Son of Semele Ensemble to Present THE LIFE AND SORT OF DEATH OF ERIC ARGYLE, Begin. 8/30

Son of Semele Ensemble (SoSE) will present the West Coast premiere of Ross Dungan's The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle, opening August 30, 2014, at the Son of Semele Theater.

Eric Argyle - newly deceased - wasn't expecting a Q&A session, but a mysterious tribunal is asking some pretty tough questions about his life choices. Meanwhile, back among the living, a stressed-out cellist is sorting through a surprise delivery of 5,307 envelopes, each containing a single typewritten page. In Ross Dungan's ingeniously twisty play, these events set up a race against time with life (or death?) consequences.

PERFORMANCES: Saturday, August 30 through Sunday, September 28, 2014

Fridays and Saturdays @ 8pm
Sundays @ 3pm
Monday performances September 8 & 22 @ 7pm

LOCATION: Son of Semele Theater
3301 Beverly Blvd. (@ Hoover), Los Angeles CA 90004
There is free street parking in the surrounding neighborhood.

TICKETS: $25, general ($5 discount for online purchases)
$20, students/seniors/union members ($2 discount for online purchases)
Tickets available at sonofsemele.org or in person 30 minutes prior to curtain.

Son of Semele Ensemble Artistic Director Matthew McCray directs Eric Argyle. His direction of the company's 2013 hit Our Class received awards from the LA Drama Critics Circle and ArtsInLA.com, as well as nominations from the LA Weekly and Ovation Awards.

"I find myself intrigued by the ways in which the objects we accumulate can chronicle the events of our lives. We're exploring that idea in this production," says McCray. "Whereas in naturalism a prop is used to assist a performance, we are giving the character's personal items a larger role in the storytelling. We actually devoted a week of rehearsal merely to finding ways to emphasize and activate these objects, bringing them front and center."

Playwright Ross Dungan's Minute after Midday won an Edinburgh Fringe First in 2011 and The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle was nominated for Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards in 2013, as well as the Stewart Parker Trust Award. Eric Argyle has been presented at London's Soho Theatre and New York's 59E59.

The Eric Argyle cast includes SoSE company members Melina Bielefelt, Don Boughton, Sarah Rosenberg, Dan Via and Inga Wilson, plus guest artists Craig Fleming, Bruce A. Lemon, Jr. and Rick Steadman. The creative team includes Sarah Krainin (set), Lynne Marie Martens (costumes) and Jeremy Pivnick (lights). SoSE company members Ashley Steed and Alex Wells serve as assistant director and production manager, respectively.

ABOUT SON OF SEMELE ENSEMBLE:Son of Semele Ensemble is a Los Angeles-based ensemble theatre company comprised of 25+ actors, directors, designers, dramaturgs and producers. In its 14-year history SoSE productions have been honored with two LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards (nine nominations), five LA Weekly Theatre Awards (eleven nominations), four Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, a SAGE Award, and an NAACP Theatre Award (four nominations).

SoSE MISSION: We believe the impact of a theatrical experience should resonate beyond the theater door. As an ensemble of artists, we integrate complex design and performance, producing theatre that embraces the friction between emotion and intellect. Through a process of discovery, collaboration and creative risk-taking, we illuminate and amplify universal questions. To that end, we make an earnest commitment to the artistic sustainability of the greater community.

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