The Wallis Presents THE BITTER GAME, An Immersive Theater Experience

THE BITTER GAME, a "high-impact" immersive theater experience ripe with pain, poetry, and laughter that explores the experience of being black in America, debuts at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, November 14 through Saturday, November 17, 2018, outdoors on The Wallis' Promenade Terrace.

Playwright-actor Keith A. Wallace's multi-character, solo performance in five acts, structured as the four quarters and overtime of a basketball game, tells the story of Jamel Smith, who witnesses a neighborhood act of violence as a child and later must learn to navigate his interactions with police. It speaks to both a personal and universal truth that is "a sharp reminder of the persuasive powers of live theater," according to The New York Times, which also described the play as closing the gap between artist and audience, giving the familiar subject an "unignorable visceral immediacy." Based on Wallace's youth in Philadelphia, THE BITTER GAME is created, written and performed by Wallace, co-created by Deborah Stein, and directed by Malika Oyetimein.

"With THE BITTER GAME performed outdoors in a non-traditional theatrical setting, we bring audiences up close to Keith Wallace's very direct style of storytelling that explores the issues that have informed and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement," says The Wallis' Artistic Director Paul Crewes.

According to a Village Voice interview with Wallace, "Since the play head-on addresses the epidemic of police violence in this country, a lot of people have been dubbing it a Black Lives Matter play by association. But it's not specifically a BLM play. I think the BLM movement addresses so much more than just the issue of excessive police force; there are many other racial injustices that the movement is also tackling. THE BITTER GAME is semi-autobiographical, in that I pull from my experiences growing up in inner-city in Philly, which mirrors the experiences of many people of color growing up in inner-cities across the country. I've built a composite character not only specific to me but that represents a larger whole. No two audiences experience the same play, because it's constantly evolving as this issue keeps presenting itself."

On why he created the play, Wallace says, "The murder of Michael Brown in 2014 was to me a public display, in the way that public lynching used to take place as a warning sign and display of white power and supremacy. All of the mothers rendered childless from these situations are thrust into the spotlight and not afforded the same opportunities to mourn and grieve in the same way other mothers are. I got tired of seeing black people murdered by police with impunity, and it was time for a reckoning."

Wallace hopes the play will eventually reach beyond the theater to be used as a tool of sensitivity training for law enforcement and performed with schools and communities reflected in the story.

THE BITTER GAME was commissioned by the La Jolla Playhouse for the International WOW Festival while Wallace was still a graduate student at UC San Diego. Since its debut, THE BITTER GAME has received critical acclaim not only from The New York Times but also the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Tribune, which called it "a searing, well-honed one-man show," and others. It has toured internationally, making notable stops at the Skirball Cultural Center, The Public Theater, The Kennedy Center, The American Repertory Theater and the Dublin Theater Festival. The play also won the 2016 Princess Grace Theater Award and was a semi-finalist in the 2016 Sundance Theater Lab and the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference.

Warm attire and comfortable shoes are suggested for audience members, who are also warned to expect the play's strong language.

A post-show discussion takes place immediately after the Friday, November 16 performance. A sign language-interpreted performance is held on Saturday, November 17.

Single tickets are $40. Visit TheWallis.org, call 310.746.4000, or stop by in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services Office located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

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