Town Hall Theatre Presents California Premiere Of BROOKLYN BRIDGE

Next up in Town Hall Theatre 2018/19 "Lost & Found" Season is the California Premiere of Melissa James Gibson's BROOKLYN BRIDGE, a play full of heart and humor for the whole family. BROOKLYN BRIDGE will have 12 performances, including two previews, February 28 through March 23, 2019, at Town Hall Theatre Company, 3535 School Street, in Lafayette, CA. Tickets are $18 - $30, and are available through the Box Office at (925) 283-1557 or online at www.TownHallTheatre.com.

THT will host four Special Events for BROOKLYN BRIDGE: an Opening Night gala on Saturday, March 2, 2019; LIT UP at Town Hall, a literary salon, on Wednesday, March 13, 2019; and Theatre Club, our post-show talk-backs with complimentary wine, on Friday, March 8, and Friday, March 22, 2019. For BROOKLYN BRIDGE, Town Hall Theatre's newest community partner is Engineers Alliance for the Arts ("EAA"), a non-profit organization dedicated to giving students the experience of working with a professional engineer in the classroom, promoting its Student Impact Project. As always, one hour before performances, we welcome audiences to enjoy THT's full bar and entertainment in our lobby.

BROOKLYN BRIDGE, Melissa James Gibson's charming, witty and thoughtful story, centers on 10-year-old Sasha, a latchkey kid with a big homework assignment, a report on the Brooklyn Bridge. It's due tomorrow, and the problem is... she can't find a pen! One little girl's procrastination helps her meet her extraordinary brownstone neighbors, and connect with quirky and caring community all around her. BROOKLYN BRIDGE is a play that will resonate with audiences of all ages.

"Bridges are like handshakes connecting land and people," says Artistic Director Susan E. Evans, "In BROOKLYN BRIDGE, as Sasha meets the people in her own apartment building, she builds her own bridges of community. Melissa James Gibson has an uncanny ear for dialogue, and a generous, gentle and uncondescending way of talking about the importance of reaching across the corridors."

THT's production of BROOKLYN BRIDGE is directed by M. Graham Smith, with Associate Director Dana Nelson-Isaacs, and showcases an ensemble of multi-generational Bay Area performers: Emma Curtin is the resilient child with a deadline Sasha, Sheila Devitt plays the time-management-challenged Trudi, Tom Reilly is Brooklyn-Bridge-buff John, Leticia Duarte is laundry-overloaded Talidia, Terrance Smith is cab driver/dentistry student Sam, Mikah Kavita plays the stuck-on-a-song Singer/Songwriter and Bryan Navarro, Benjamin Nguyen, Alma Pasic-Tran, Gilberto Polanco, and Jeanette Sarmiento round out the talented ensemble of Bridge workers, pizza delivery people, Shadowy Figures and Washington and Emily Roebling.

THT's production also features an award-winning creative team with credits from around the Bay Area: Liliana Duque Piñeiro (scenic design, previously designed The Revolutionists at Town Hall this Season); Allen Willner (lighting design); Ryan Short (sound design); Denise Altaffer (costume design); and Kate Saville (properties design).

BROOKLYN BRIDGE was developed through Playground, a joint commissioning program of Children's Theatre Company and New Dramatists encouraging playwrights who had never before written children's plays. The world premiere of BROOKLYN BRIDGE was produced in 2005 by Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. In 2016, BROOKLYN BRIDGE was co-produced by the Seattle Children's Theatre (SCT) and the University of Washington (UW) School of Drama.

Melissa James Gibson's recent plays include Placebo, What Rhymes with America; This; [sic]; Suitcase or, those that resemble flies from a distance; Brooklyn Bridge (with a song by Barbara Brousal) and Current Nobody. Her work has been produced and/ or developed at Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, Soho Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, The Children's Theatre Company, Steppenwolf, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Seattle Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club and The Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, among others, regionally and internationally. She has been commissioned by the Atlantic Theater Company and Second Stage Theatre, and honors and awards include an OBIE Award; Guggenheim Fellowship; Steinberg Playwright Award; Kesselring Prize; Whiting Writers Award; and Lucille Lortel Foundation Playwrights' Fellowship, among many others. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, and is a graduate of New Dramatists. Ms. Gibson is a regular writer on "The Americans" and "House of Cards."

M. Graham Smith, a SF-based Director, Educator and Producer, is an O'Neill National Directing Fellow, an Oregon Shakespeare Festival FAIR Fellow and a resident artist at SF's Crowded Fire. He's directed at HERE in New York City, and at venues in San Francisco including A.C.T., Aurora Theatre, Central Works, Crowded Fire, The EXIT Theatre, PlayGround, Brava, The Playwright's Foundation, Cutting Ball Theatre, Berkeley Playhouse, Golden Thread, SF Opera, and New Conservatory & Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor. He directed the West Coast Premiere of Jerry Springer: THE OPERA with Ray of Light and TRUFFALDINO SAYS NO at Shotgun Players (Best Director, SFBATCC). He spent the last five years as Producer of Aurora Theatre's new play development program and festival The Global Age Project. He teaches at A.C.T.'s actor-training programs, Berkeley Rep School of Theatre and at Barcelona's premiere Meisner Technique program in Spain.

Established in 1944 as the Dramateurs, Town Hall Theatre turned 74 this year, making it the oldest continuously active theatre in Contra Costa County. Town Hall Theatre was awarded Best Theatre Troupe 2016 in Diablo Magazines, Best of The East Bay, and is the past recipient of numerous Shellie Awards, and regional Theatre Bay Area Awards. THT is also home to an extensive children's educational program, twice voted the "Best Children's Theatre Company" by Bay Area Parent Magazine. THT's 103-year old historical building is managed by the Lafayette Association (LIA). Town Hall Theatre Company is located at 3535 School Street, in Lafayette, CA 94549. The Box Office is open Tuesday through Friday, 4:00 to 6:00PM, and Saturday, 2:00-4:00 pm, and can be reached at 925.283.1557. Information is also available at www.TownHallTheatre.com.

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