La Jolla Playhouse Announces Projects for 2019 Without Walls Festival

La Jolla Playhouse announces initial programming for its acclaimed biennial Without Walls (WOW) Festival, a four-day explosion of site-based and immersive performances, taking place October 17 - 20 at ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station, in partnership with the NTC Foundation.

The 2019 WOW Festival line-up will feature three Playhouse-commissioned projects: Ikaros, by the internationally-renowned, New York-based Third Rail Projects (Then She Fell); Las Quinceañeras, by acclaimed local designer and ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station resident artist David Israel Reynoso/Optika Moderna (2017 WOW Festival's Waking La Llorona, Punchdrunk's Sleep No More); andWritten in Stone, a series of five 10-minute, site-specific plays, produced by the Playhouse's 2019 Resident Theatre Backyard Renaissance.

The WOW Festival will also include pieces by preeminent international companies: Boats by Australia's Polyglot Theatre (2013 WOW Festival's We Built This City); ¡Vuela!, by Mexico's Inmigrantes Teatro (Playhouse's Kikiricaja); Hidden Stories by France's Begat Theatre; and Peregrinus, by Poland's Teatr KTO; as well as works by acclaimed local artists, including Senior Prom, by the ARTS DISTRICT-based San Diego Dance Theater (2015 WOW Festival's Dances With Walls) and Hall Pass, by Blindspot Collective. Additional projects, including many family-friendly offerings, will be announced at a later date. Tickets for WOW Festival performances, ranging from free to $35, will go on sale this summer. For more information, please visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org.

"This initial WOW Festival line-up showcases a myriad of extraordinary artists from around the globe who will offer audiences a series of intriguing and transformative experiences that place the audience right in the center of the action," said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. "And I couldn't be happier that these experiences will all take place at ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station - an iconic San Diego gathering place and an ideal location for this community-wide celebration of immersive and site-inspired work."

The 2019 WOW Festival will be curated and produced by Playhouse Associate Producer Teresa Sapien. Similar to past festivals, this exciting event will serve as a cultural and artistic hub, centered around the Show Imaging Festival Stage, where patrons can gather to experience WOW performances, hear live music, engage in lively discussions about the work, and enjoy the many food and drink options on offer at Liberty Station.

"The ARTS DISTRICT is looking forward to hosting all these creative artists from around the world at our beautiful campus in Point Loma," said Alan Ziter, Executive Director of the NTC Foundation. "Programs like La Jolla Playhouse's WOW Festival are what the community envisioned for the former Navy base's new mission as a vibrant new San Diego center for arts, culture and creativity. We're excited about our partnership with La Jolla Playhouse and for what the community will see at the Festival."

Since its inception in 2011, Without Walls (WOW) has become one of San Diego's most popular and acclaimed performance programs. This signature Playhouse initiative is designed to break the barriers of traditional theatre, offering immersive and site-inspired works that venture beyond the physical confines of the Playhouse facilities. Over the last nine years, the Playhouse has been commissioning and presenting a series of immersive and site-specific productions at locations throughout the San Diego community, including Susurrus(2011), The Car Plays: San Diego (2012), Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir (2012), Accomplice: San Diego (2013), El Henry (2014), The Grift at the Lafayette Hotel (2015), The Bitter Game (2016), What Happens Next (2018), as well as the 2013, 2015 and 2017 WOW Festivals.

The WOW Festival is made possible in part through the generous support of the Wallace Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, the San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture, Show Imaging, the FACE Foundation and Delta Airlines.

ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station is San Diego's largest Arts & Cultural District, located in historic buildings at the former Naval Training Center in the Liberty Station neighborhood, near Downtown on San Diego Bay. With 100 park-like acres, the ARTS DISTRICT is home to nearly 145 museums and galleries, artist studios, dance companies, fine dining, creative retail and other organizations that showcase San Diego's creative community and provide innovative experiences for the public.

The NTC Foundation was established in 2000 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation to enrich the lives of San Diegans by renovating 26 historic buildings at the former Naval Training Center to create, facilitate and operate a broad-based complex focused on experiencing the arts, culture and creativity that are the hallmark of the San Diego region.

La Jolla Playhouse is a place where artists and audiences come together to create what's new and next in the American theatre, from Tony Award-winning productions, to imaginative programs for young audiences, to interactive experiences outside our theatre walls. Currently led by 2017 Tony Award-winning Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Debby Buchholz, the Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer. Playhouse artists and audiences have taken part in the development of new plays and musicals, including mounting 101 world premieres, commissioning 50 new works, and sending 32 productions to Broadway - including the currently-running hit musical Come From Away -garnering a total of 38 Tony Awards, including the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. For more information, visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org.

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