Thompson Directs SIA For Bridge Theatre Company

The Bridge Theatre Company kicks off its 7th season with a workshop production of Matthew MacKenzie's SIA, winner of the 2010 Alberta Playwriting Competition. Directed by Jenn Thompson (Broadway's Ah, Wilderness!, The Heiress, and Annie) performances will be presented April 1 & 2 at Shetler Studios.

SIA is the fast and furious story of a former child soldier who takes a Canadian university student hostage in a Liberian refugee camp in West Africa. This tense drama is a challenging look into the complex relationship between North America and Africa.

SIA stars Susan Heyward (Ruined at Manhattan Theatre Club, Peterson Townsend (Nixon in China at The Metropolitan Opera), and Hunter Canning (The Late Christopher Bean at TACT).

SIA is the first in a series of new Canadian plays to be presented by The Bridge Theatre Company. The season will continue in June with a workshop of The Innocents by Daniel Karasik, followed by a full production of Nicolas Billon's award-winning Greenland, directed by Ravi Jain.

Matthew MacKenzie worked as a house painter in Edmonton for eight years before being accepted into the Playwriting Program at the National Theatre School of Canada. In the summer of 2010, Matt had four productions up in three different Provinces across Canada: SIA, after winning the 2010Alberta Playwriting Competition, was named a top critic's and patron's pick at the Toronto Fringe; his one man show The Particulars received rave reviews at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival; his family play Tick was named a top pick of the Edmonton Fringe by Edmonton's Vue Weekly Magazine; and a play he co-wrote titled Me Happy premiered at the Toronto SummerWorks Festival and received Top Pick honors from NOW Magazine.

Jenn Thompson's recent NYC directing credits include Badge by Mathew Schneck (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), Term Limit by Viki Boyle (American Globe Theatre), The Brilliance Of Bernstein (featuring Phyllis Newman - American Musicals Project) and Richard Thompson's Big
Doolie (FringeNYC). As a Producing Director of Connecticut's River Rep Theatre Company, she has directed productions of The Foreigner, Dinner With Friends, The Heiress and Damn Yankees. As an actress, her credits include the Tony Award-winning productions of Ah, Wilderness!, The
Heiress, and Annie as well as guest-starring roles on TV's Law & Order, Third Watch, Ed, Law & Order: SVU, and The Renegade.

Founded in 2004, The Bridge Theatre Company is a New York City-based organization that produces, workshops and champions new Canadian work. Dedicated to cross-border development between Canada and the US, the company examines the relationship between these two contemporary theatrical cultures through the work of emerging playwrights, actors
and directors. As founding members and co-Artistic Producers of the Bridge, Esther Barlow and Dustin Olson have produced and developed 10 productions, 15 workshops and countless readings of new work by both emerging and established Canadian playwrights, including Ken Cameron,
David Carley, Trevor Ferguson, Kate Hewlett, Marcia Johnson, T.J Dawe, Oonagh Duncan, Michael Rubenfeld, David West Read, Nicolas Billon and Matthew MacKenzie.

SIA runs April 1 & 2 at 8pm Shetler Studios (244 West 54th Street, 12th floor). Admission is free (donations are graciously accepted). Reservations for tickets are accepted by email at
info@thebridgetheatrecompany.com.

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