Capital Stage Presents World Premiere of HOW TO USE A KNIFE

Capital Stage launches its 12th season, and inaugural season chosen by Producing Artistic Director Michael Stevenson, Love + War, with its 3rd National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. How to Use a Knife by Will Snider will be directed by Producing Artistic Director Michael Stevenson and will feature Capital Stage favorites such as AdrIan Roberts, Harry Harris, Kirk Blackinton and Kelley Ogden.

NNPN'S flagship initiative, its Rolling World Premiere Program, supports 3 or more theaters that choose to mount the same new play within a 12-month period. The result is an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, in which a playwright develops a new work with multiple creative teams in at least three different communities. The playwright is part of the process, working on the script and making adjustments based on what is learned from each production. The Capital Stage production will be the 1st of 4 productions across the nation this year. How to Use a Knife will run from August 31 through October 2, 2016 with a Press Opening on Saturday, September 3 at 8pm.

In the chaotic hustle and bustle of a Wall Street restaurant kitchen, Chef George is trying to stay sober. In between yelling at a pair of trash-talking line cooks and a pot-smoking busboy, he befriends Steve, an East African immigrant who seems to be a humble yet dignified dishwasher. Set during busy dinner shifts and filled with a cast of unforgettable New York characters, How To Use A Knife bursts with grinding suspense, energy, and surprise.

Will Snider was born and raised in the suburbs of Washington, DC. His plays include How to Use a Knife, Extinction, Sundowners, and The Old Man Is Dead, and have been produced or developed at MCC, Ensemble Studio Theatre, #serials@ theflea, FringeNYC, The Claque, SPACE on Ryder Farm, MAKEHOUSE, Columbia University, and Wabash College. He was a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award and the Page 73 Fellowship and is an MFA Playwriting candidate at UC San Diego and member of the Obie Award-winning playwrights group Youngblood at EST. He studied African history at Columbia and spent three years working in agricultural development in East Africa.

How to Use a Knife will be directed by Producing Artistic Director Michael Stevenson (Disgraced, Mr. Burns A Post Electric Play, Ideation, Clybourne Park, Mauritius, Erratica, Les Liaisons Dangereuses). The cast will feature Kirk Blackinton (Mr. Burns A Post Electric Play, In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play), Eduardo A. Esqueda (Capital Stage debut), Harry Harris (Macbeth, The North Plan, Dirty Story, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol), Willem Long (Capital Stage debut), Kelley Ogden (The Totalitarians, Rapture, Blister, Burn, Hunter Gatherers), AdrIan Roberts (Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train, First Person Shooter), Cole Winslow (Capital Stage debut). The production design team will include Brian Harrower (scenic design), Rebecca Redmond (costume design), Ron Madonia (lighting design), Ed Lee (sound design), Thom Green (properties/set dressing design), and David Fulk (properties artisan).

Performances for How to Use a Knife will begin with three previews onWednesday, August 31 at 7pm, Thursday, September 1 at 7pm, and Friday, September 2 at 8pm. The production will open Saturday, September 3 at 8pm. Performances will continue through Sunday, October 2, 2016. Showtimes will be Wednesdays at 7pm, Thursdays at 7pm (new showtime), Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. Regular ticket prices range from $23-45. Discount tickets are available as follows: Student Rush tickets are half priced with valid student ID within 1 hour of performance; Senior tickets are $5 off regular priced tickets; Military personnel tickets are $10 off regular priced tickets with valid ID; and Group Rate tickets are $5 off each for parties of 12 or more. Tickets are currently available at the Capital Stage Box Office, by phone at 916-995-5464, or online at capstage.org.

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