Rogue Machine and Firefly Join To Kick Off 2011

ROGUE MACHINE & FIREFLY WILL PRODUCE LA PREMIERE OF "DIRT," BY Bruce GoochDirt, which will mark the first collaboration for Rogue Machine and Firefly, is a gritty, poetic play set for itsLos Angeles premiere at Theatre/Theater.

Performances begin Wednesday, January 25 for a limited engagementthrough Sunday, February 27. Opening is set for Friday, January 27 at 8pm.

When an estranged son returns home and finds his father fighting to hold onto his mind, they are thrust into astruggle to control their land and the memories it holds. Dirt explores how we forge our identities through ourconnections to our home, to our past, and to each other.

The play made its world premiere at the Williamstown TheatreFestival directed by Jenny Sullivan and starring the late James Whitmore and John Dennis Johnston, who will star in theLos Angeles premiere, which will be directed by Bruce Gooch and will also star Ryan Johnston and Andrea Robinson.Playwright and director Bruce Gooch is making his Los Angeles stage debut with this production.

His mostrecent work includes writing a feature adaptation of Lew Wallace's Ben Hur; a Tale of the Christ for Academy Award-winner Albert Ruddy and Clearview Pictures, where Bruce also has his screenplay Whiskey Kisses. Dirt star John Dennis Johnston grew up in Nebraska and begin his career in Omaha dinner theatres doing musicals.

He went on to work in New York and Chicago before landing in LA and more than 100 television shows and films over 35 years, from AnnieHall, to Roots, to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and more. Ryan Johnston was last seen on a Los Angeles stageplaying Ben in the LA premiere of The Four of Us, for which he received a Maddy Award and a Ticketholdernomination, and is best known as Patrick McCreary from Grand Theft Auto IV.

Andrea Robinson has been twicenominated for a Canadian Emmy for her series regular role on the series Doc and, in addition to numerous guest starroles, has also been seen in the films The Nutty Professor II: the Klumps and in Sgt. Bilko with Steve Martin. The show will be produced by Johnny Clark, Natalia Duncan, and Steven Klein. The design team for Dirt includes David Potts(set), John McIlveney (props), Derrick McDaniel (lights), Gelareh Khalioun and Karina Torrico (costumes), and KyleJohnston and Matthew McGaughey (original music and sound). The assistant stage manager is Brenda Goldstein, andthe production stage manager is Amanda Mauer.Dirt will be presented at Theatre/Theater, at 5041 W. Pico Blvd (just west of La Brea) in Los Angeles. Preview performances are Wednesday, January 25 at 8:00pm and Thursday, January 26 at 8:00pm.

Opening night is set for Friday, January 27 at 8:00pm. Performances run through February 27, Thursday through Saturday at 8:00pm with Sunday matinees at 3:00pm. Preview tickets are $15 and regular seats are $25.

Tickets are available via phone at (323)960-5563 and online at www.roguemachinetheatre.com. Rogue Machine presents plays that are new to Los Angeles. Since 2008, this has included 3 Los AngelesPremieres (The Sunset Limited, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, and Stop/Kiss); 5 West Coast Premieres (the multi-awardwinning Four Places, MilkMilkLemonade, American Dead, Bingo with the Indians, and Half of Plenty); and 3 World Premiere productions (Yard Sale Signs, Razorback, and the multi-award winning production of Henry Murray's Treefall, now published by Dramatist Play Services). The company draws upon the diverse and extensive experience of itscollective to create high-quality productions by contemporary playwrights who specifically address our culture and time.Firefly: Theater & Films was founded in 1996 to mount new and classic plays while searching for morerigorous ways to define and measure the success of theatrical ventures. On stage, Firefly last produced Belfast Blues off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre in 2010 and last produced in LA with the LA premiere of Itamar Moses' TheFour of Us, which won eight 2008 Garland, Maddy, and Ticketholder awards and nominations.

On screen, Firefly lastproduced Make Believe, a documentary on six of the world's best teen magicians, which won the grand jury prize at theLos Angeles Film Festival and the audience award at the Austin Festival and which will be distributed in early 2011.Firefly theater projects have garnered over two-dozen awards for shows in Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Belfast,Off-West End London, and Off-Broadway. For more information, visit www.fireflyinc.com

 

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