Art House Productions Stages GRACE, OR THE ART OF CLIMBING

Art House Productions (Meredith Burns, Executive Director) is proud to announce the spring mainstage theater production of Grace, or The Art of Climbing by L M Feldman. Making its east coast premiere, Grace will be directed by Adin Walker.

The play follows the journey of Emm, who faced with a painful chapter in her life and fighting the inertia of depression, decides to enter the world of competitive rock-climbing. Her quest through the rugged and humorous terrain of physical training and personal relationships charts the journey of a young woman suspended between muscularity and vulnerability, falling and climbing, parents and children, and the ardor and grace of being human.

"I love L's worlds - to live inside them is an honor and dream." says Walker. "Our brilliant scenic designer, Claire DeLiso, is transforming the space in a way that feels like an immersive climbing gym, and I am so excited to play play play and dive in with our fearless acting company, our imaginative designers, and our adventurous audience members!" The cast includes Emily Kitchens*, Lawrence Street*, Paulo Quiros*, Tiffany Iris, Javan Nelson, Thomas Muccioli, and Hank Morris.

For Grace, or The Art of Climbing, Art House is partnering with the Hoboken-based rock climbing gym, Gravity Vault, who has generously provided climbing training to the actors. Art House will be hosting a Gravity Vault members night on the second weekend of the run. "Our programs do not survive without the generous support of our community partners and Gravity Vault has really stepped up in support of our artistic vision for this show," says Executive Director, Meredith Burns.

Additionally, in keeping with Art House's mission of making the arts accessible, the Art House Access Committee will be providing audio interpretation and sign language interpretation on Sunday, March 18th. Please email info@arthouseproductions.org or call 201-918-6019 for more information and additional requests.

Performances of Grace, or The Art of Climbing run March 15th - April 1st, Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Tickets: $25. Students & Seniors: $18. To purchase, visit arthouseproductions.org or call 201-918-6019.

*Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity.

About L M Feldman

L M Feldman (Playwright) is a queer, feminist playwright (and circus artist) who loves theatrically adventurous, physically ambitious, intimate, inquisitive, deeply honest plays - usually about outsiders, often about searchers, always about the human connection.

Her plays include ANOTHER KIND OF SILENCE (PlayPenn, O'Neill Finalist, Playwrights Realm Fellowship, Drama League New Directors/New Works Fellowship); AMANUENSIS (Northwoods Ramah Theatre Company commission); THE EGG-LAYERS (Jane Chambers Honorable Mention, O'Neill Finalist, New Georges/Barnard College co-commission); A PEOPLE (Jewish Plays Project NYC Residency); GRACE, OR THE ART OF CLIMBING (Denver Center Theatre Company, Nice People Theatre Company, ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award Nomination, Barrymore Nomination, The Kilroys List); several ensemble-devised works, including AND IF YOU LOSE YOUR WAY, OR A FOOD ODYSSEY (The Invisible Dog, New York Innovative Theatre Award Nomination), LADY M (Philadelphia Live Arts Festival), and THE APOCRYPHAL PROJECT (Yale Cabaret), among others; as well as a dozen short plays and an autobiographical solo piece. She has been nominated for the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, Wendy Wasserstein Prize, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She was awarded an artist grant through the Boomerang Fund and a creation grant from the State of Vermont, and she has been an artist-in-residence at Terra Firma, SPACE at Ryder Farm, the School of Making Thinking, Tofte Lake Center, Montana Artists Refuge, Montana Repertory Theatre, Sewanee University of the South, Cornell University, and Theater Emory/Brave New Works Festival. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, L is also a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a devised-work collaborator, a teacher of playwriting (Bryn Mawr College, McCarter Theatre, PlayPenn), and a freelance dramaturg. Hailing from Miami, Florida, she has lived in seven cities and is now based in Philly - where she is a proud Orbiter 3 playwright and mentor with the Foundry. For more: http://www.laurenfeldman.com/

About Adin Walker

Adin Walker (Director) graduated from Princeton University with degrees in English, Theater, and Gender & Sexuality Studies. Projects as director/choreographer include The White Dress (Araca Project), One Arm (Chautauqua Theater Company), Pin* and the Blue Fairy (Drama League Artist-in-Residence, Dixon Place), Gruesome Playground Injuries (TheaterLab NYC), Jacqmin Family in the Petrified Forest (Source Festival), Rent, and Singin' in the Rain(Princeton/McCarter.) As choreographer/movement director, Walker has collaborated with directors Mia Walker (NYC premiere of Normativity, NYMF), Dawn Monique Williams (Romeo and Juliet at Chautauqua Theater), Alexandru Mihail, Ethan Heard, Tracy Bersley, and Whitney Mosery. Walker has assistant directed on projects with CalShakes, the Guthrie, Woolly Mammoth, Rattlestick, LABA at 14th Street Y, Round House, and Chautauqua Theater Company (Directing Fellow.) Current and upcoming projects include a collaboration with Louisa Thompson and Flako Jimenez on a piece for young audiences (recent residency at New Victory), assistant director to May Adrales on the premiere of Idris Goodwin's The Way the Mountain Moved at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, assistant choreographer to Yehuda Hyman on Indecent at the Guthrie, and directing L M Feldman's Grace, or the Art of Climbing this spring at Art House Productions in Jersey City, NJ, where Walker is the Artistic Associate. www.adinwalker.com

About Art House Productions

Art House Productions (AHP) was founded shortly after the devastating events of September 11, 2001 in order create a safe and healing place for artists and community members to connect through creative expression. Since then, AHP has grown significantly. In 2007, AHP became a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization and was presented with the Key to the City by Jersey City for being a pioneer of artistic and cultural programming and a model of what the arts can do for evolving urban centers. Now in its 17th year, AHP presents a professional season of two Actors' Equity Association mainstage productions, four curated visual art exhibitions, over six youth and adult arts education programs both in school and after school, and the free, quarterly arts festival, JC Fridays, which serves over 15,000 people annually.

AHP's mission is to engage, inspire, entertain and challenge audiences with highly intentional visual and performing arts programming; provide arts education to promote lifelong learning to diverse communities; and celebrate the essential power of the arts to illuminate humanity. AHP provides a home for innovative performing, visual, and literary artists to develop new work; presents emerging and under-recognized artists who are making significant contributions to their respective fields; and serves as a safe space for established artists to take creative risks.

Made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department

of State, A Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; administered by the

Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development, and by the

County of Hudson, Thomas A. DeGise, Hudson County Executive, and the Hudson County

Board of Chosen Freeholders.

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