TheatreSquared Presents Live Workshop of Rock Opera WEIGHTLESS

The Arkansas New Play Festival continues with another, live, can't-miss, bi-coastal virtual theatrical event with a one-night-only streaming workshop performance of The Kilbanes' acclaimed and evolving rock opera-Weightless.

A genre-bending musical event by the theatrical songwriting duo Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses, directed by Working Theater co-artistic director Tamilla Woodard. Arkansas-based TheatreSquared produces the workshop as a part of the 2020 Arkansas New Play Festival.

Weightless finishes an ambitious festival year of streaming new play development that broke new ground and included work by Sarah Gancher, Russell Leigh Sharman, and Clinnesha D. Sibley. The last livestreamed workshop presented from the festival, Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy, was fast-tracked to full production, and was featured in The New York Times' "Best Theater of 2020."

"Weightless is an astonishing blend of soaring rock ballads, driving rhythms and the kind of intimate storytelling we're known for at TheatreSquared," said artistic director, Bob Ford. "It's a perfect coda to what has been a truly adventurous-and singular-new play festival this year." Inspired by the tale of Procne and Philomela from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Weightless weaves ancient myth with indie rock to tell a story of a woman who refuses to be silenced.

"Once again we're witnessing the incredible power of combining forces, in this case quite literally coast-to-coast," said Martin Miller, T2's executive director. "The amazing Kilbanes are performing from Berkeley, California, directed from New York by the nationally-renowned Tamilla Woodard, all produced from here in Northwest Arkansas."

The live-streaming workshop performance previews for artists and audiences the new musical work that New York's WP Theater will present in filmed, full production in April/May 2021.

Commissioned by Z Space and Encore Theater Company, an earlier version of Weightless had its world premiere in 2018 at Z Space in a co-production with piece by piece productions. The companies remounted Weightless in May 2019, presented by A.C.T. at the Strand Theater, where it received the highest recommendation from the San Francisco Chronicle, whose critic, Lily Janiak, called it "the future of theater." Stream and interactive chat access for Weightless is priced at $10, and can be purchased online at theatre2.org or by calling 479.777.7477. Members of the press should contact Joanna Sheehan Bell, Director of Marketing and Communication at TheatreSquared to arrange for access to the live workshop presentation.

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