FOXFINDER Makes U.S. Premiere Tonight at Artists Rep

With seven premieres on its stages this year, Artists Rep's 2013/14 season reinforces the theatre's longstanding commitment to producing new plays in Portland. With the U.S. premiere of Foxfinder starting tonight, October 29, Artists Rep aims to give this play national recognition and offer West Coast audiences the first look at this up-and-coming playwright.

At the heart of Dawn King's gripping, futuristic parable beats an incendiary plot that pulses with menace and suspicion. In rural England, a blight of bad luck has befallen the countryside and a fox infestation may be to blame. The totalitarian government sends an agent, a "foxfinder," into the home of Judith and Samuel Covey and the invasive inspection whirls simple lives into a frenzy of finger-pointing and distrust. As the bizarre scrutiny intensifies, guilt, fear and distorted realities fuel a feverish hunt to explain the unknown.

"Dawn King has crafted a parable that feels somehow classical and yet urgently contemporary," said Director Dámaso Rodriguez at the productions' first rehearsal. "It strikes me as a play that could have been written several decades in the past or sometime in the future, and its themes are infinitely relatable." Talking about the play and his directorial intentions to the group of staff, donors and friends at the first rehearsal, he said, "The world of this play is unlike anything else in Artists Rep's season or most of the plays written today."

Strong design themes that reflect "this world," working with the ideas of future present and future past will be crafted by: Kristeen Willis Crosser(Scenic and Lighting Design), Doug Newell (Sound Design), Gregory Pulver (Sound Design) and Rusty Tennant (Properties Design). The Stage Manager is Tozzi McDowell and Stephanie Mulligan is the Production Manager.

The U.S. premiere of Foxfinder is produced in association with L.A.'s Furious Theatre Company. The cast and design team features a mix of Portland and L.A.-based artists, who will remount the play following the Portland run, January through February 2014, in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Foxfinder, written by Dawn King and directed by Dámaso Rodriguez, features Sara Hennessy, Shawn Lee, Amanda Soden and Joshua Weinstein. The show runs Oct. 29 - Dec. 1. Preview performances are Oct. 29, 30, 31 & Nov. 1. Opening Night is Saturday, November 2. Show runs Wednesday through Sunday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2pm. All performances play the Artists Repertory Theatre - Alder Stage (16th and Alder St.). Tickets: $25-$55. Box Office: 503.241.1278 or www.artistsrep.org.

Dawn King, Playwright: Dawn is an award-winning writer who works in theatre, radio and film. Dawn's play Foxfinder won the Papatango Theatre Company writing competition in 2011 and was produced at the Finborough Theatre, London, where it was critically acclaimed and sold out. Foxfinder won Dawn 'Most Promising Playwright' at the Off West End Awards 2012 and was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn prize 2012 and the James Tait Black drama prize 2011/2012. Foxfinder has had productions in Sweden (Gothenburg English Speaking Theatre) and Australia (Red Stitch). Dawn was Pearson writer-in-residence at the Finborough for 2012. She was one of 10 writers chosen for the BBC Writersroom 10 scheme in 2012, and through this, received a seed commission and residency at West Yorkshire Playhouse, where she wrote Ciphers. Ciphers is being produced by Out of Joint, Exeter Northcott and The Bush and will tour the UK in 2013/2014. In 2013, Dawn participated in the prestigious Channel Four television writing scheme, 4 Screenwriting 2013. She has an original drama series in development with Touchpaper Television. Her short film, The Karman Line, is in post-production. Dawn writes regularly for radio and has had radio plays broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 4 Extra and BBC Radio 3. Previous theatre work includesWater Sculptures/ZOO double bill (The Union Theatre); Face Value (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough) and Doghead Boy and Sharkmouth Go To Ikea (The Junction, Cambridge). Dawn was a member of both the Soho Theatre and Royal Court Theatre Young Writers' Programmes and has an MA distinction in Writing for Performance from Goldsmiths University, London.

Dámaso Rodriguez, Director: Dámaso joined Artists Rep as Artistic Director in July of 2013. He is a Co-Founder of the Los Angeles-based Furious Theatre Company, an ensemble-driven theatre committed to daring, socially relevant new plays of visceral impact, where he served as Co-Artistic Director from 2001-2012. From 2007-2010 he served as Associate Artistic Director of the Pasadena Playhouse, where he directed mainstage productions and oversaw programming for The Playhouse's Second Stage, including its Hothouse New Play Development Program. His directing credits include work at the Pasadena Playhouse, Intiman, South Coast Repertory, Laguna Playhouse, A Noise Within, TheTheatre@Boston Court, Odyssey Theatre, The Blank Theatre, The Road Theatre and Furious Theatre. Recent productions include the West Coast premieres of Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal and Jeffrey Hatcher's Ten Chimneys at Artists Rep, Ruth and Augustus Goetz' The Heiress (starring Richard Chamberlain); Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (starring Kelly McGillis) and Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow (starring Sharon Lawrence) at the Pasadena Playhouse; Clifford Odets' Paradise Lost at Intiman and Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, Tennessee Williams' The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms and Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma at A Noise Within. Furious Theatre credits include the Los Angeles premieres of Craig Wright's Grace, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's Boom and Hunter Gatherers, Bruce Norris' The Pain and the Itch, Yussef El Guindi's Back of the Throat, Richard Bean's The God Botherers, Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things and the world premieres of Alex Jones' Canned Peaches in Syrup and Matt Pelfrey's An Impending Rupture of the Belly and No Good Deed, among many others. Up next at Artists Rep he will direct the revival of J.M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. Dámaso is a recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, the Back Stage Garland Award, the NAACP Theatre Award and the Pasadena Arts Council's Gold Crown Award. In 2010, Furious Theatre Company was named to LA Weekly's list of "Best Theatres of the Decade." In 2012, he was honored as a finalist for the Zelda Fichandler Award. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. www.damaso-rodriguez.com

Artists Repertory Theatre: Founded in 1982, Artists Repertory Theatre is the longest-running professional theatre company in Portland. Artists Rep is committed to world-class acting, directing, design and stagecraft that support new playwriting and aspires to embody great literature, moving audiences to truly feel - toexperience - storytelling in a way that only the best Live Theatre can.

Portland's premiere mid-size regional theatre company is led by Artistic Director Dámaso Rodriguez and Managing Director Sarah Horton. For the 2013/14 season Artists Rep will offer nine bold and entertaining new plays written by internationally acclaimed playwrights, and guided by esteemed directors. Artists Rep productions will feature the work of a core group of accomplished Resident Artists, each with a shared history and a shorthand for collaboration, working alongside guest artists from Portland and beyond.

Our Mission: Artists Repertory Theatre challenges artists and audiences with adventurous and provocative plays staged in an intimate environment. Artists Rep feeds our community's artistic soul with premieres, re-imagined classics, new play development and educational outreach.

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