Santa Monica Playhouse Presents Eugene Ionesco's THE LESSON & THE BALD SOPRANO

Commemorating its 57th Anniversary, Santa Monica Playhouse's Actors' Repertory Theatre (ART), the company that introduced the works of acclaimed playwright Eugene Ionesco to Los Angeles, brings back to the boards the double-bill with which the Playhouse opened its doors in 1960: THE BALD SOPRANO, Ionesco's bizarrely humorous comedy of mishaps and manners, and THE LESSON, a bizarre and darkly humorous indictment of language cum power cum bourgeois education, of which renowned playwright Ionesco himself said, "Magnificent! Your fidelity to my original intent is incredible!" This run features an international cast, as ART proudly presents both plays in French and in English, on alternate evenings, in the newly refurbished intimate Artists' Entrance Studio Upstairs, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 pm through August 26, 2017.

The creation of truth through fiction, and the examination of the absurdity of the human condition, is what has drawn ART back to Ionesco over its 57 year history. The plays deal with the mystery and multiplicity of daily existence, the inevitable link of the catastrophic with the trivial, the ebb and flow of human foible and folly - Ionesco challenges us to look into his fun house hall of mirrors and recognize these reflections as our own.

Ionesco's works have a special resonance today in our wired and multi-layered society: the comedy and tragedy in our failed attempts to communicate are echoed in the playwright's use of linguistic degeneration - perfectly represented by THE BALD SOPRANO in which words devolve into nonsensical and cacophonous sounds and by THE LESSON, in which a professor and student play at wits, nonsense-phrases become the learned truth, and wrong and right are exactly the same. As Ionesco himself has said, 'Life is a grotesque practical joke constantly pulling away chairs from under man's dignity and reason.'"

"Each time ART revisits his work, each time new audiences are introduced to his brilliant and fantastical vision, we recognize the work as more timely than before. Ionesco didn't write 'before his time,' Ionesco's time is always." Says Playhouse Co-Artistic Director Chris DeCarlo, who has, over the past 53 years, played half a dozen of Ionesco's most favored and bizarre characters and co-directs along with Playhouse Associate Director Serena Dolinsky.

In honor of Belgian-born Playhouse co-founder (along with James Arness and Eric Braeden) Ted Roter and to highlight the plays' original text, both THE LESSON (LA LEÇON) and THE BALD SOPRANO (LA CANTATRICE CHAUVE) will be performed in English and in French on alternating evenings.

French Language performances are Fridays August 4 & 18; Saturdays August 12 & 26

English Language performances are Fridays August 11 & 25; Saturdays August 5 & 19

The cast features ART company members Celeste Akiki, DeCarlo, Dolinsky and Evelyn Rudie, with guest artists Elyse Ashton, Tavis L. Baker, Nicola Bertram, Elodie Cammarata, Brad Griffith, David Mack, and Anatole Odolant.

THE BALD SOPRANO and THE LESSON will be presented in the newly refurbished Artists' Entrance Studio Upstairs, an intimate space whose décor and ambiance represent the personality of the original Santa Monica Playhouse performance space, coupled with brand new state-of-the-art lighting, sound and eco-friendly technical equipment, for an amalgam that honors both the history and the timeliness of Ionesco's works.

General admission is $30, with special discounts available for students, teachers, seniors, and military. Special $15 ticket price when English and French productions are reserved in the same booking. Tickets on line at http://www.santamonicaplayhouse.com/ionesco.html or call the Box Office at 310-394-9779 ext1. Seating is limited.

Santa Monica Playhouse, ARTISTS' ENTRANCE STUDIO UPSTAIRS is at 1211 4th Street (between Wilshire & Arizona), in downtown Santa Monica. By public transportation: take the Santa Monica Blue Bus or the LA Metro Rapid #720, exit 4th and Wilshire or take the Expo Line to the Downtown Santa Monica stop and walk north up 4th street.

Santa Monica Playhouse is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, by the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission, and by U.S. Bank.

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