'Our Dad is in Atlantis' Begins 4/4

Working Theater, the New York-based theater company that has been devoted to producing new plays since the company began in 1985, including the popular plays Tabletop (Rob Ackerman), Hold Please (Annie Weisman) and I Am a Man (OyamO) -- presents the Off-Broadway premiere of Our Dad is in Atlantis by Mexican playwright Javier Malpica, with an English translation by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas (Blind Mouth Singing), set to begin previews April 4, prior to its official press opening April 8 at Theatres at 45 Bleecker (45 Bleecker Street) in Manhattan.
 
"Directed by Debbie Saivetz, who helmed the Mexican debut of The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl, Our Dad is in Atlantis concerns two Mexican brothers, ages 8 and 11, who are left with their grandmother in a rural village while their father goes to the United States to look for work. Motherless, missing their father, and left in the care of relatives they scarcely know, the boys rely on one another for emotional support they are unequipped to provide, and for physical support in a naive and desperate attempt to reach their father in Atlantis," state press notes.
 
Please note: Our Dad is in Atlantis is being produced under an Off-Broadway contract with Actors' Equity.
 
The play co-stars Sergio Ferreira and Steven D. Garcia. Ten-year-old Sergio Ferriera was featured in the 2007 film Orphans and is making his professional theatrical debut with this production. Twelve-year old Steven D. Garcia appeared in the plays Juan Diego and You Can't Stop the Beat at the Harbor Conservatory of the Arts and is currently studying at the Rybin Studio of Drama.
 
Our Dad is in Atlantis has set design by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, lighting design by Jack Mehler, costume design by Jessica Gaffney, sound design by Bray Poor.
 
Director Debbie Saivetz's credits include Sarah Ruhl's Late: A Cowboy Song (Clubbed Thumb), Catherine Filloux's Passion.Com, her translation of Mexican playwright Maria Morett's Women in Confinement (La MaMa), and among others, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas' Bird in the Hand (Hartford Stage "Brand New" Festival). She has collaborated with the Mexico City-based MxTeatro on site specific, multi-lingual works presented throughout Mexico and the US.
 
Born in Mexico City, Javier Malpica began writing plays in 1987 with his brother Antonio Malpica. He is cofounder of the independent theatre company In-Crescendo which has produced his plays which include Septimo Round, Solo por Diversion, Canon, and his most recent work Fisica y Tamales, co-authored by Mr. Malpica and his brother. He is also an award-winning author of several Spanish-language children's novels. In 2005, he received the Victor Hugo Rascon Banda Prize for Papa esta en la Atlantida.
 
Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas' plays include Blind Mouth Singing, presented last year by NAATCO. His other plays include Sleepwalkers, Tight Embrace, Maleta Mulata and Bird in the Hand.
 
This translation was commissioned and originally developed at the Lark Play Development Center, N.Y.C. as part of the U.S. Mexico Playwright Exchange Program.
 
Since the company was founded in 1985, Working Theater's mission has been to produce new plays for and about working people. With its firm belief that theater should not be a privilege or luxury, but a staple in people's lives, Working Theater is committed to presenting quality work, with the highest production values at an affordable ticket price; the top ticket price to Our Dad is in Atlantis is $25, half of the current standard rate for Off-Broadway plays which is $50.
 
Among the noted actors who have appeared at the Working Theater are Jeanine Serralles, Ving Rhames, Andre de Shields, Holly Hunter, Jeremy Webb, Laura Esterman and Brennan Brown.  Connie Grappo is the company's Artistic Director; Mark Plesent is Producing Director.