Columbia Stages Presents Charles L. Mee's BIG LOVE 2/18-21

Columbia Stages presents Big Love, written by Charles L. Mee and directed by PirronNe Yousefzadeh, running February18th - 21st, 2009, at The Riverside Theatre, located in the historic Riverside Church at 91 Claremont Avenue between 120th and 122nd Streets.
 
50 brides flee to an Italian villa to escape their arranged marriages. Their chosen grooms follow to take back what's theirs. Inspired by Aeschylus' The Suppliant Woman and fused with Charles Mee's bold and visceral theatricality,  Big Love examines the transcendent power of love and human connection through song, dance, and an unforgettable throw down.

The company of 23 features: Jarred Baugh, Satomi Blair, MJ Brackin, Paul Caccamise, Christian T. Chan, William Cespedes, Ross DeGraw, Gabel Eiben, Ava Eisenson, Genevieve Gearhart, Dana Jacks,  Rachael Joffred, Jane Lee, Lynne McCollough, Clare McNulty, Graham Mills, Drew Moerlein, Alexander Mulzac, Jeremy Pickard, Noa Rotem, Christopher Salazar, Dave Sleswick, and Jehan O. Young.
 
Tickets for Big Love cost $15 (general admission) and $5 (seniors). Tickets are free to those with Columbia University ID and those with a valid student can ID (subject to availability. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ColumbiaStages.com, by calling 212.870.6784, or by visiting the box office at The Riverside Theatre.  Box office hours are Thursday - Saturday, 4:00PM – 8:00PM and Sunday noon - 4:00PM, as well as one hour prior to performances.  All seating is general admission.
 
The show plays one week only with evening performances Wednesday - Saturday, February18th – 21st at 8:00PM and one matinee performance Saturday, February 21st at 2:00PM.
 
PirronNe Yousefzadeh (Director) is an M.F.A. directing candidate at Columbia University, where she is a recipient of the Shubert Presidential Scholarship and Matthews Fellowship. Her work has been seen at The Public/Joe's Pub, Collective: Unconscious, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Milwaukee Rep, Nice People Theatre Company, and Hangar Theatre, where she was a 2006 Drama League Directing Fellow. Pirronne has assisted Anne Bogart, both on Who Do You Think You Are (SITI Company) and at the 2007 Training Intensive in Saratoga Springs where she trained extensively in Suzuki andViewpoints. She has also assisted Tina Landau, Anne Kauffman, Kip Fagan, Eleanor Holdridge, and Joseph Hardy, among others. At Columbia, Pirronne has studied with Anne Bogart, RoBert Woodruff, and Brian Kulick and directed productions of Sam Shepard's Fool  for Love, as well as two devised pieces: mother calls me william//but the boys all call me bill and Tomorrow It Will All Be A Memory. Pirronne has been a guest artist at the UCSB Summer Theater Lab, led by Naomi Iizuka, and trained at Shakespeare's Globe in London. As a Dean's Scholarship recipient at Washington University, she graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Theatre and English Literature. Upcoming projects for Pirronne include an assistantship with Carmel O'Reilly on Christine Evans' Trojan Barbie (A.R.T.).

Columbia Stages (Producer) is the producing arm of the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies of Columbia University's School of the Arts. Columbia Stages annually presents a season of graduate actor and director productions as well as a festival of new plays by emerging playwrights.  The theatre program at Columbia University's School of the Arts offers M.F.A. degrees in acting, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, stage management, and theatre management and producing.  The goal of the program is to provide each student with the foundation for a career in professional theatre as well as the tools to embrace an ever-changing theatrical landscape and shape the future of theatre.

For more information visit: www.ColumbiaStages.com.