Smoke at Rogue Machine Theatre

Starting as part of L.A.’s largest celebration of performing arts, the Hollywood Fringe Festival, Rogue Machine stages the West Coast Premiere of SMOKE by Kim Davies, starring Emily James (Mr. Wolf - South Coast Rep; Stage Kiss - Geffen Playhouse) and Patrick Stafford (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award winner “Lead Actor” in Cock at Rogue Machine and “Best Supporting Actor” in Red at International City Theatre). Performances will continue beyond Fringe to run in rep with BULL by Mike Bartlett. Both plays are new to Los Angeles.

SMOKE presents an intense sexual situation with adult language. “You know you get to choose what happens to you, right?” That’s what John tells Julie when they meet by accident at a kink-play party in New York City. She’s an aspiring college dropout living in the shadow of her famous artist parents; he’s her father’s intern, and the two instantly connect. But with ambitions bared, knives out, and sex an open question, their encounter pushes both of them further than they ever thought they’d go. Eighty-five minutes, no intermission.

SMOKE opens at 8:30pm on June 15th and continues at 11:00pm on 6/17, 18, 24, 25, at 8:30pm on 6/13, & 6/22. ROGUE MACHINE is located at The Met, 1089 N Oxford Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029. Tickets are $20. Reservations: 855-585-5185 or at www.roguemachinetheatre.com

“I am always tremendously impressed by the energy and excitement for theatre that the Hollywood Fringe engenders - when Rogue Machine moved into the Fringe zone I was keen to participate. Anyone who is wondering if there's a young audience for theatre need only to wander down the sidewalk on Santa Monica Blvd. in June. Mike Bartlett's BULL and Kim Davies' SMOKE are dark plays - they're funny, vicious and provocative - just what theatre should be. This is fasten-your- seatbelt theatre.” – John Perrin Flynn; Founding Artistic Director/Rogue Machine
Playwright Kim Davies is a member of Youngblood and an affiliated artist with New Georges. Short works, including Untitled Play about Balls, Miss Authenticity, and The Love of Richard Nixon, have been produced with the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Weasel Festival, and the 24 Hour Plays. Her plays have received readings and development with The Flea Theater, Partial Comfort Productions, and the Lark, among others. She is a graduate of Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney’s MFA in playwriting at Brooklyn College.
Director Lisa James is a multi-award winner for her work on Heartstopper (LA Weekly Award), Palladium is Moving, (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award), Lynn Siefert’s Little Egypt (Drama-Logue Award), Wendy Macleod’s The Water Children at the Matrix Theatre (LADCC and Garland Award), Justin Tanner's Bitter Women (LADCC Award), The Visible Horse, (LADCC and Garland Award). World premieres include Beth Henley’s Tight Pants, Billy Aaronson’s The News, Justin Tanner's Oklahomo!, Little Egypt-The Musical (music/lyrics by Gregg Lee Henry) at the Matrix Theater and Acorn Theatre in NYC, Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard for EST/LA and NY, and Debra Zoe Laufer’s End Days at the Odyssey Theatre. Currently, Lisa is developing the new musical That Was Then.
Produced by John Perrin Flynn, Justin Okin, and Jennifer Pollono
ROGUE MACHINE THEATRE was recently received a Shubert Foundation grant, awarded to select theatre organizations for their artistic achievement, administrative strength, and fiscal stability along with company’s development of new work and other significant contributions to the field of professional theatre in the United States. A recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s 2014 National Theatre Company Grant, given only to 12 theatre companies in the country, Rogue Machine (BEST PRODUCTION for three years - Ovation, LADCC Awards) presents plays that are new to Los Angeles. Beginning 2016 with the West Coast Premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s Pocatello and the Los Angeles Premiere ofHonky by Greg Kalleres (CRITIC’S CHOICE – LA Times, “TOP TEN” – StageRaw, GO! LAWeekly), which runs through June 26th, the company also offers these two West Coast Premieres during the Hollywood Fringe Festival, “Smoke” by Kim Davies and “Bull” by Mike Bartlett. In eight years Rogue Machine has garnered recognition for their work in upwards of 75 awards and nominations, including the Polly Warfield Award for Excellent Season in Small to MidSize Theater, funded by the Nederlander Organization.

Production Team: Justin Okin and Jen Pollono (Producers), Victoria Hoffman (Casting), Amanda Mauer (Production Manager), David Mauer (Technical Director ), Dan Weingarten (Lighting Design), and Christopher Moscatiello (Sound Design)