Steve Yockey's BLACKBERRY WINTER to Premiere at CapStage This Month

Capital Stage continues its 2015/16 Season with another National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. BLACKBERRY WINTER by Steve Yockey will be directed by Capital Stage Co-Founder and Associate Artist Jonathan Williams.

NNPN'S flagship initiative, its Rolling World Premiere Program, supports three 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 third of seven productions - the largest number of productions the NNPN Rolling World Premiere program has had to date. BLACKBERRY WINTER will run from March 16 through April 17, 2016 with a Press Opening on Saturday, March 19 at 8pm.

BLACKBERRY WINTER will be directed by Co-Founder and Associate Artist, Jonathan Williams (UNCANNY VALLEY, TRIBES, THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY, DYING CITY, MASTER CLASS, HUNTER GATHERERS, DIRTY STORY, BOY GETS GIRL, THE SHAPE OF THINGS).

The cast will feature Amy Resnick (Capital Stage debut), Jacob Garcia (LOVE AND INFORMATION), and Sara Lynn Wagner (THE BEHAVIOR OF BROADUS).

The production design team will include Jonathan Williams (scenic design), Stephen Decker (lighting design), Gregg Coffin (composer), Gail Russell (costume design), Dan Lydersen (animations designer), and Shaleen Schmutzer-Smith (properties design).

Years of success, meticulous planning, and an eye for detail have in no way prepared Vivienne Avery for her mother's slide into the grip of dementia. Initially hiding behind insomnia-fueled baking and a polite smile, stories about her mother leave Vivienne's inner turmoil quietly laid bare on stage. BLACKBERRY WINTER juxtaposes these stories, large theatrical gestures, and a childlike Alzheimer's "creation myth" to recount one woman's witnessing of the inevitable.

THE PLAYWRIGHT - Steve Yockey is a Los Angeles-based writer with work produced throughout the country, Europe, and Asia. His plays Afterlife, Octopus, Large Animal Games, CARTOON, Subculture, Very Still & Hard to See, The Fisherman's Wife, Wolves, Disassembly, and Niagara Falls & Other Plays are published and available from Samuel French. He was selected for the first US/Australia playwright exchange in February 2013 for his play Pluto, sponsored by the National New Play Network and Playwriting Australia. This season, BLACKBERRY WINTER will be an NNPN Rolling World Premiere with productions at Actor's Express/Out of Hand, Salt Lake Acting Company, New Rep, Forum, Kitchen Dog, Capital Stage, and Oregon Contemporary Theatre. Steve holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He currently contributes issues to the Zenescope comic book series Grimm Tales of Terror and writes on HBO's The Brink. To learn more visit Steve Yockey's website at www.redkingdreaming.com.

Since its founding in 1998, the National New Play Network has supported nearly 150 productions nationwide through its innovative Continued Life of New Plays Fund, which creates NNPN Rolling World Premieres of new plays; granted more than a million dollars to its Member theaters, their staffs and affiliated artists; and provided hundreds of playwrights and other theater-makers with developmental workshops, commissions, and paid residencies. Now, after seventeen seasons, hundreds of thousands of audience members around the world have seen plays that were created and honed with support from NNPN.

Performances for BLACKBERRY WINTER will begin with three previews on Wednesday, March 16 at 7pm, Thursday, March 17 at 8pm, and Friday, March 18 at 8pm. The production will open Saturday, March 19 at 8pm. Performances continue through Sunday, April 17, 2016. Showtimes will be Wednesdays at 7pm, Thursdays at 8pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. General ticket prices range from $25-45. Discount tickets are available as follows: Preview tickets are $20; Student Rush tickets are half-priced with valid student ID within 1 hour of performance; Student and Senior tickets are $2 off regular-priced tickets (excluding Saturday evenings); 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.

Pictured: Amy Resnick* as Vivienne Avery. Photo by Charr Crail. *Member Actors' Equity Association.

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