Mendocino Theatre Company Presents Three Short Plays By Thornton Wilder

Mendocino Theatre Company is pleased to present The Happy Journey: Three Wilder One-Acts, the sixth production of its 2018 season, which opens with a preview performance on Thursday November 8th. The production features three short plays by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (and author of Our Town) Thornton Wilder: Childhood, The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, and The Long Christmas Dinner. Directed by Dan Kozloff, it is performed by a cast of fifteen local actors -- including three children and two teenagers who will be making their MTC stage debut.

"When you're a kid, a day comes when you are confronted with the fact of death," says Kozloff. "Someone you love dies and will never come back. You yourself will die. So what did it mean that they lived? What possible significance can your own experiences have? In these plays, Thornton Wilder is still that child, still asking those most basic questions."

Childhood, The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, and The Long Christmas Dinner all share a core theme--the quandary of our lives, and how we live knowing that death is inevitable. In these plays, we meet three American families doing mundane things -- eating hot dogs, riding in a car, sitting at a holiday table -- and through these commonplace situations, we see the truths and universality of existence with a clarity that is, at times, heartbreaking. Following the playwright's vision, the plays are performed on a simple, spare set (designed by Carolyn Schneider) with minimal props, serving to engage the audience's imagination.

The large cast of local actors includes: Emily Berna, Anabell Guinan, Katan Sosnovec, Nicole Traber, Daniel Brewer, Jesse Bevan, David DeOliveira, Summer Makovkin, Brian O'Connor, Sky Starkweather, Janice Culliford, Nancy Wallace Nelson, Steve Greenwood, Dawn Bristow, and Jan Saul. "These plays have been meaningful to me for many years," adds Kozloff, "and it is a privilege to be able to get inside of them by directing them with a large cast of local actors."

The Happy Journey: Three Wilder One-Acts runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00 pm and selected Sundays at 2:00 pm, November 8th through December 9th, at the Mendocino Theatre Company on the campus of the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino. This production is suitable for most children over seven.

Two preview performances are on 11/8 & 11/9. Tickets for previews are $15 for adults and $7 for youth 22 and under. Mendocino and Fort Bragg area high school students will be admitted for FREE.

Opening night Gala is on 11/10 at 7:30. Tickets include Roederer champagne, delectable treats, and a post-show meet-and-greet with the director and cast. Tickets are $45.

Regular performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturday at 8:00 PM, with THREE Sunday performances at 2:00 PM: 11/25, 12/2, 12/9 Adult tickets are $25; $12 for youth. There is no performance on Thanksgiving.

There will be two post-show talkbacks with director Dan Kozloff: Friday, November 9th and Friday, November 23rd.

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