First Look: World Premiere ONE WAY TICKET TO OREGON by BC Caldwell opens 11/17

Here's your first look at the World Premiere of ONE WAY TICKET TO OREGON written by BC Caldwell, produced by BC Caldwell and Jeremy Aldridge, and directed by JJ Mayes as an Equity Approved Showcase production at the Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica, which runs November 17 through December 17, 2017 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm, with two shows on Sunday, December 3 at 2pm and 7pm, with no performances scheduled over Thanksgiving weekend or on Friday, December 15. Featured in the cast (in alphabetical order) are BC Caldwell, Cydney Wayne Davis, Dennis Delsing*, Matt McVay, Robert Paterno*, Rebecca Radock*, Ruth Silveira*, Bryan Staggers* and Melvin Ward.

Cast members featured in photos: Cydney Wayne Davis (June Collins), Ruth Silveira* (Leigh Anne Rainey), BC Caldwell (Bobby Rainey), and Melvin Ward (Andre Calhoun). Photo credit: Shari Barrett

Playwright BC Caldwell is Co-Founder and Executive Director of CRE Outreach, a non-profit performing arts organization dedicated to empowering underserved youth, individuals with special needs, and military veterans in greater Los Angeles. Since 2007, CRE Outreach has utilized theatre, the performing arts, and educational programs as a means to enhance self-esteem, encourage self-expression, and empower individuals to overcome the challenges in their lives, giving voice to those who are often not seen or heard. As such, Caldwell now brings his genuine heart and desire to help others to give voice to the topic of cancer and all the difficult decisions one must face when confronted by a terminal illness and the necessity of making life-altering decisions.

As a graduate of Tulane University, Caldwell's personal understanding of the people of Louisiana shines through in his first play ONE WAY TICKET TO OREGON, taking place in Alexandria, Louisiana during the very hot and humid summer of 2010. At its core are two life-long friends, June Collins, an older no nonsense African American woman with an intuitive understanding of people, and Leigh Anne Rainey, a fiery and opinionated older southern belle living in an aging house that has been home to her family for over 150 years.

With family playing an important part in the lives of both women, they face many challenges ahead, especially between Leigh Anne's son Bobby, a redneck good ol' southern boy who drinks more than he should, and June's nephew Andre, who plans to make a better life for himself by leaving the South and studying to become a dentist. The two men have moved beyond their friendship as high school teammates and are now at odds with each other on how to best live their lives while respecting the wishes of the elders they admire.

When Leigh Anne receives the diagnosis that her cancer has returned and spread to her pancreas, she's forced to confront her mortality. A proper southern belle with a rebel heart, she frets over what her end is going to look like, and how it will affect her son Bobby, who relies on her stability, his unstable wife Eve, and her young grandson Duke, who has autism.

With help from her friend June, Leigh explores her limited options, including the use of medical marijuana to curb her symptoms, and learns about doctors in Oregon who can legally help her to "die with dignity." As she wrestles with her faith, unresolved issues of race and heritage threaten to unravel the core of Leigh's fragile family, an emotional struggle taking place all too often around the world today.

ONE WAY TICKET TO OREGON general admission tickets are $25, with $15 senior and student tickets, available online at tinyurl.com/onewaytix or at the box office one hour prior to each performance at the Promenade Playhouse, located at 1404 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA 90401, opening November 17 through December 17, 2017 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm, with two shows on Sunday, December 3 at 2pm and 7pm. Please note there are no performances over Thanksgiving weekend or on Friday, December 15.

*Actors so designated are members of Equity.

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