For the 20-somethings working at a chic, unnamed New York Magazine, the only thing that matters is style, status - and selling out to the highest bidder. The Echo Theater Company presents a razor-sharp, darkly comic drama about ambition, office warfare and pecking orders by MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.Chris Fields directs the West Coast premiere of Pulitzer Prize-finalist Gloria, opening Sept. 15 at Atwater Village Theatre.
Editorial assistants Ani, Dean and Kendra each hope for a starry life of letters and a book deal before they turn 30. But when an ordinary humdrum workday becomes anything but, the stakes for who will get to tell their own story become higher than ever. Bitingly funny and fierce, Gloriaincisively depicts the declining, dog-eat-dog industry of publishing. As the magazine struggles with the world's ascent into the digital age, relationships between the staff members are imploding. Echo company members
Alana Dietze,
Jessica Goldapple,
Devere Rogers,
Jenny Soo,
Steven Strobel and
Michael Sturgis star in Jacobs-Jenkins' trenchant commentary on the way personal tragedy can serve as grist for the ever-ravenous media machine.
The Echo's creative team includes set designer
Amanda Knehans, lighting designer
azra King-Abadi, sound designer Christopher Moscatiello, costume designer
Dianne K. Graebner and graphic designer Christopher Komuro. The production stage manager isLetitia Chang. Kevin Johnson and Rachael Zambias produce for the Echo Theater Company.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a Brooklyn-based playwright whose credits include War (Yale Rep; Lincoln Center/LCT3), Gloria (
Vineyard Theatre), Appropriate (Obie Award;
Signature Theatre), An Octoroon (Obie Award;
Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience) and Neighbors(
The Public Theater, Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles). He is a Residency Five playwright at
Signature Theatre and is under commissions from LCT3/
Lincoln Center Theater, MTC/Sloan, and the
Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His recent honors include the MacArthur Fellowship, Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama, the PEN/
Laura Pels International Foundation Theatre Award, the Benjamin H. Danks Award, the Steinberg Playwriting Award, and the inaugural
Tennessee Williams award. In addition to holding an MA in Performance Studies from NYU, Branden is also a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace
American Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School. He currently teaches in the Hunter College Playwriting MFA Program, where he is a Master-Artist-in-Residence.
Founded in 1997 and dedicated to producing new work, the Echo Theater Company received 13 Ovation Award nominations for its 2017 productions, including "Best Season." The company was anointed "Best Bet for Ballsy Original Plays" by the LA Weekly in its 2014 Best of L.A. issue and was a recipient of a 2016 "Kilroy Cake Drop"- one of only 13 theaters in the country to be surprised by cakes to honor the efforts they are making to produce women and trans writers. Under the leadership of founding artistic director
Chris Fields, the Echo has introduced Los Angeles to playwrights such as
David Lindsay-Abaire,
Adam Rapp,
Sarah Ruhl,
Adam Bock and
Miki Johnson among others. The company is also recognized for its acting ensemble; in the Los Angeles Times, theater critic Charles McNulty wrote, "Echo Theater Company, which has cultivated a community of top flight actors, would be my go-to place in Los Angeles for symbiotic ensemble acting." KCRW's
Anthony Byrnes stated, "It's time to start paying attention to the Echo Theater Company... What's made these choices pay off is the acting and casting has been superb. The company has made bold choices and backed them up."
Gloria opens on Saturday, Sept. 15, with performances continuing on Fridays andSaturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. through Oct. 21. Three preview performances are set for Wednesday, Sept. 12; Thursday, Sept. 13; and Friday, Sept. 14, all at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; Monday night performances are $20 in advance, and Pay-What-You-Want at the door (subject to availability). 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.
(Please note: Gloria features disturbing adult content and strong violence, and may not be suitable for audiences under the age of 17.)
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