Exclusive Late Night Performances Of SAM'S TEA SHACK Coming To Los Angeles For Limited Run

Barker Room Rep announced today that Sam's Tea Shack, an interactive play originating in New York, will be presented at the Atwater Village Theater, November 16-18. The exclusive late night showings are part of a trio of performances produced by Barker Room Rep, Los Angeles-based experimental theater company, which also includes the West Coast premiere of Erin Courtney's A Map of Virtue, November 2-18 and Real Talk / Kip Talk with Kippy Winston, executive produced by Eliza Bent and directed by Sarah Hughes, November 10 & 11.

An interactive play, Sam's Tea Shack is a piece about cultural identity vs. national identity. Steeped in a reverence for the NYC subway system as the new Silk Road, Sam's Tea Shack is an Ashkenazi Jewish boy's fantasy that he is among his ancestors: central Asian nomads. In this malleable exchange between audience and Sam, he serves tea and snacks, talks about the neighborhood, Persian emperors, fatherhood, drugs, high school plays with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and whatever is on your mind. If you let him, he's determined to cut through the haze and light up the path between the dumpling and the knish once and for all.

It's a comedy. Sam cares about you. Feel free to interrupt.

Starring Sam Soghor; Text by Sam Soghor and Ben Gassman; Directed by Meghan Finn; Designed by Normandy Sherwood.

Ben Gassman (Playwright) is a playwright from Queens. In April 2017 his play 40s & Chestnuts premiered at Brooklyn College, directed by Tara Elliott. He once made a play called the Downtown Loop with Meghan Finn and Sam Soghor. He occasionally writes about theater and the world beyond for the Brooklyn Rail. He teaches essay writing at NYU. bengassman.com

Meghan Finn (Director) is a director based in Brooklyn, NY, who took over as Co-Artistic Director of The Tank in April of 2017. Prior to that, she was the Associate Artistic Director of 3LD where she co-presented The Tank's celebrated 2015/16 Season. She recently directed DOOMOCRACY by artist Pedro Reyes for Creative Time at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Other recent credits include: CHARLESES by Carl Holder (The Tank at The Brick for Save & Print), The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman (The Tank/3LD at The Connelly); American Power performed by photographer Mitch Epstein and Composer/Cellist Erik Friedlander at the V&A London and The Wexner Center, Columbus, Ohio; Gary Winter's DAREDEVIL at The Brick; The Downtown Loop by Ben Gassman (3LD/3D+ Productions/Teeth of Tooth Atelier); Take Me Home by Alexandra Collier set in a taxi cab (Incubator Arts Project/LPR); The Service Road by Erin Courtney; Motel Cherry by Peggy Stafford (Summerworks Clubbed Thumb/New Georges HERE ) and 3 2's; or AFAR by Mac Wellman (Dixon Place). BA USC, MFA Brooklyn College.

Sam Soghor (Performer) is NYC born and raised and his grandma took him to a lot of Broadway musicals. Shmuel's Bar Mitzvah speech at Temple Shaaray Tefila received a (sacrilegious) standing ovation. His first Manhattan public access show Old Dog and Zippy in '95 caught the eye of the downtown arts scene. Recent theater includes Ben Gassman's The Downtown Loop and Gary Winter's Daredevil both directed by Meghan Finn. Recent film includes Adam Leon's Gimme The Loot and Tramps both available on Netflix. His latest public access offering The All City Hour is available on Vimeo.

Performances of Sam's Tea Shack take place Thursday and Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m., November 16-18. Tickets range from $15-$20. Atwater Village Theater is located at 3269 Casitas Avenue, Los Angeles, 90039.

For theater information and to purchase tickets, visit www.barkerroomrep.org.

Barker Room Rep is a new experimental theatre company based in Los Angeles, established in 2016 with the production of two one-acts; Playing Uno with Gil by Jacob Burstein-Stern and Paki-Man by Mark Sitko. Named for the room on the Brooklyn College campus where MFA playwriting students gather to workshop their plays with Mac Wellman, Barker Room Rep aims to showcase the work of the most creatively ambitious playwrights writing today; providing a space for inclusive, diverse, and controversial stories, and fostering artists and art that reflect these values. With a simple philosophy, Barker Room Rep aims to produce plays that are pieces of art. Plays that speak to the modern mind. Plays that challenge the [ ]. Fill in the blank.

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