Photo Flash: San Diego Rep's THE OLDEST BOY Opens Tonight

THE OLDEST BOY by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Sam Woodhouse officially opens at San Diego REP tonight, Nov. 18. The REP's production is the Southern California Premiere and runs through Dec. 6, 2015. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Sarah Ruhl (Tony Award nominee, Pulitzer Prize Finalist and MacArthur "Genius" Grant winner) is a favorite of San Diego audiences and the author of "In the Next Room, or the vibrator play" and "The Clean House," two Pulitzer Prize finalists previously produced by San Diego REP. THE OLDEST BOY was a recipient of Theatre Communications Group's 2014 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

Playing the role of "Oldest Boy" is Tsering Dorjee Bawa ("Himalaya," "We're No Monks"). Bawa was born in Toe Bawa, Tibet and received his Masters in Tibetan Performing Arts from the famed Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala, India, the city in which His Holiness, the Dalai Lama resides. He has appeared in both the Off-Broadway production of THE OLDEST BOY at the Lincoln Center Theatre as "Chorus," as well as the West Coast Premiere at Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, CA as "Oldest Boy." He is reprising his role from Marin Theatre Company's production when the play makes its Southern California Premiere at San Diego REPertory Theatre.

Every parent believes their child is special. In the imagination of award-winning MacArthur "genius" playwright Sarah Ruhl, the primal connection between mother and son yields a moving story about the tightrope walk between loving and letting go. In Ruhl's new play, we meet a young American mother who one morning finds two crimson-robed strangers, a monk and a lama, at her door. She assumes them to be friends of her Tibetan husband. But they are really on a mission to meet her 3-year-old son Tenzin, a child that is wise beyond his years. They soon reveal they believe the boy is the reincarnation of a high Buddhist teacher. When the monks request to take Tenzin away for a life of spiritual training in India, the parents are faced with a choice that will test their faith and their hearts and change their family forever. This delicate comic drama weaves together music, dance, puppetry, intimate moments and infinite meanings. Theresult is a richly emotional journey filled with laughter and tears of joy.

Photo Credit: Daren Scott

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