Photo Flash: Tom Irwin, Marin Ireland, Bruce Norris and More in Rehearsal for CTG's A PARALLELOGRAM

Rehearsals have started for "A Parallelogram," the riveting new play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Bruce Norris. Directed by Tony Award-winner Anna D. Shapiro, "A Parallelogram" will be presented at the Taper, July 10 through August 18, 2013. The opening is scheduled for July 21. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast and creative team in rehearsal below!

The cast includes Carlo Albán, Marylouise Burke, Marin Ireland and Tom Irwin. Set design is by Todd Rosenthal, with costumes by Alex Jaeger, lighting by James F. Ingalls and sound by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen. Casting is by Erica Daniels, Erika Sellin and Mark B. Simon, and the production stage manager is David S. Franklin.

A darkly comic play, "A Parallelogram" introduces us to Bee, who believes she has the ability to know what happens in the future. With what appears like a little time-bending she sees how her life, that of her boyfriend and the world at large, will play out. To the increasing concern of those around her, Bee tries to make sense of this new-found knowledge. Should she try to reinvent destiny or is the trajectory of life basically unalterable?

Steven Oxman of Variety said that "A Parallelogram" in its premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre in July 2010 was a "...well-crafted, highly entertaining and exceptionally thought-provoking comedy." Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune said, "It's like Norris has combined the alacrity of Edward Albee, the nebbish intellectualism of Wallace Shawn and some of the narrative questions of 'Back to the Future.' It makes your head spin in all the right ways."

Bruce Norris' "Clybourne Park," which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2010 Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Play in London, was presented at the Mark Taper Forum last season prior to moving to Broadway. His other plays include "The Infidel," "Purple Heart," "We All Went Down to Amsterdam," "The Pain and the Itch" and "The Unmentionables," all of which had their premieres at the Steppenwolf. Two new plays, "The Low Road" and "Domesticated," will both premiere in 2013, at Royal Court Theatre in London, and Lincoln Center Theater in New York, respectively. His work has also been seen at Playwrights Horizons, Lookingglass Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Staatstheater Mainz (Germany) and The Galway Festival (Germany).

Anna D. Shapiro was awarded the 2008 Tony Award for her direction of "August: Osage County" (Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Broadway, London, and it was presented at the Ahmanson Theatre in September 2009), and was nominated in 2011 in the same category for "The Motherf**ker with the Hat." An ensemble member at Steppenwolf since 2005, her credits there include Bruce Norris' "A Parallelogram" and "The Pain and the Itch" (the latter also in New York), "I Never Sang for My Father," "Man From Nebraska," "Three Days of Rain," "Side Man," and many more at Steppenwolf and elsewhere. She has served as the director of the MFA in Directing program at Northwestern University since 2002.

Tickets for "A Parallelogram" are available by calling (213) 628-2772, visiting online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, or in person at the Center Theatre Group box office at the Ahmanson Theatre. Tickets range from $20 - $70 (ticket prices are subject to change). The Mark Taper Forum is located at the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012.

Photo Credit: Craig Schwartz

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