RIOT GRRRL Set for Hollywood Fringe, 6/7-28

The company that brought last year's award-winning It's Important to Leave, As Well, returns for its 3rd year at the Hollywood Fringe Festival this June with a World Premiere play tackling love, friendship, punk rock and the End of Days!

"After the success of It's Important to Leave, As Well at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival, I knew I wanted to bring another original play to the 2014 Fringe... My first two Fringe offerings fit easily into the category of 'Relationship Play' and so I wanted to try and break out of that" said Director Scott Marden and with Riot Grrrl Saves the World he has done just that.

When a Jehovah's Witness wanders into the local Riot Grrrl meeting, beliefs are challenged and all four girls must take a hard look at what it really means to change the world. Armed with their powerful words and personal experiences, they must band together to save the world by making zines, rocking out and spreading the good book of the grrrl revolution.

This production brings the zine (handmade magazine) articles to life with vibrant performances from the cast along with creative lighting and projections to give the audience the full experience of being engaged in the Riot Grrrl movement of the early 90s. Featuring music from the era, a live punk band performance by the actors and an energetic pace, this production creates a punk song-like beat that barrels the audience into this world of revolutionary drive and passionate self-expression.

Through energy and humor, Riot Grrrl Saves the World engages with themes of LGBT discrimination, religious ideology, sexual and verbal harassment, and gender inequality-issues that are still unbelievably relevant today. It explores how the punk rock, do-it-yourself, community-building tools of the movement enable the characters to find their voices, reclaim their experiences, and join forces to change the world.

"I was interested in contextualizing the punk rock feminist scene with the early Christian movement, which, if you think about it, was a bunch of radical anarchists" says Playwright Louisa Hill. By weaving themes and ideas of the Riot Grrrl movement with Christianity, Riot Grrrl Saves the World manages to "both heighten our potential understanding of each, as well as show the similarities and dangers that can come from blindly following others and not listening to your own thoughts" (Director Scott Marden).

"In my plays, I tend to work with two disparate ideas and try to find the overlapping ideas and themes... For this play, my point of departure was the riot grrrl movement and the Apocalypse. So I went off and geeked out in both directions- from the Book of Revelations and The Watchtower, to punk music and zines. Like a mad chemist with two beakers, I poured one into the other, drawing inspiration from moments and figures in both riot grrrl history as well as from the Bible. Both offer solutions for salvation. Both see a change as necessary. Both envision a new world, which they detail in their proselytizing materials" says Playwright Louisa Hill.

"I was interested in the larger idea of the end of the world as four literal horsemen, but in a metaphorical sense-the idea that when things change so irreversibly, the world (as you know it) is essentially over. And while it leaves something to mourn, it offers an impetus for change. It's just one incarnation of the world-so what's next?"

Reminding the audience that they are never alone in what or how they feel, this play reinvigorates a sense of teenage idealism, encouraging all to stand up and be proud of who they are and what they believe in.

"I think this is a fantastic show for Fringe," says Director Scott Marden "It's an original play about a group of young women trying to change the world through music, art, and self-expression... I think the fact that the play is set in the early 90's only serves to highlight exactly how important these issues still are today, that there is still lots of work to be done, and that even if your voice feels small or insignificant, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be yelling at the top of your lungs."

DATES AND TIMES:
June 7, 11:30 p.m. - preview
June 14, 9 p.m.
June 22, 1 p.m.
June 26, 8:30 p.m.
June 28, 5:30 p.m.

LOCATION:
The Elephant Space at Theatre Asylum
6320 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

TICKET PRICES:
$15 for general admission *Discounts available; see social media pages for more information

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