ISADORA Opens this Weekend at Cal Stage

California Stage will revive Rick Foster's smash-hit show Love, Isadora September 20th-October 12th, 2014. Professional actress Lori Russo reprises her Elly Award-winning turn as Isadora Duncan, the mother of modern dance, with Janis Stevens' inspired direction.

Russo, Stevens, and choreographer Tracy Eisenberg all collaborated with Foster in New York to present Love, Isadora during the Ensemble Studio Theatre's Oktoberfest in 2006. California Stage's 2008 staging of Foster's play brought the four together again in Sacramento--earning Elly Awards for Russo's performance and Stevens' direction, as well as Jessie Talbert's lighting design. Since that time, Foster has revised his bold drama according to revelatory insights into Duncan's life and work that have surfaced within the past few years.

Now, California Stage brings the illustrious, illusive Duncan back to life and explores her passionate obsessions with life, death, love, and art. A devotee of classical music, dance, and poetry despite her humble San Francisco beginnings, Duncan shattered the western world's definition of dance with her natural, free-spirited style and emphasis on expression over rigid technique. Though life and love often proved cruel to the controversial artist, her dancing and committed teaching brought joy to audiences worldwide.

Rick Foster is an award-winning playwright whose plays, translations and adaptations have been produced across the nation. He was a founding member of the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, a frequent panelist for the California Arts Council, New Plays Director at the Asian American Theater Company, and dramaturg at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Sierra Repertory Theater.

Lori Russo has been a member of AEA, SAG, and AFTRA for more than 30 years. She has toured with Broadway national tours of 42ndSt, Meet Me in St Louis, and Elvis Lives, and Internationally with Andy Williams. As a choreographer, she staged the New York Premieres of Israel Horowitz' Captains and Courage, The Unwritten Song by Romulus Linney, and The Bus To Buenos Aires for Ensemble Studio Theatre's New Works Festival. Her choreography and staging talents were most recently featured in California Stage's production of Marat/Sade.

Janis Stevens' incomparable directorial artistry has been showcased by California Stage, Capital Stage, Theater at Monmouth in Maine; and in numerous Off-Broadway houses in New York City. In 2006 she received both a Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of Vivien Leigh in Rick Foster's Vivien in New York, and an Elly Award for her work in Becoming Julia Morgan at California Stage. She is also a proud member of Actors' Equity Association and of the Theatre Arts faculty at American River College.

Rick Foster's Love, Isadora will open September 20th to run four weekends through Oct 12th, 2014 at the California Stage Theater in Midtown Sacramento; Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm & Sundays at 2pm. California Stage Theater is located in the R25 Arts Complex, 1725 25th Street at R Street. Ticket prices are $20.00 for general admission, $15.00 students, SARTA members, Military and seniors, and $12.00 for groups of six or more. Easy free parking available. Reservations: 916-451-5822 or order online at www.CalStage.org

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