The Echo Theater Company introduces L.A. audiences to playwright Miki Johnson when Chris Fields directs the West Coast premiere of AMERICAN FALLS, opening tonight, September 11 at the Echo's Atwater Village Theatrehome. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!
A kind of modern day Our Town,Johnson's AMERICAN FALLS is a poetic and sensuous interplay of stories and monologues that exposes the inner life of everyday people desperately seeking meaning and love. From a broken-hearted ghost to a Native American storyteller with an extensive pop culture lexicon and psychic powers that can be traced to his shoes, AMERICAN FALLS asks enduring, unanswerable questions: What is it to live? What becomes of the child on the mysterious road to adulthood? What is it like to grow old? What does it mean to die?
Johnson's first full-length play, AMERICAN FALLS premiered at Houston's Catastrophic Theatre in 2012, earning her the Houston Theater Award for Best Playwright. Subsequent productions have taken place at the Cleveland Public Playhouse in 2014 and, earlier this year, in Pittsburgh, PA by Barebones Productions.
The Echo production stars
Leandro Cano (Oedipus El Rey at Theatre @ Boston Court, The Interlopers at the Bootleg) as Billy Mound of Clouds;
Karl Herlinger (Gesualdo in Echo's production of
Tommy Smith'sFugue) as Samuel;
Barbara Tarbuck (Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Water Engine on Broadway; Jane Jackson on General Hospital) as Samuel's mother, Samantha;
Deborah Puette (Facing Our Truth at the
Kirk Douglas, A Delicate Balance at the Odyssey) and
Andrea Grano (Echo productions of A Family Thing, God's Ear, Better; award-winning indie film BFFS) alternating as Samuel's dead wife, Lisa; child actor Tomek Adler as their young son;
Eric Hunicutt (The Pain and the Itch at the Zephyr) as Lisa's lover, Eric Dewar; Garrett Hanson (STOMP at New York's Orpheum Theater and on tour for five years) and Ian Merrigan (Row After Row at the Echo) alternating as Eric's friend, Matt; and Jessica Goldapple(Firemen at the Echo) and
Beth Triffon (The Pain and the Itch at the Zephyr) alternating as Matt's wife, Maddie.
Scenic design is Nina Caussa; lighting design is by Jesse Baldridge; sound design is by
Jeff Gardner; costume design is by Michael Mullen; graphic design is by
Elizabeth Hale; photography is by Darrett Sanders; and the casting consultant is Raul C. Staggs. Julian Montenegro assistant directs, and the production stage manager is Emyli Gudmundson. Reena Dutt and
Chris Fields produce for The Echo Theater Company.
AMERICAN FALLS runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sept. 11through Oct. 18. There will be two preview performances, on Wednesday, Sept. 9 and Thursday, Sept. 10, each at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25, except previews which are Pay-What-You-Can. Atwater
Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. On-site parking is free. For reservations and information, call (310) 307-3753 or go to
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.
Photo Credit: Darrett Sanders
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