Bristol Riverside Theatre's A Raw Space Closes

Bristol Riverside Theatre kicks off the new year with the world premiere of A Raw Space by Jon Marans on January 31 - February 19. Directed by Susan Atkinson, the ensemble case features BRT's Artistic Director Keith Baker, Madi Distefano, Jack Koenig, and Anette Michelle Sanders.

Performances run Tuesday through Sunday until February 19. Tickets are available from $30-$50, with discounts for students and groups.

Tickets are available visiting brtstage.org or calling the BRT Box Office at 215-785-0100. Bristol Riverside Theatre is located at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, PA.

Developed as part of BRT's America Rising reading program, A Raw Space tells the story of two high-powered couples during a private design competition. In this elegant interplay between architectural design and the architecture of a marriage, a woman (Sanders) masterminds a cat-and-mouse game in which her husband (Baker), her best friend (DiStefano), and her best friend's husband (Koenig) unknowingly participate for careers and love.

Jon Marans (Playwright) wrote Old Wicked Songs, produced by BRT last season. His play, The Temperamentals, was nominated for the 2010 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Play, Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play, and earned Marans a nomination for the John Gassner Award. He has also written Jumping for Joy, A Girl Scout World, and the musicals Legacy of the Dragonslayers and Irrationals.

Susan D. Atkinson (Director) is the founding director of BRT. With a theatrical career spanning 40 years of directing, producing, and teaching on both the east and west coasts, she has directed well over 150 plays and musicals in her career, including world and area premieres from such playwrights and composers as Doug Katsoras, Mark St. Germain, Dan Rustin, Michael Hickey and Larry Gatlin. For BRT, Atkinson has directed such shows as The Good Earth, Wintertime, Irma La Douce, Alive and Well, The Price, 110 in the Shade, A Sunbeam, Inspecting Carol, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Arsenic and Old Lace, A Little Night Music, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Holiday, Talley's Folly and Proof. In 1998, Ms. Atkinson directed Larry Gatlin's Texas Flyer both at BRT and at Theatre Under The Stars in Houston, Texas.

Keith Baker (Mark Ziegler) recently kicked off the 25th Anniversary season starring in Barrymore, and has also appeared in BRT productions of Old Wicked Songs, Defiance, Proof, Hamlet, A Little Night Music, Arsenic and Old Lace, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Elsewhere, recently, he took over the role of Jeeves in the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn musical By Jeeves at the Goodspeed Opera House and appeared on TV in two episodes of Stella for Comedy Central. Baker has been nominated eleven times for the prestigious Carbonell Awards, for which he was twice the recipient for Best Actor. He has directed more than 40 productions for BRT including Chicago (nominated for six Barrymore Awards), The Balkan Women (winner of a Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play), The Dresser (nominated for a Barrymore Award for Best Director of a Play) and Dear World (nominated for three Barrymore Awards). Prior to coming to BRT, Baker was Artistic Director for the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and the Florida Repertory Theatre.
Madi Distefano (Brenda Menin) is an eight-time Barrymore nominee in five categories, and 'Best Actress' winner for her performance in Eden. Her other acting credits include three Neil Simon plays and The Mystery Of Irma Vep at The Walnut St. Theatre. The founding and a Co-Artistic Director of Brat Productions, her original work includes Popsicles Departure, 1989 which was awarded Best Solo Show at the '07 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and was also awarded a Fringe First for innovative new writing.

Jack Koenig (Rod Menin) returns to BRT where he appeared in Absurd Person Singular. On Broadway, he spent over three years in The Lion King in the roles of Scar and Pumbaa. He also appeared on Broadway in The Pitmen Painters and Accent on Youth, and off-Broadway in Incident at Vichy and The Cocktail Party at The Actors Company Theatre, and in The Grand Manner at Lincoln Center, as well as several productions at Manhattan Theatre Company. He received a Drama Desk Award as part of the Outstanding Ensemble of the off-Broadway play Tabletop. Regionally he has been a frequent guest at Westport Country Playhouse, Delaware Theatre Company, and Asolo Repertory Theatre.

Anette Michelle Sanders (Susu Ziegler) appeared in the national tour of Mamma Mia, as well as in The Dinner Party both at the Mark Taper Forum and the Kennedy Center, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas at The Old Globe.

A Raw Space brings together a creative team of set designer Roman Tatarowicz, costume designer Linda Bee Stockton, and lighting designer Ryan O'Gara.

The BRT mainstage season continues with Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling featuring an all-female cast of local favorites (March 20-April 8), and the mega-hit, award-winning musical Rent by Jonathan Larson (May 8-June 3).

Since 1986, BRT has brought consistently acclaimed professional theatre to Bucks County and maintained a long-term commitment to finding and developing new plays. The theatre is the recipient of over 66 Barrymore Award nominations for Excellence in Theatre, given annually by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to its mainstage productions, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community, with such programs as children's theatre, community concerts and exhibitions of local visual arts. Currently under the direction of Artistic Director Keith Baker, Founding Director Susan D. Atkinson, and Managing Director, Amy Kaissar, BRT enters its 25th anniversary season. For information, visit www.brtstage.org.

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