Playwrights' Arena & Skylight Theatre Company to Present the World Premiere of APARTMENT LIVING

Advancing to their second World Premiere this season, live performance returns to the stage at Skylight Theatre on March 12th, in partnership with Playwrights' Arena. Award winning playwright Boni B. Alvarez captures the pulse of the times we're living in as he gives audiences a bird's eye view of Apartment Living.

Shared walls. Shared experiences. Neighbors in a Los Angeles apartment building are forced into tighter quarters and the walls of their comfort begin to close in. What happens when these relationships get too close? What we believe about ourselves and others is seldom the truth.

Director Jon Lawrence Rivera expressed that he is "truly delighted to continue working with one of the nation's most prominent Filipino American Playwrights. Boni's unique perspective on human relationships is especially heightened through the lens of the first 6 months of this pandemic."

Playwright Boni B. Alvarez is a Los Angeles-based playwright and actor. His plays include America Adjacent, Bloodletting, Fixed, Nicky, Dallas Non-Stop, Dusty de los Santos, Driven, Refuge for a Purple Heart, and Ruby, Tragically Rotund. His work been produced at Center Theatre Group - Kirk Douglas Theatre, Echo Theater Company, Coeurage Theatre Company, Skylight Theatre Company, Theatre Rhinoceros, and Playwrights' Arena. Boni is an alum of the CTG Writers' Workshop, Echo Writer's Lab, Humanitas Play LA, Moving Arts' MADlab, the CBS Writers Mentoring Program and The Geffen Playhouse Writers' Room. He is currently in Skylight Theatre's SkyLab and a Resident Playwright of New Dramatists.

Skylight Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Gary Grossman remarked that, "Apartment Living is our sixth collaboration with Boni and we are excited to once again champion this original voice."

Jon Lawrence Rivera (Director/Artistic Director, Playwrights' Arena) is the recipient of the first Career Achievement Award from Stage Raw. Directing credits include the following world premieres: A Hit Dog Will Holler, March: A Parking Lot Play (co-produced with the Los Angeles LGBT Center), Southernmost by Mary Lyon Kamitaki, Baby Eyes by Donald Jolly, I Go Somewhere Else by Inda Craig-Galván, Bloodletting by Boni B. Alvarez (also at Kirk Douglas Theatre), The End Times by Jesse Mu-En Shao, Little Women by Velina Hasu Houston, The Hotel Play written by Paula Cizmar, Velina Hasu Houston, Jennifer Maisel, Nahal Navidar, Julie Oni, Janine Salinas Schoenberg and Laurie Woolery (performed in an actual hotel), @TheSpeedofJake by Jennifer Maisel, Circus Ugly by Gabriel Rivas Gomez, Painting In Red by Luis Alfaro, Cinnamon Girl by Velina Hasu Houston and Nathan Wang (also at the 2nd Beijing University International Musical Theater Festival 2014), Dallas Non-Stop by Boni B. Alvarez, The Anatomy of Gazellas by Janine Salinas Schoenberg, Girl Most Likely To by Michael Premrirat, Bonded by Donald Jolly and Euripides' Helen by Nick Salamone (at the Getty Villa). He directed the landmark Los Angeles Premiere of Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn at SIPA and Kirk Douglas Theatre. Rivera is the recipient of a NY Fringe Festival Award for directing Hillary Agonistes, an LA Weekly Award for directing Sea Change, and 5 Ovation Award nominations.

The cast includes Gabriel Leyva (as Alex), Geri-Nikole Love (as Mayisha), Charrell Mack (as Cassandra), Gigette Reyes (as Easter), Andrew Russel (as Dixon), Rachel Sorsa (as White Lady).

The creative team includes Alex Calle (Scenic Design), Azra King-Abadi (Lighting Design), Mylette Nora (Costume Design), John Zalewski (Sound Design), David Murakami (Projection Design), Michael O'Hara (Properties Design), Raul Clayton Staggs (Casting).

Gary Grossman (Producing Artistic Director) is the recipient of Stage Raw's 2016 Career Achievement Award and the inaugural Henry Ong Award for Leadership in the Los Angeles Theatre Community. His career began in New York, owning two theaters and a theatrical lighting company by the age of 23. Gary worked at The Public Theatre, Café La Mama, and Sheraton Square Playhouse before joining Los Angeles' emerging theatre movement in the 70's. Producing over 300 stage plays and more than 65 world premieres, some of his celebrated productions are Rotterdam (3 LADCC Awards including Best Production and 2 Stage Raw Awards - performed at CTG's Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2019), World Premieres of Church & State (Off-Broadway 2017, over 50 national productions), The Wrong Man (Off-Broadway 2019, 3 Ovation Awards), Bronco Billy - The Musical (2 Ovation Awards), Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (Steinberg/National Theatre Critics Citation with Lower Depth Ensemble), El Grande CIRCUS de Coca- Cola, Obama-ology, Pray To Ball (Ovation Award), Years to the Day, Hermetically Sealed, Bullrusher, Mad Women (LA Weekly Award), AIDS/ US Portraits In Courage, America Adjacent, The Madres, Hostage, Never Is Now, and the 2020 L.A. Times Critics' Choice West Adams.

APARTMENT LIVING opens at 8:30pm on Saturday, March 12th and runs 8:30pm Saturdays, 3pm Sundays, 7:30pm Mondays through April 24, 2022. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 ½ North Vermont, LA, 90027. Street parking or local pay lots. No late seating. Everyone must present proof of FULL VACCINATION against COVID-19 along with a government-issued photo ID in order to attend. Face masks are required to be worn indoors at all times. No children under 12 years old. Tickets $20 - $42 (Previews begin March 5th: Pay-What-You-Can). Run time is approximately 85 minutes (no intermission). Reservations and information www.skylighttheatre.org

Contactless ticketing - no cash sales at the door. Online streaming will be available for at-home-viewers beginning March 26th. Facebook: Skylight Theatre Company and Playwrights' Arena. Twitter: @playarenala and @SkylightThtr Instagram: @SkylightTheatre @playwrightsarena

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