Tickets On Sale For The Speakeasy Society's THE JOHNNY CYCLE

Tickets are now on sale for the much anticipated production The Johnny Cycle by The Speakeasy Society.

The return of The Johnny Cycle marks the culmination of a four year exploration of text and performance. What No Proscenium calls " a master class in audience immersion." Set amongst the marble hallways of the Mountain View Mausoleum in Altadena, the stunning reimagining of The Speakeasy Society's critically-acclaimed production interweaves multiple performance tracks ensuring unique return viewings exploring family, warfare, and the trials of Dalton Trumbo's life.

Inspired by Dalton Trumbo's novel, "Johnny Got His Gun," and drawing on several historical sources, The Johnny Cycle is a unique immersive experience. Placing the audience at the center of the action, the production casts the audience as Johnny, based on Dalton Trumbo's main character Joe Bonham, a soldier in the First World War who loses his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and limbs on the battlefront - but is "saved" by modern technology. Johnny is the living dead and his (our) existence is only bound by the limits of the human mind. The audience traverse memories, dreams, emotional and real battlefields, coming in contact with a multitude of characters. They revisit childhood loves, family members, war room generals, soldiers, nurses, and even major religious figures--each character playing their role, intentionally or not, in sending our hero, embodied by the audience, to his destiny as he desperately struggles to be heard. The living and the dead have voices--but Johnny is trapped in between.

The Johnny Cycle runs Thursdays through Saturdays Aug 22-Sept 21 at 8:00 pm

Mountain View Mausoleum is located at 2300 Marengo Avenue Altadena, California 91001.

Admission is limited. There will be no late admittance.

Please note- This production features light-to-familiar physical contact from performers and discussion of adult themes. This performance has a wheelchair accessible track, but otherwise the audience will be asked to walk, kneel, and/or stand throughout.

It is intended for audiences of 14 years of age and older.

The performance lasts two hours and will be performed without intermission. Restrooms will only be available before and after the performance.

Please write to pr.speakeasy@gmail.com for tickets to the Saturday, Aug 17 - Press Preview

Additional press tickets available on a limited basis

General Admission: $125

Purchase Tickets: speakeasysociety.com/the-johnny-cycle

Original script created and produced by The Speakeasy Society.

Co-Artistic Directors: Matthew Bamberg-Johnson, Genevieve Gearhart, Julianne Just

Associate Artistic Directors: Michael Bates, Chris Porter

Producing Director: John Henningsen

Production Manager: Andrew Lia

Featuring: Brandon Bales, Matthew Bamberg-Johnson, Michael Bates, James Cowan, Jenny Curtis, A'raelle Flynn-Bolden, Emilio Garcia-Sanchez, Christie Harms, Zan Headley, John McCormick, Haylee Nichele, Robert Paterno, Bianca Ruiz-Brokcl, Chynna Skye

Costumes: Felicia Rose

Sound: Martin Gimenez

Produced by The Speakeasy Society

The beginning:

"At the core of the novel is the struggle to be understood, not just to be heard, but to believe your thoughts, feelings, experiences, and sacrifices can create actual change, can move mankind forward." Julianne Just, co-director said of the larger themes in The Johnny Cycle, "We allow the audience, as Johnny, to grapple with questions of choice, nationalism and the larger impact that war has on both those who are asked to fight, and those who are left behind to pick up the pieces. Through the show, we give a voice to the deceased, and highlight the willful choice not to listen, both as a society and as individuals - particularly about the human cost of war."

As a high school student, The Speakeasy Society's co-Artistic Director Matthew Bamberg-Johnson read Dalton Trumbo's book "Johnny Got His Gun" for the first time. The story of the WWI soldier, Joe Bohnam, made such a lasting impression that almost two decades later, The Speakeasy Society, has dedicated the past four years to bring this story to life.

"The novel was a starting point." Associate Artistic Director Chris Porter said. "We also drew from actual accounts of WWI soldiers in the trenches, stories from torn families and home life, as well as details from Trumbo's own life. Each first hand account dove a little deeper into the human experience of war."

The Johnny Cycle asks the question, who gets to decide what is worth dying for. The production explores how the cycles of war and the nature of power that has shaped our history.

Perhaps the greatest compliment the show has received was from Dalton Trumbo's granddaughter, who attended Johnny: The Living. Following the performance, she came to us with tears in her eyes, saying that she understood her grandfather's work better now that she had seen our performance--that we had, in effect, channeled his spirit. The work is timeless, and the message will remain alive as long as people keep reading (or experiencing).

The Johnny Cycle:

PART I - The Quick and the Dead

Premiered May 2015 at the Pasadena American Legion in Pasadena

Named LA Weekly's Best of 2015

PART II - The Shell

Premiered May 2016 at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Glendale

PART III - The Living

Premiered May 11th, 2017 at Mountain View Mausoleum,

The Johnny Cycle

Premiering August 22, 2019

Mountain View Mausoleum

2300 Marengo Ave Altadena, California 91001

Set amongst the marble hallways of the Mountain View Mausoleum in Altadena, the stunning reimagining of The Speakeasy Society's critically-acclaimed production interweaves multiple performance tracks ensuring unique return viewings exploring family, warfare, and the trials of Dalton Trumbo's life.

The Speakeasy Society is an LA based immersive entertainment company creating intimate and epic experiences in unexpected places. We craft shared experiences where audience interaction plays a vital role in the performance. speakeasysociety.com

Founded in the nineteenth century, Mountain View is one of the few remaining family-operated cemetery/mortuary properties in Southern California. The Mausoleum was considered the crown jewel of the more than 80 mausoleums constructed by Cecil E. Bryan. Its features extensive stained glass installations created by the Judson Studios of Los Angeles, CA. http://www.mtn-view.com

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