UC San Diego Department Of Theatre And Dance Presents BALM IN GILEAD

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents Balm in Gilead, by Lanford Wilson and directed by Kim Rubinstein.

The setting is an all-night coffee shop on New York's upper Broadway, where the riff-raff, the bums, the petty thieves, the lost, the desperate of the big city come together. The movement of the kaleidoscopic in effect, a surging mosaic of overlapping and interrelating speeches and action as separate goals and characters are blended together around a common center.

At the core of the play are Joe and Darlene, two young people who would seem to have the strength and the need to transcend the turmoil and ugliness of the life in which they found themselves- but are, instead, crushed by it. But their loss is quickly absorbed in the maelstrom, as the others go on desperately seeking the joy and release and purpose in life which will, most certainly, continue to escape them.

The preview for Balm in Gilead will be November 13 at 7:30 pm. The show runs November 15, 16, 22, and 23 at 7:30 pm with an additional 2 pm matinee performance on November 23.

Tickets are $20 for regular performances. Subscriptions and group rates are available. Student tickets are $10 for regular performances. Faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens discounts available as well. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the box office at (858) 534-4574.

The cast features Garrett Schulte (Joe), David Price (Dopey), Michael Rishawn (Tig), Christine Penn (Darlene), Emily Stout (Anne), Cornelius Franklin (Fick), Ahmed Baig (Frank/John), Vrindavani Moujan (Kay), Jimmy Xie (Franny), Ben McClaren (David), Sabrina Fritz (Judy), Juliana Scheding (Terri), Arianna Fawk (Rust), Joseph Maldonado (Ernesto), Joseff Paz (Xavier/Stranger), Alejandro Carrera (Carlo/Al), Jamie Scangarella (Martine), Justin "Alex" Savage (Bob), Elijah Douglas (Tim), Adham Habibi (Rake), and Teagan Rutowski (Babe).

The creative team and production staff includes Kim Rubenstein (Director), Hsi-An Chen (Scenic Designer), Mextly Couzin (Lighting Designer), Christopher Flagstad (Costume Designer), Salvador Zamora (Sound Coordinator), Eva Barnes (Vocal Coach), Zev Steinrock (Fight/Intimacy Director), Amber Dettmers (Production Stage Manager), Yan Chen, (Assistant Director), Tommy Goss (Assistant Costume Designer), Michael Wogulis (Assistant Scenic Designer), Russell Chow (Assistant Lighting Designer), Dean Collins (Assitant Lighting Designer), Rebekah Fegan (Assistant Stage Manager), Emily Searles (Assistant Stage Manager), Alex Luong (Production Assistant), and Celine Castro (Production Assistant).

Lanford Wilson was an American playwright. His work, as described by The New York Times, was "earthy, realist, greatly admired [and] widely performed." Wilson helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement with his earliest plays, which were first produced at the Caffe Cino beginning in 1964.

Kim Rubinstein was most recently Long Wharf Theatre's Associate Artistic Director where she directed Guys and Dolls, Midsummer Night's Dream, Private Lives, Santaland Diaries, and The Cocktail Hour. This past summer she directed Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Other regional credits include The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Portland Center Stage and San Jose Rep), Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Julius Caesar (Chicago Shakespeare), Love's Labour's Lost (Next Theatre), The Tempest (Southwest Rep), The American Plan and Eloise and Ray (Roadwoarks), Pan and Boone (Running with Scissors), Baby With The Bathwater (Roundhouse Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival), Beckett Shorts (Berkshire Theatre Festival, Splinter Group's Buckets O'Beckett Festival. She was Associate Director with Michael Mayer and Tour Director of the National Tour of Angels In America.

Her other teaching credits include ten years on the acting/directing faculty at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Brown/Trinity Consortium, Wesleyan University, NTI at The O'Neill Center and a ongoing teaching gig with the School at Steppenwolf. Kim has been very active in the development of new plays and has directed many readings and workshops at places like New Dramatists and Long Wharf.

Ms. Rubinstein is a recipient of the TCG/NEA directing fellowship and was nominated for the Alan Schneider Directing Award, among other awards for her directing and teaching. Upcoming projects: SANTALAND DIARIES at the Long Wharf, THE AMERICAN PLAN at The Old Globe.

 

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