Rogue Machine Theatre to Launch Ninth Season at New Home, The Met

Multi-award winning Rogue Machine Theatre (BEST PRODUCTION Award winner 2013, 2011 and 2010 - Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Ovation) will be opening their ninth season in their new home at The Met, located at 1089 N. Oxford Ave, one block east of Western Ave. on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and Oxford Ave. The current (CRITICS CHOICE - LA Times) production of NEED TO KNOW by Jonathan Caren will continue its run at Theatre/Theater through January 24th. It will be the final show at that location.

Beginning this month with a reading of KING DICK by Christian Levatino at 8pm on January 8th, Rogue Machine steps into The Met and launches a new season during a new era of growth and prosperity for the company within the vibrant theatre arts scene of Los Angeles. Reservations for King Dick can be made by email at roguemachinetickets@gmail.com and donations (pay what you can) for the event will be taken at the door. There is ample parking on the street or at the nearby ALA Medical Center ($6), 5300 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, California.

Rogue Machine's mainstage productions will begin in February. Directed by John Perrin Flynn, the West Coast Premiere of POCATELLO by Samuel D. Hunter will open at The Met on February 13, 2016. In a small American city, slowly being paved over with strip malls, Eddie manages an Italian chain restaurant. He's not able to serve enough Soup, Salad & Breadstick Specials to make his hometown feel like home. This heartbreaking comedy cries out to make a connection in this increasingly lonely American landscape.

Samuel D. Hunter's A Permanent Image was Rogue Machine's first offering last year, garnering numerous award nominations and continuing with an extended run to sold-out houses. Additional works by Hunter include The Whale (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, GLAAD Media Award, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play) and A Bright New Boise (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Few, A Great Wilderness, and Rest. He is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship, a 2012 Whiting Writers Award, the 2013 Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, the 2011 Sky Cooper Prize, and the 2008 PONY/Lark Fellowship.

HONKY by Greg Kalleres, directed by Gregg Daniel, will be Rogue Machine's second mainstage offering in the new space at The Met, and a Los Angeles Premiere. When a young African American is shot for a pair of basketball shoes, sales triple among white teens. Are ghetto-glorifying commercials to blame, or is it the white CEO who only sees dollar signs? A NY Times Critic's Pick, "Hilarious...a daffy treat, irreverently tackling a subject that appears destined to be forever uncomfortable: race."

Greg Kalleres received his BFA from Tisch's Dramatic Writing Program at NYU. His plays have been produced in numerous cities including, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Berkeley, Bloomington, IN, and Beirut, Lebanon. He received the Certificate of Excellence from the Kennedy Center and the Emerging Playwright Award for his Off Broadway play, HONKY (Urban Stages, NY Times Critic's Pick). He is a two-time finalist for Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard and a two-time finalist for the Aurora Theater Global Age Project. Greg's work has been published by the New York Times, TDF Stages Magazine, Cracked.com, Samuel French, United Stages, Dramatist Play Service and New Playwrights: Best Plays of 2013.

Rogue Machine will be offering additional plays in 2016 (TBA), including a co-production of the play DIRT by Bryony Lavery, at Theatre Tribe, directed by Ann Bronston. Flex Pass ($150 for 8 tickets) and Power Pass info ($250 unlimited), or single tickets for each event will be available at www.roguemachinetheatre.com (DIRT will not be included in the Flex Pass or Power Pass offerings; Theatre Tribe will be handling all ticket sales for this production).

Rogue Machine received the American Theatre Wing's 2014 National Theatre Company Grant, given only to 12 theatre companies in the country. The company draws upon the diverse and extensive experience of its collective while creating high-quality productions by contemporary playwrights who specifically address our culture and time. Rogue Machine believes theatre to be an integral part of community life, a sacred space where audiences gather to be challenged, inspired, entertained, and provoked. By nurturing and introducing new works, Rogue Machine engages this community with arts that create dialogue and resonate long after the curtain closes.

In addition to the main stage productions and the Annual Benefit event, ROGUE MACHINE THEATRE will select several projects for their LATE NIGHT series, which traditionally offers "edgier" entertainment. Previous productions in this slot include the critically acclaimed and multi-award nominated (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, LA Weekly Awards, and Ovation Awards) SMALL ENGINE REPAIR by John Pollono, BINGO WITH THE INDIANS by Adam Rapp, and DIRTY FILTHY LOVE STORY by Rob Mersola. The successful AROUND THE CLOCK playwriting/production series will continue, as will the popular RANT & RAVE monthly series.

Ticketing information will be announced shortly, and will be available by visiting www.roguemachinetheatre.com.

ROGUE MACHINE has garnered recognition for their work in upwards of 75 awards and nominations, including BEST PRODUCTION Award, for three seasons, from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Ovation, and two seasons from Garland voters, the Polly Warfield Award for Excellent Season in Small to Mid-Size Theater (funded by the Nederlander Organization), and 2013 LA Weekly Award for Playwriting (Kemp Powers) for ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI.

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