Long Beach Playhouse to Present MARAT/SADE

The Long Beach Playhouse presents its latest production, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis De Sade or Marat/Sade, which opens June 11 in the Studio Theatre. In keeping with a reputation for outside-the-box productions in the Studio theater, the audience will witness a play written in the style of the Theater of Cruelty.

"Theater of Cruelty is the creation of Antonin Artaud, a French playwright and surrealist in the 1920s," said Andrew Vonderschmitt, Executive and Producing Artistic Director for the Playhouse - and the director of this production of Marat/Sade.

Artaud broke from tradition with his own theories on how to effectively move an audience. The ultimate goal of which was to elicit a visceral, nearly animal response. Theater of Cruelty seeks to awaken the senses and to explore emotions. This is not passive theatre. The audience is a part of it, whether they like it or not."

In the year 1808, the Director at The Asylum at Charenton, Abbé de Coulmier, a liberal who held no medical degree, regularly allowed the inmates to write and stage plays as a form of therapy. Among these patients was the infamous Marquis de Sade.

"Peter Weiss, the playwright, imagines the Marquis, inside the asylum, writing a play about the assassination of French Revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat, an inflammatory subject to say the least," said Vonderschmitt. "Sade could create, in essence, a platform with which to discuss the validity of revolution and the value of social violence. He would have a forum where he could argue opposing viewpoints."

It's a large cast, 14-members and in Playhouse tradition the cast is a mix of debut performances and actors returning to its stage. The actors making their Playhouse debuts are: Colton Dillion, Austin James, Carole Louise Duffs, Elijah Douglas, Ashley Gilmore, Liz Waite, Mark Bowen (as Marat) and Karin Bozanich. Returning actors include: Loren Stevenson, Tyler Gray, Lorraine Winslow, Melissa Donn, Noah Wagner (Marquis de Sade) and Alex Shewchuck. Steven Olear is serving as Music Director, his first time in that role for the Playhouse, although Olear has been the keyboardist for several productions. Brian Bozanich, Playhouse board member and director of the Summer Youth Program, is the movement director.

Marat/Sade runs from June 11 - July 9, 2016

SPECIAL EVENTS FOR THIS PLAY:

Pay what you can Thursday June 9

Two for One Preview Friday June 10- Tickets are $12.00

Opening Night Champagne Reception with cast on June 11 - Tickets are $27.00

Adults are $24.00, seniors $21.00, and Students $14.00.

Tickets are available at www.lbplayhouse.org, or by calling 562-494-1014, option 1.

Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA, 90804, right across from the Long Beach Recreation golf course. The Playhouse is community-supported theatre with programs and events that cut across age, gender, ethnic, and cultural boundaries.

Performances are 8 p.m. Friday, and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The box office is open Wednesday-Saturday from 3:00-8:00 pm and Sundays from 1:00-2:00 pm on scheduled matinees.

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