Burning Coal Theatre Presents Premiere of LIMBO by Deeclan Feenan, 3/11-3/21

Burning Coal Theatre Company, as a part of its Wait 'Til You See This! series, is pleased to present the United States premiere of Limbo, by Declan Feenan. The play, directed by Joshua Benjamin, will run March 11th - 21st at the Meymandi Theatre at the Murphey School, 224 Polk St., Raleigh, NC. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. All tickets are $15 except Thursday night tickets, which are $10 apiece. For tickets and information, call 919-834-4001 or visit us online at www.burningcoal.org.

ABOUT THE PLAY
Limbo is a tender and compelling story of a lonely teenage girl and her relationship with a much older man. The play centers on Claire, the seventeen year old narrator, as she traces the course of events-from her mundane days in the meat-processing plant, to her unexpected pregnancy-that have brought her to her current state of uncertainty. At once uplifting and heartbreaking, Limbo reminds us just how much power even the most fleeting relationships can have to completely change our lives.

This production will be the U.S. premiere of Limbo, which was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007. It will make Burning Coal Theatre only the second theatre in the United States (after Mind the Gap Theatre in New York City), to produce playwright Declan Feenan's work. Feenan, an up-and-coming Irish playwright, is currently under commission at the Bush Theatre, London, The Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and Prime Cut Production, Belfast.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Writer Declan Feenan was born in Newry, Northern Ireland in 1980. He is currently under commission at the Bush Theatre, and has been on attachment at London's National Theatre and The Royal Court Theatre. Limbo premiered at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival, presented by Colchester, England's Real Circumstance Theatre. Other plays include Catherine Medbh (Arcola Theatre, London, 2008), Lough (Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe, 2008), Minsk (Bush Theatre, London, 2007, U.S. Premiere at Mind the Gap, NYC, 2008), St. Petersburg (Bush, London, 2008) and Volcano (Mind the Gap, NYC, 2009).

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Joshua Benjamin is a freelance director based in Mebane, N.C. He previously worked as an Assistant Director for Burning Coal's production of Way to Heaven (U.S. Premiere). Other directing credits include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Our Town, Beauty and the Beast, The Libation Bearers, Jean Anouilh's Antigone, Lux in Tenebris, The Elephant Calf, The Beggar, The Lady Aoi, Fighting, and an original adaptation of The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen. Joshua has a B.A. with a double major in Theatre and English from the State University of New York at Geneseo.

ABOUT THE CAST AND CREW
Limbo is a one-woman show featuring the actress Emilie Stark-Menneg. She recently appeared at Burning Coal in Much Ado About Nothing and Hysteria. Emilie is a graduate of Cornell University. She recently collaborated with a group of artists from Ithaca, NY and Manhattan on a production called BOP: The North Star, which premiered at Ithaca's Kitchen Door Theatre. BOP will be presented as part of Burning Coal's Wait 'til You See This! series in 2011. Scenery and lighting for Limbo will be created by Chapel Hill's Rebecca Buck. Costumes are by Jordan Elizabeth Jaked of Chapel Hill. The production stage manager is Kylie McCormick of Raleigh.

* * *
Burning Coal Theatre Company is Raleigh's small professional theatre. Burning Coal is an incorporated, non-profit [501 (c) (3)] organization. Burning Coal's mission is to produce literate, visceral, affecting theatre that is experienced, not simply seen. Burning Coal produces explosive reexaminations of overlooked classic and modern plays, as well as new plays, whose themes and issues are of immediate concern to our audience, using the best local, national and International Artists available. We work toward a theatre of high-energy performances and minimalist production values. The emphasis is on literate works that are felt and experienced viscerally, unlike more traditional linear plays, at which audiences are most often asked to observe without participating. Race and gender non-specific casting is an integral component of our perspective, as well as an international viewpoint.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.