Son of Semele Presents WALLOWA: THE VANISHING OF MAUDE LERAY

Award-winning theatre company Son of Semele Ensemble (SOSE) will present the world premiere of Wallowa: The Vanishing of Maude LeRay, a play written by Oliver Mayer in collaboration with the Company. Playing at the Son of Semele Theater in Silver Lake from April 8 through May 8, 2011, Wallowa is Son of Semele?s first publically presented company devised work.

Wallowa revisits a true story surrounding a 76-year old woman who, in 2007, went missing in the Wallowa Mountains, one of the densest and most dangerous forests in the Americas. After searching extensively throughout the region, search and rescue teams found no trace of her and officials called off the mission. The Wallowa mountain range was the home and sacred lands of Chief Joseph?s band of the Nez Perce Tribe, the flashpoint of the last great battle between the U.S. government and an Indian nation. This location is the setting for the story.

In June 2009, director Don Boughton visited the Wallowa range, interviewing those connected with the incident and locals who remembered it. Impressions from these interviews were woven together with history, culture and myths of the region to create a theatrical narrative that seeks to uncover the mysteries of what is lost and gained on the knife edge between life and death. Wallowa was presented as a work-in-progress at the Palm Springs InterNational Theatre Festival in the summer of 2010.

Oliver Mayer is the author of twenty plays, including The Wiggle Room (directed by Don Boughton), Dias Y Flores and Laws of Sympathy. He is Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing at the Unversity of Southern California School of Theater. For more information on Oliver Mayer visit www.olivermayer.com.

The play is conceived and directed by SOSE company member Don Boughton, an actor and director who began his career with the Improvisational Theatre Workshop at the Mark Taper Forum. The set design is by Sarah Krainin, with lighting by Barbara Kallir, music and video by SOSE Artistic Director Matthew McCray, choreography by Sharyn Gabriel and dramaturgy by Bryan Davidson. The cast features Melina Beilefelt, Sarah Boughton, Sharyn Gabriel, Daniel Getzoff, Gabriel Liebeskind, Gina Manziello, Matthew McCray, Alex Smith, Dee Sudik, Alex Wells, JoNathan Williams and Alex Wright.

Wallowa is one of three company devised plays currently in development at SOSE. The other two are Hearing the Deaf, a docu-drama about the culture and history of the Deaf community, and Fencerow to Fencerow, a play about the evolution of American agriculture, which was created in collaboration with Center Theatre Group.

SOSE was profiled as one of the ?hippest, hottest, most innovative theatre troupes in the U.S.? by American Theatre, and featured on the magazine?s cover. Over the past ten years the company?s work has received 17 regional awards and award nominations including the Ovation Award, the L.A. Weekly Theatre Award and the NAACP Theatre Award. SOSE also sponsors the work of like-minded theater artists by offering resources for co-productions through SOSEhost, a year-round curated series of theatrical events. For additional information on SOSE and SOSEhost visit www.sonofsemele.org.

Performances of Wallowa are April 8 through May 8 on Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 4:00 p.m. There is no performance on Saturday, April 16. Additional Monday night performances at 7:00 p.m. are scheduled for April 25 and May 2. Admission ranges from $12-22. Unsold seats at the time of curtain will be sold to local residents of zip codes 90004 and 90026 for $5.00 (I.D. required). Tickets are available through the SOSE website at www.sonofsemele.org. The box office opens one half hour prior to curtain. Son of Semele Theater is located in Silver Lake at 3301 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004 (one mile west of Alvarado). For more information visit www.sonofsemele.org.

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