BONES Begins Performances At The Kirk Douglas Theater 7/30

The world premiere of Dael Orlandersmith's "Bones" opens Saturday, July 31 at 8 p.m. at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre. Commissioned by CTG, "Bones" will have one preview on Friday, July 30, and will run for nine performances only through August 8, 2010, as part of DouglasPlus programming.

Directed by Gordon Edelstein, the cast of "Bones" features (in alphabetical order) Khandi Alexander, Tessa Auberjonois and Tory Kittles. Two jazz musicians, Doug Webb and Nedra Wheeler, are also featured.

The scenic design is by Takeshi Kata, costume design by Ellen McCartney, lighting design by Lap-Chi Chu and sound design by Adam Phalen. Casting is by Bonnie Grisan and the production stage manager is Barclay Stiff.

"Bones" portrays a family - a mother and her grown son and daughter, who are all unable to move forward from a damaged past. The daughter, who can no longer live with "these ugly things in my head," decides that it is time to confront the family's history and summons the three of them to a meeting. They converge on the neutral ground of a shabby airport hotel. There, Orlandersmith's piercing, evocative story riffs between divergent memories and accusations, and moves with a pulsing drive toward a reckoning, a truth so hard that you can feel it in your bones.

Orlandersmith performed her one-woman show "Stoop Stories" July 7 through 11, 2010, as part of DouglasPlus.

Orlandersmith won an Obie Award for "Beauty's Daughter," which she wrote and starred in at American Place Theatre in 1995. Her play, "Monster," premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in November 1996. "The Gimmick," premiered at the McCarter Theatre and went on to great acclaim at the Long Wharf Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop. "Yellowman" also premiered at the McCarter in a co-production with the Wilma Theater and Long Wharf Theatre. She was a Pulitzer Prize Award finalist in 2002 for "Yellowman," which played at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles in 2005. Orlandersmith first performed "Stoop Stories" in 2008 at The Public Theater as part of the Under the Radar Festival, then in 2009 at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. and at The Goodman Theatre. Her other plays include "The Blue Album," created in collaboration with David Cale, "Horsedreams" and "Suicide Girlz." Early in her career, she toured extensively with the Nuyorican Poets Café throughout the United States, Europe and Australia.

Tickets for "Bones" are $20. The tickets are available by calling (213) 628-2772, online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, in person at the CTG box office at the Ahmanson Theatre or two hours prior to performances at the Kirk Douglas Theatre box office.

For the DouglasPlus presentations, CTG's popular Lounge in the bar area of the theatre's lobby will feature pre-show box dinners, sandwiches and other snacks.

Funding for DouglasPlus is provided by The James Irvine Foundation's Artistic Innovation Fund and the Leading for the Future Initiative, a program of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.

Ample free parking is available (weekends and after 6 p.m. on weekdays) at the City Hall, located behind the theatre on Culver Blvd. and Duquesne Ave.

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