Rogue Machine Opens MISS LILY GETS BONED

Rogue Machine presents the West Coast Premiere of Bekah Brunstetter's "MISS LILLY GETS BONED" directed by Robin Larsen.

Sex, faith, and violence are all part of this intricate package of connections in Miss Lilly Gets Boned. Bekah Brunstetter imaginatively explores the tenuous and permeable boundaries that separate our civilized side from our more animalistic one, and the ways that faith can limit or uplift humanity. While a captive elephant grows ever more anxious in chains, a virginal Sunday school teacher takes a big chance, by opening her heart to the dangers of love.

"Miss Lilly is by far my favorite, and definitely the craziest, play I've ever written," says Bekah Brunstetter. "It was created before I ever learned to question what I wrote. Working on it again, and with Rogue Machine, is such a gift. I get to revisit a younger version of myself and wrestle with those questions, I'm still wrestling with in my grown up life, like what I believe and why I believe it. Where does goodness come from?"

Bekah Brunstetter is a Los Angeles based playwright. Her plays include: The Cake (Echo Theater Company, Manhattan Theater Club, Spring 2019), Going to a Place where you Already Are (South Coast Repertory), The Oregon Trail (Portland Center Stage, Flying V), Cutie and Bear, A Long and Happy Life, Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova), and Oohrah! (The Atlantic Theater, Steppenwolf Garage, the Finborough Theater / London). Bekah is currently working on a musical adaptation of The Notebook with music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson. She wrote for the first three seasons of NBC's This is Us. She has previously written for MTV's Underemployed, Freeform's Switched at Birth, and Starz's American Gods. She is currently developing TV Projects with Bad Robot, and Skydance Media (an adaptation of Oklahoma!) In feature films, she wrote the screenplay adaptation of the book The Secret. Bekah is an alumna of the CTG Writers Group, Primary Stages Writers Group, Ars Nova Play Group, The Playwright's Realm, and the Women's Project Lab.

Robin Larsen asks, "Are we inherently good? Or are we just animals? Bekah explores what happens when chaos is unleashed, and we're pushed to the point of breakdown."

Director Robin Larsen returns to Rogue Machine where she is a founding member, having directed two of the company's early hits, the West Coast premiere of Joel Drake Johnson's Four Places (Ovation, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and Backstage Garland awards for Best Production), and the Los Angeles premiere of Blackbird (LA Times Best of the Decade). Based in Los Angeles, Robin is known for "so many superlative local productions" (Hollywood Reporter). She received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Career Achievement in Directing in 2014. Robin's work has been seen at South Coast Repertory, The Wallis Annenberg Center, and Disney Hall, with the LA Philharmonic. Robin has worked multiple times with the Antaeus Company, where she most recently helmed Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Among her collaborations with the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, was her production of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, which received the LA Drama Critics Circle prize for Best Revival. Robin's films have screened at festivals around the world, including Cannes, Tribeca, and Berlinale. Robin is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Guild, and an Emeritus member of WGA.

An award-winning cast includes Tasha Ames (Ovation Award Rabbit Hole in 2010 for her role as "Izzy" at Malibu Stage Company, Ovation nomination for Circle X's 2015 production of Trevor; co-starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in Hulu series Little Fires Everywhere and is featured in the film Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado) as Lara; Brady Amaya (WNBA LA Sparks Kids Dance Team at the Staple Center, NBC's This Is Us, HBO's Westworld, co-star in upcoming Netflix series Ratched, 13 awards, including "Most Sought After Actor," and "Best Dancer" in competition IMTA-International Model and Talent Association) as Jordan; Kavi Ladnier (starred Off-Broadway in Rehana Lew Mirza's HATEFCK directed by Lucille Lortel Visionary Award-winning director Adrienne Campbell-Holt, and in Anon(YMOUS) at The Public; Regional credits include Pentecost at Yale Rep, The DNA Festival at LaJolla Playhouse, The Suppliant Women (Getty Villa/Rogue Machine), TV recurring roles on Amazon's Just Add Magic, NBC's Heroes, ABC's General Hospital) as Vandalla; Larisa Oleynik (off-Broadway musical comedy Who's Your Baghdaddy with Tony nominee Ethan Slater, TV: starred in the title role of The Secret World of Alex Mack, 10 Things I Hate About You, 3rd Rock from the Sun, starring in Netflix's new series The Healing Power of Dude, and seen in Trinkets) as Miss Lilly; Ethan Rains (Creation at Boston Court, Paloma at LATC, In the Valley of the Shadow and The Suppliant Women at Rogue Machine, Hostage at Skylight Theatre) as Richard; Justice Quinn (2x Kennedy Center Irene Ryan Finalist for the ACTF, short film 10 Years Down the Road, The Normal Heart, Pride and Prejudice, Out of Their Heads, Titan Stop, String of Endless Love and Start Swimming) as Harold, with Rachel Caselli and Amir Levi as Elephant Puppeteers.

Production/Creative team includes Stephanie Kerley Schwartz (Scenic Designer), Mark Royston and Sean Cawelti (Puppet Design), Martha Carter, (Lighting Design), Christopher Moscatiello (Sound Design), Jocelyn Hublau Parker (Costume Design), Hollace Starr (Dialect Coach), Julia Garcia Combs (Puppet Coach), Kis Knekt (Scenic Atist), Joshua Chamberlain and Taylor Kass (Assistant Directors), Christopher Breyer (Dramaturge), Victoria Hoffman (Casting Director), Amanda Bierbauer (Production Manager), Michelle Hanzelova (Media Producer).

Rogue Machine won the Ovation Award for BEST SEASON (2017) and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for BEST SEASON (2016). In the last 8 years, Rogue Machine has won "BEST PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR" three times from these organizations. RMT has produced seventeen World Premieres, nine of which have been published by Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service or Broadway Play Publishing. Six of the productions have had subsequent productions at significant theatres, including Off Broadway, major Regional houses and The Donmar Warehouse in London. Two world premieres, Small Engine Repair and One Night in Miami..., are currently being made into feature films.

In recognition of its artistic achievement, administrative strength, development of new work and other significant contributions to the field of professional theatre in the United States, Rogue Machine is supported by the Shubert Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The David Lee Foundation, The City and County of Los Angeles and The Richenthal Foundation. RMT is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing's 2014 National Theatre Company Grant. The company presents plays that are new to Los Angeles.

Miss Lilly Gets Boned opens at 8pm on September 21st and runs Fridays 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/19, 10/25 at 8pm, Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm, Mondays at 8pm, through October 28, 2019 (except the Saturday 9/28 performance will be a 2pm matinee, and no performance on Sunday 9/29). Rogue Machine (in the Electric Lodge), 1416 Electric Ave, Venice, CA 90291. Tickets: $40, student discounts $25; $10 on 9/16, 9/27; $20 on 10/4, 10/11. Reservations: 855-585-5185 or at http://www.roguemachinetheatre.com.

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