SUGAR PLUM FAIRY Opens at Skylight Theatre This December

Skylight Theatre Company and Frier McCollister present Sandra Tsing Loh's "Sugar Plum Fairy" Directed by Bart De Lorenzo Opening at 8:30pm on Saturday, December 1st with reception to follow 8:30pm Fridays and Saturdays, 3:00pm Saturdays and Sundays through December 23, 2018 Skylight Theatre, 1816 ½ North Vermont, Los Angeles, CA 90027

This offbeat and thoroughly original holiday treat offers festive cheer while engaging audiences to participate (think G-rated "Rocky Horror" fun). Appropriate for ages 8 to 80, and beyond, NPR's Sandra Tsing Loh's Sugar Plum Fairy tells the story of a 12 year-old girl who dreams of dancing the lead in The Nutcracker. Audiences are encouraged to come decked out in ugly holiday sweaters, tutus, and Hanukah hats and be prepared to join in the 75 minutes of madcap merriment. Bart De Lorenzo directs. Joining Sandra Tsing Loh are Tony Abatemarco and Shannon Holt. Tickets are on sale now at skylighttheatre.org

"Wildly successful. Ideal antidote for... 'A Christmas Carol.' Check out Sandra Tsing Loh's rollicking 'Sugar Plum Fairy' as a modern glimpse of the Christmas season, and if you sit close enough to the stage you might go home with one of the show's props' - Los Angeles Times

Sandra Tsing Loh is a writer and performer whose solo theatre shows include Aliens in America and Bad Sex With Bud Kemp (both off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre), Sugar Plum Fairy (Geffen Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre), I Worry (The Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville) and The Bitch Is Back (Broad Stage). Her bestselling New York Times Notable Book, Mother on Fire, was inspired by her hit solo show in 2005, during which time Variety named her one of America's 50 most influential comedians. Her memoir, The Madwoman in the Volvo: My Year of Raging Hormones, was selected as one of The New York Times' 100 Most Notable Books; it was inspired by her Best American Essay in The Atlantic, for which she is a contributing editor. The play version of Madwoman premiered at South Coast Repertory in January 2016 and subsequently ran at The Pasadena Playhouse and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Paramount Television and Anonymous Content optioned Madwoman for TV. Her three-actor play version of Sugar Plum Fairy premiered at SCR last December. Loh has been a regular commentator on NPR's "Morning Edition," and on Public Radio International's "This American Life" and "Marketplace;" her daily radio minute, "The Loh Down on Science," is heard locally on KPCC (89.3 FM) and is internationally syndicated.

"A comedic coming-of-age tale, this story takes a look at the flip side of The Nutcracker, and it's set to classical music," says Loh. "Originally created as a solo performance, it's grown into a three-performer piece, and is now burgeoning into a full-on audience-participation piece, kind of a Xmas Rocky Horror sing-a-long...but G rated."

Bart De Lorenzo is the founding Artistic Director of the Evidence Room Theater. Recent work includes Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and the premieres of Sugar Plum Fairy, tokyo fish story, Fast Company, Doctor Cerberus and Shipwrecked!: An Entertainment at South Coast Repertory; Stage Kiss and the premieres of Death of the Author, and Coney Island Christmas at The Geffen Playhouse; Annapurna with The New Group (Off-Broadway); Nomad Motel at Pittsburgh's City Theatre; Kiss, Go Back to Where You Are, and A Number at the Odyssey Theatre; Need to Know at Rogue Machine Theatre; Cymbeline at A Noise Within; The Projectionist at the Kirk Douglas, and The Night Watcher at Washington's Studio Theatre. Recent Evidence Room productions include The False Servant, Passion Play, Ivanov, Margo Veil, and The Receptionist. Faculty at CalArts. Awards: LA Drama Critics Circle including career achievement, LA Weekly, Backstage Garlands, and TCG's Alan Schneider Director Award.

The cast includes Sandra Tsing Loh, Tony Abatemarco, and Shannon Holt

Tony Abatemarco won the Ovation Award for Lead Actor in The Mystery of Irma Vep and he is a three-time Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle nominee for lead performance, including South Coast Rep's Bach at Leipzig, and most recently for Red at International City Theatre, Long Beach. Tony has appeared in Long Beach Opera's The Soldier's Tale by Stravinsky, LA Opera's Wonderful Town by Leonard Bernstein and in the Mozart Festival's Abduction from the Seraglio by Mozart. He received two National Endowment Directing Fellowships, founded two seminal L.A. theatres: Accident Theatre and The Night House, and has directed on Broadway (Julie Harris in Lucifer's Child), at The Arts Theatre in London's West End (Robyn Peterson's Catwalk Confidential), regionally and in Paris. Selected on-camera work includes How to Get Away with Murder, the films Town & Country, Sleeping with the Enemy, HBO's Sacrifice, The L Word, E.R. and Frasier. As a playwright, he has won LA Weekly and Drama-Logue awards. His play, Beautified, world premiered at Skylight Theatre, 2012; and his latest, Forever House, premiered there in 2016. His collected plays are being published by F-Stop Books in 2018.

Shannon Holt appeared in Sugar Plum Fairy at South Coast Repertory and also was featured in Ms. Loh's hilarious Madwoman In The Volvo, at South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, and Berkeley Repertory. She is currently doing the LA Theatre Works National Tour of Steel Magnolias which goes out again in February/March 2019. Shannon's stage work includes appearances at Trinity Rep, Center Theater Group/Mark Taper Forum, Indiana Rep, Laguna Playhouse, Actors Theatre Of Louisville, Dixon Place and The Public Theatre in NYC. In Los Angeles, she has worked on many stages including Evidence Room, Rogue Machine Theater, The Theatre@Boston Court, Actors' Gang, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Matrix Theater, LATC, East West Players and the Antaeus Company, where she is a member. She has received nominations and awards from LA Weekly, Stage Raw, LA Stage Alliance Ovation, Broadway World and Backstage. Selected film and television credits include Seinfeld, ER, and That 70's Show.

"Sugar Plum Fairy is sure to double your pleasure this season whatever your religious preference" - So Cal Arts and Entertainment

Creative Team: Keith Mitchell (Set Design), Jared A. Sayeg (Lighting Design), John Ballinger (Sound Design), Angela Balogh Calin (Costume Design)

Skylight Theatre Company won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award this year (Best Production) for their West Coast Premiere staging of Rotterdam by Jon Brittain, Additional LADCC awards for Rotterdam include Writing and Lead Actress. Rotterdam also received top honors at the 2018 Stage Raw Awards, winning Production of the Year and Leading Actress awards. Recognized as a "powerhouse of new play development" by Dramatist Magazine, many of Skylight's World Premieres have gone on to be performed nationally and internationally; Church & State (Jason Odell Williams) opened Off Broadway in 2017 and has been performed in 24 states; Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea by Nathan Alan Davis (a co-production with Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble) received the prestigious Steinberg American Theatre Critics Association Citation. Skylight's resident PlayLAb helmed by Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Tony Award nominee Lee Blessing, includes alumni that have enjoyed productions nationwide, a national 2014 USA Ford Fellowship in Theater and Performance (Sigrid Gilmer), a Residency at New Dramatists in New York (Boni B. Alvarez), and locally as a winner in the 2015 Humanitas/ CTG Playwriting Prize (Louisa Hill - Lord of the Underworld's Home for Unwed Mothers). Skylight won 4 Ovation Awards in 2014 for The Wrong Man and Pray To Ball (the most of any intimate theatre in LA) and was named to LA Weekly's 2013 Top Ten list. In 2011, Skylight's first year dedicated to developing new plays, Hermetically Sealed made the LA Times annual Top Ten Plays. For more information, go to http://skylighttheatre.org

Sugar Plum Fairy opens at 8:30pm on Saturday, December 1st with additional performances at 8:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, 3:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays through December 23, 2018 (previews 8:30pm on Nov. 24th, 3pm on Nov. 25th, 8:30pm on Nov. 30th and 3pm on Dec. 1st). Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave, LA, 90027. Tickets are $15 - $43, includes tickets for Children and Seniors. Early Bird Special: Adult Seats are $20 when purchased before November 1st. Online at http://SkylightTix.org,

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