heart) brings usNora, a lovelorn baroque musicologist with a drinking problem, who is head-over-heels for an English professor, Michael, played by Joby Earle(Indecent at CTG, War Horse on Broadway). Unfortunately, this particular good man has already been claimed by Crystal (Nicole Duport, seen in Cry It Out and Gloria at the Echo), a former Miss Idaho with a penchant for home manicures. When the extramarital hijinks go brutally awry, Nora flees to the Rocky Mountains to seek comfort from her estranged mother, Julie (Julie Dretzin, previously at the Echo in Babe) and Julie’s new partner, Ethel (Elissa Middleton of Here After and Small Time, both streaming on Amazon Prime). In her desperate bid to find compassion, Nora risks losing the only family she’s ever had — maybe forever. 

“This play is wonderfully raw, original, authentic and funny,” says Deser. “Nora faces her own potential annihilation because she only knows how to exist in the reflection of the male gaze. Self-love is the only beacon that might help her find her way back to safe shores.”

The title of the play is derived from the story of Dido and Aeneas. In the course of his travels, Aeneas stops in Carthage, where he has a passionate love affair with the recently widowed Queen Dido. As soon as he learns that the gods have assigned him another, more glorious fate, Aeneas abandons Dido, whereupon she kills herself in rage and despair.

“I wanted to write about a woman who feels hopeless of ever being loved, and to imagine a way out of that for her,” Rosebrock explained in an interview. “The only way to make that kind of play bearable for me or for anyone experiencing it is to make it as funny and exciting as possible. My hope has been that crafting a lot of physical comedy, wordplay and rapid-fire punchlines, all situated in something like realism, makes the story something people can really inhale, even as it challenges them.”

The creative team includes scenic designer Amanda Knehans, lighting designer Xinyuan Li, sound designer Alysha Grace Bermudez, costume designer Dianne K Graebner, make-up designer Jennifer Pritchard and fight choreographer Ahmed Best. The production stage manager is Megan Tomei. Chris Fields, Kelly Beech and Marie Bland produce for the Echo Theater Company.

Abby Rosebrock is a Brooklyn-based writer and actress from South Carolina. Her work has been commissioned, developed and produced throughout New York City and across the country. Other full-length works include Wilma, Blue Ridge, Singles in Agriculture, Monks Corner and Ruby the Freak in the Woods. Several of those titles will soon be available through Theatrical Rights Worldwide. Abby is a proud alum of writers groups at Clubbed Thumb, The Orchard Project and Ensemble Studio Theatre and is currently at work on a trilogy. 

Founded in 1997, the Echo Theater Company has gained a reputation for producing and developing exciting new work. Under the artistic leadership of Chris Fields, the company has championed playwrights for a quarter century, producing and commissioning numerous world premieres and introducing Los Angeles to playwrights David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp and Sarah Ruhl among others. The Echo has won countless Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Ovation, LA Weekly and Stage Raw awards, and is frequently cited on end-of-the-year “Best of Lists” including by the Los Angeles Times, LA Observed and NPR affiliate KCRW 89.9 FM, among others. The company was anointed “Best Bet for Ballsy Original Plays” by the LA Weekly and was a recipient of a “Kilroy Cake Drop” to honor its efforts to produce women and trans writers. KCRW declared that “Echo Theater Company is on a fierce journey,” and Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote, “Artistic directors of theaters of all sizes would be wise to follow the [lead] of the Echo’s Chris Fields, who [is] building audience communities eager for the challenge of path-breaking plays.” In April, the Echo was honored with three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards including the prestigious Margaret Harford Award for Excellence In Theatre. In May, last season’s production of How It’s Gon’ Be by JuCoby Johnson was the recipient of four Stage Raw awards.

Dido of Idaho opens on Saturday, July 20, with performances continuing on Fridays andSaturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. through August 26. Three preview performances are set for Wednesday, July 17; Thursday, July 18; and Friday, July 19, each at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. All Monday night performances, as well as previews, are pay-what-you-want. Atwater Village Theatreis located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. 

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (747) 350-8066 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com. 
 

 

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