Sacred Fools Teams Up with Burglars of Hamm for RESA FANTASTISKT MYSTISK

The Sacred Fools Theater Company is kicking off its 22nd Season with Burglars of Hamm for a remount of the award-winning Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk. Resa was recently produced at this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival where it took home Top of the Fringe honors. The first Mainstage show of the Sacred Fools season, Resa opens Friday, October 5 and runs through Saturday, November 3 with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7pm. The show will be performed in the Main Stage Theater of the Broadwater Theater Complex.

About Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk

Resa was one of the Burglars' first theatrical outings. The script is a recently unearthed masterpiece by Lars Mattsun, a lesser-known, but some would argue, more-deserving, contemporary of Ibsen and Strindberg. The play tells the story of Philip, a struggling painter who goes on a fantastical journey to reclaim his right to be an artist (the title roughly translates to 'Journey Extremely Mysterious'.)

Director Todd Merrill, who not only directed the production, but also translated the script, is the world's first, foremost and only expert on the work of Lars Mattsun. "Philip's journey is the journey of any person of genius ability who is surrounded by doubters and saboteurs. He faces many obstacles, such as lack of funds and women, yet he ultimately triumphs, at least in spirit," says Merrill, "Let us pray to Thespis that we shall do the same in this spirited production."

About Burglars of Hamm

Sacred Fools is thrilled to collaborate for the third time with the Burglars, following their two previous co-productions, Land of the Tigers and The Behavior of Broadus(published by Samuel French). Burglars of Hamm is the writing and performing partnership of Carolyn Almos, Matt Almos, Jon Beauregard and Albert Dayan. The Burglars have been called "The Talking Heads of LA theatre - arch, geeky, highbrow and hip" (LA Stage) "Maybe the closest thing LA has to the Pythons." (Backstage West), and "Los Angeles' goofiest social satirists" (LA Times). Other plays include Easy Targets, Party Show and Focus Today.

Production Team and Cast

The exceptionally prolific playwright Lars Mattsun (1849-1912) is credited with no less than 23 plays, including Where the Shoe Squeezed, Song of Wonder, Day of Trees and Whether Wind Wither You. Though the majority of these were not produced until well after Mattsun's death, he is considered one of the most influential artists in Swedish history; only eclipsed in notoriety by his contemporary August Strindberg.

Director Todd Merrill's prolific work includes New York directing credits Song of Wonder (by Lars Mattsun) at the Quincy Street Theatre, The Maids at the New Classic Rep, and the all-male version of Top Girls at the Simple Stage. Merrill's acclaimed production of Song of Wonder garnered him a prestigious Bronze Gosling from the Lars Mattsun Society.

Producing for Sacred Fools is company member Scott Golden, who produced the recent Fringe Festival run. Golden has appeared as an actor in many Fools shows, first as Charlie Brown in Absolutely Filthy and most recently in Mr. Burns, a post electric play. He is also producing Sacred Fool's third mainstage show of 2019, Too Heavy for Your Pocket by Jirén Breon and directed by Michael A. Shepperd.

Producing for Burglars of Hamm is Matt Almos. Matt is a founding partner of Burglars of Hamm, and was co-writer and director of many of their shows including Party Show, Focus Today, Land of the Tigers, Easy Targets, The Behavior of Broadus and the original production of Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk. Matt also works as a creative consultant for live and themed entertainment.

Assistant Producer and Lighting Designer Allison Faith Sulock (Mr. Burns, a post-electric play, Skullduggery, Shakespeare's Last Night Out) joins Sound Designer Matt Almos, Costume Designer Linda Muggeridge (The Art Couple, Mr. Burns, a post-electric play and many, many more) and Scenic Artist Barbara Lempel in forging a truly Swedish, authentically Mattsunian design aesthetic .

The cast of Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk features Carolyn Almos, Scott Leggett, Carrie Keranen, Lara Nicole Harrison, Jon Beauregard, Tim Kopacz, Selina Smith and Kita Grayson. The understudy cast consists of Lauren Campedelli, Corey Walter Johnson, Russell Edge, Jacob de Heer, Suzan Crowley and Kim Dalton.

Donate What You Can Performance - Sunday, October 14

It's "Pay What You Can" with a twist! Half of all proceeds for this performance will be donated to a local charity, TBA. Other recent beneficiaries have included ProjectQ, Direct Relief and The Center for Inquiry.

Additional Programming at Sacred Fools

There's always more happening at the Fools, from the return of the late-night smash Serial Killers (entering its 14th year), fresh installments of our ongoing shows Ten Tops and We The People, and some new surprises. Press releases on all of these are forthcoming. For more information on these and other upcoming performances, please visit www.sacredfools.org.

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