JUMPING THE MEDIAN Previews At The Other Space On 3/13

Producer Patricia Garza announced today that Jumping the Median: an evening of five unexpected acts by playwright and poet Steve Connell previews at The Other Space at Santa Monica Playhouse on Friday, March 13, 2009 at 8 pm and will open on Friday, March 20 at 8 pm. Expect the unexpected in a sexy, outrageous, moving, provocative and unabashedly fun evening of five distinctly original new plays.

Playwright Steve Connell (who also performs and co-directs) is an acclaimed actor, renowned playwright, spoken word artist and a National Poetry Slam Grand Champion (‘02 Hollywood, ‘03 LA Poetry Slam Champion, ‘03 National Champion, team LA). His hit one-man theatrical show, 40 Days - a "world premier tour de force" hailed as "breakneck, mind-boggling theatre"- received rave reviews from the LA Weekly (Pick of the Week) and BackStage West (Critic's Pick) and Entertainment Today's pick for Best Solo Performance of 2005. Last year he appeared in the critically acclaimed Robots vs. Fake Robots at the Powerhouse Theatre in Venice, CA. As a writer, his new comedy, The Danger of Being Known, was recently featured in an emerging playwrights' series in Los Angeles and his latest play; kill the poets, debuted to much praise at the 2008 L.A. Poetry Festival. Connell has also gained much acclaim from his collaborative work with hip hop poet Sekou (tha misfit). Together they created: no easy choice, which HBO invited them to perform at the 12th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO, and Unabridged, a series of recorded and filmed poems that is posted on the ACLU website. Their two-man spoken word play, The Word Begins (directed by Robert Egan) was developed at the prestigious Ojai Playwrights Conference. It completed its first national run in the fall of 2007 at the Signature Theater in Washington, D.C. where it garnered nominations for three Helen Hayes Awards, including Best Acting and Best Original Play. Critics hailed it as "explosively funny," and "...a stunning show on the cutting edge of modern theater." Most recently Connell has performed at Declare Yourself (Norman Lear's pre-Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C.), The Marion Anderson Awards, and alongside Barak Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Stevie Wonder at Oprah's campaign fundraiser for Obama's Presidential Campaign in Santa Barbara in 2008.

Jumping the Median reunites many of the actors from Push to Talk Theatre's critically acclaimed production Robots vs. Fake Robots. Along with Connell the ensemble cast includes (alphabetically): Greg Crooks (Robots vs. Fake Robots), Ida Darvish (Robots vs. Fake Robots), Ty Hodges, In-Q, Kevin Larsen, Elizabeth Maxwell (Robots vs. Fake Robots), Tyler Moore, Joe Sanfelippo, Jessie Sherman, Sarah Sido (Robots vs. Fake Robots), Brent Tonick and Mike Wood. Rounding out the artistic team are: Set Designer Levi Brewster, Graphic Designer Deliah Hauser, Lighting Designer Jake Mitchell, Sound Designer Adam Phalen, Costume Designer Bich Vu, and Stage Manager Ashley Singh. They are joined by co-Musical Directors Josh Foy and Sekou Andrews. Push to Talk Theatre Artistic Director Emily Weisberg co-directs.

Director Weisberg most recently directed last season's critically acclaimed Robots vs. Fake Robots at the Powerhouse Theatre. Other credits include Bermuda! at the Eli Broad Stage, the workshop production of Jumping the Median at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre, Picnic on the Battlefield, How To Be A Good Son, Independence, as well as, numerous staged readings and workshops in the LA area. As part of the University of California, Santa Barbara Summer Theatre Lab she worked as assistant director on productions of Sarah Ruhl's Melancholy Play, bobrauschenbergamerica, King Lear, David Adjmi's Marie Antoinette and Kristin Newbom's Telethon. Additional directing credits include Sue Ellen as part of Jurassic Theatre Company's production Phenomena, Shasta! with Inner Circle Theatre Company, and co-director of the Emerging Playwrights reading series with The Ensemble Theatre Company. Along with directing, she produced the first annual Celebrate the Word Los Angeles Poetry Festival (Greenway Court Theatre), is a member of the Ojai Playwrights Conference reading committee, and is the Artistic Director of Push to Talk Theatre Company.

Jumping the Median is produced by Patricia Garza and Push to Talk Theatre (http://PushToTalkTheatre.com). The company was formed in 2006 to support and give voice to the development and performance of new work, it exists as a home in which playwrights, performers, composers and designers create exciting and innovative theatre.

Producer Patricia Garza holds an MFA/MBA in Theatre Management from California State University, Long Beach and a BA in English and minor in Theatre Studies from UC Berkeley and has extensive experience working in the theater. At Berkeley she was the managing director of the student-run BareStage Productions where she also directed and produced countless productions including COMPANY, 2nd-4th Annual Celebrations of Women in Theatre, and an original dinner theatre piece, Cirque du Death. She also wore multiple hats for the graduate student theatre, California Repertory Company, where she ran all aspects of the company and was the producer of their annual theatre festival for high school students, TheatreFest. Garza serves as Department Manager for the Education and Outreach Department for Center Theatre Group where she previously was acting company manager of the Kirk Douglas Theatre and company manager of multiple workshops for new play production. She is the creator and producer of an annual interdisciplinary arts festival event entitled Soapbox

Jumping the Median runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 7 pm. Low -priced preview performances are March 13 through March 15. Regular performances start Friday March 20 at 8 pm and play through April 19, 2009. General admission is $20.00. Tickets to the three preview performances are $15.00. Tickets are available on line at http://plays411.com/JumpingTheMedian. For group sales and information call 562-547-6207.

The Other Space at Santa Monica Playhouse is located at 1211 4th Street. Santa Monica, CA 90401. Convenient parking is located directly across the street in Municipal Structure #1. By public transportation take the Santa Monica Blue Bus or the LA Metro Rapid #720 and exit at
4th and Wilshire.

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