Mad Horse Theatre to Close Out Season with STUPID F***ING BIRD, 5/19-6/5

Mad Horse Theatre Company wraps its 30th Anniversary Season with the smart, sassy comedy Stupid F**ing Bird, by Aaron Posner, directed by Christopher Price.

An aspiring young director rampages against the art created by his mother's generation. A nubile young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be.

In this irreverent, contemporary, and very funny remix of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, award-winning playwright Aaron Posner wages a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all.

Aaron Posner is a Helen Hayes- and Barrymore Award-winning playwright and director. He is a founder and former Artistic Director of Philadelphia's Arden Theatre, and an Associate Artist at both the Folger Theatre and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. His adaptation of Chaim Potok's novel My Name is Asher Lev, was recently produced at Portland Stage Company.

Posner says the time is right for what he calls a "remix" of Chekhov's The Seagull:

"I love Chekhov in theory, but I have rarely loved seeing it. He was a brilliant, insightful, revolutionary, paradigm-shifting author, but then... the paradigm shifted. He won. The majority of the plays written in the past 100 years owe a great debt to him, but this huge influence has served to make what was once revolutionary feel historical and often even hackneyed. My hope, I think, was to be, perhaps, a tiny bit of a revolutionary myself. I make no claim to even a tiny percentage of the genius Chekhov was, but I have spent more than 25 years thinking about theatre and making theatre, and I would like to think that I have learned some things about the kinds of energy and theatrical moments that make me excited when I am seeing a play. So I was hoping if I wrote honestly about things that I really cared about and tried to put them in a form that would wake me up, not put me to sleep; that would make me a little bit surprised or even a tiny bit shocked; that would make me sit forward in my chair and not sit back - then that might be an interesting thing to do."

According to director Christopher Price, "This is not a translation or parody, but rather a tremendously insightful deconstruction of Chekhov's 1896 masterpiece that clearly shows Posner's admiration for the playwright and his extraordinary understanding of the play. He imbues his contemporary interpretation with the same yearnings, anxieties, jealousies, joy and fears. It's wonderfully essential and a pleasure to work on."

Stupid F**ing Bird features Mad Horse Company members Brent Askari, Burke Brimmer, Shannon Campbell, James Herrera, and Christine Louise Marshall, along with guest artists David Bliss and Casey Turner.

Company member Christopher Price is both director and set designer on the production. The production crew includes Vanessa Romanoff (Stage Manager), JP Gagnon (Lighting Design), Stacey Mancine Koloski (Props), Christine Louise Marshall and James Herrera (Costume Design), Jake Cote (Sound Design), Marie Stewart Harmon (Production & Box Office Manager), Jennifer Halm-Perazone and Tootie Van Reenen (House Managers), and Stacey Collins (Graphic Design).

Stupid F**ing Bird runs May 19 through June 5, 2016, at the Mad Horse Theater in the historic Hutchins School, 24 Mosher Street, South Portland.

Performance times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30, and Sunday afternoons at 2pm.

There will be an Opening Night Reception immediately following the Friday, May 20 performance.

A post-show Talkback with the actors and the director is scheduled for Sunday, May 29, immediately following the 2pm matinee.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $17 for seniors/students.

As always, Mad Horse offers Pay What You Can performances each Thursday during the run, as available at the door.

Reservations are strongly recommended. Purchase tickets online at www.madhorse.com or call 747-4148 for more information. Please call for Group Rates.

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