Skylight Theatre Company to Premiere THE END TIMES

Skylight Theatre Company is proud to announce that they will be co-producing the World Premiere of Jesse Mu-En Shao's THE END TIMES, in collaboration with Jon Lawrence Rivera's Playwrights' Arena. This marks Jesse's first produced work. The collaboration between the two companies is a longtime in planning. Both companies pride themselves on nurturing and developing new works.

Enter the world of a religious cult. Dare to ask the questions you haven't asked, to discover the truths that shatter your beliefs. Who do you turn to then? Tim, born and raised in the Lord's Recovery, has always been a devout follower to Witness Lee's ministry. He is young, loyal, and a true believer. However, after his best friend Evan is cast out of the Church in Pullman for "living in his mind." Tim's life slowly unravels as he begins to question the foundations of his faith.

Jesse Mu-En Shao (Playwright) is a Los Angeles playwright. His plays, Where You End... I Begin and Stories From Nanjing (John Cauble Short Play National Semi-Finalist) were selected for the KCACTF Region VII short play festivals in 2010 and 2011. In 2014/15 he was a member of The Vagrancy's playwrights group where his new play, O.P. was presented in a reading for their new play festival, Blossoming. He is currently a writer in Playground LA's group. He has had staged-readings of his work with Pasadena Playhouse, New Jersey Repertory Company, Arts Bottega, and Western Edge Salon. His recent full-lengths include, Trials (2012), Morning View (2013).

"At long last, we at the Skylight Theatre Company get to collaborate with Jon Lawrence Rivera and Playwrights' Arena who brought us this amazing new work by the very talented Jesse Mu-En Shao" - Gary Grossman (Producing Artistic Director)

The cast features: Christian T. Chan, Nick Cimiluca, Matt Pascua, Alexander Pimentel and Mariah Robinson.

On the production team are: Christopher Scott Murillo (Scenic design and props), (Lighting), Mylette Nora (Costumes), Lily Bartenstein (Projection), and Phill Driscoll (Sound Design).

THE END TIMES opens on Saturday, April 16th and runs at 8:30pm Fridays and Saturdays, 3:00pm on Sundays through May 15, 2016. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave, LA, 90027. Tickets are $15 - $34. Reservations: 213-761-7061 or online at skylighttix.com.

Jon Lawrence Rivera (Director) is the recipient of the Inaugural Career Achievement Award from Stage Raw, and five Ovation Award nominations. He directed the following world premieres for Playwrights' Arena: @thespeedofJake by Jennifer Maisel, Circus Ugly by Gabriel Rivas Gomez, Painting In Red by Luis Alfaro, Cinnamon Girl by Velina Hasu Houston and Nathan Wang (also at the 2nd Beijing University International Musical Theater Festival), Dallas Non-Stop by Boni B. Alvarez, The Anatomy of Gazellas by Janine Salinas Schoenberg, Girl Most Likely To by Michael Premsrirat, bonded by Donald Jolly and Euripides' Helen by Nick Salamone (at the Getty Villa). Other recent work includes: Criers For Hire by Giovanni Ortega at East West Players, A Class Act by Ed Kleban for Musical Theatre Guild and Stand-Off at Hwy #37 by Vickie Ramirez for Native Voices at the Autry (also at the University of South Dakota). Rivera is the recipient of a NY Fringe Festival Award for directing Hillary Agonistes, an LA Weekly Award for directing Sea Change. Rivera is the founding artistic director of Playwrights'Arena.

Gary Grossman (Executive Producer) is the recipient of Stage Raw's 2016 "Career Achievement Award," and he is the Producing Artistic Director for Skylight Theatre Company. He started his career in New York owning two theaters and a theatrical lighting company by the age of 23. Gary worked at the Public Theatre, Café La Mama, and Sheraton Square Playhouse before traveling west in the 70's to join up with the emerging theatre moment in Los Angeles. He has produced over 300 stage plays, including more than 50 world premieres. Among his celebrated productions are Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (Steinberg/National Theatre Critics Citation), El Grande CIRCUS de Coca-Cola , Wrong Man (3 Ovation Awards), Pray To Ball (1 Ovation Award), Years to the Day, Hermetically Sealed, Bullrusher, Sexsting, Mad Women (LA Weekly Award), Romeo and Juliet directed by Milton Katselas (3 LADCC Awards), Dylan (3 LADCC Awards), Influence, Open House, Dream Man, Lone Star, Balm in Gilead, Visions and Lovers, Rabbit Hole, Beautified and La Ronde de Lunch.

Skylight Theatre Company discovers, develops and produces new, exhilarating works that expand mainstream theatre while nurturing and educating the people who create them. A recipient of the prestigious Steinberg National Theatre Critics Citation (Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea - Nathan Alan Davis), Skylight's resident PlayLab writers have been recognized with productions nationwide, a national 2014 USA Ford Fellowship in Theater and Performance (Sigrid Gilmer), and locally as a winner in the 2015 Humanitas/CTG Playwriting Prize (Louisa Hill). Skylight won 4 Ovation Awards in 2014 for The Wrong Man and Pray To Ball (the most of any intimate theatre in LA). LA Weekly included the Skylight's productions of Years To The Day, Open House and Sexsting on their Top Ten list of plays for 2013. Skylight's first year as a company dedicated to developing new plays was 2011; their production of Hermetically Sealed made the LA Times annual list of Top Ten Plays, and Mad Women moved from Los Angeles to La MaMa in New York. Since then, plays developed by Skylight have been performed in Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Oregon, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and internationally in Scotland and France. For more information, script submission policy and production history go to skylighttheatrecompany.com.

Playwrights' Arena, under the leadership of artistic director Jon Lawrence Rivera, is dedicated to discovering, nurturing and producing bold new works for the stage written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights. It develops new materials through several series of readings, workshops and round table discussions. Local playwrights are encouraged to create original, adventurous, daring materials with the intent of challenging the mind, touching the heart and provoking the spirit. Playwrights' Arena was founded in 1992 by Jon Lawrence Rivera and Steve Tyler. For more information, script submission policy and production history go to www.playwrightsarena.org.

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