13th Floor and Twisted Oak to Present Double Bill of Physical Theater

13th Floor and Twisted Oak are proud to announce a double bill of physical theater at ODC Theater next year. Each company will present an original 40-minute play drawing on a shared vocabulary of storytelling and character-based movement. 13th Floor presents Lightning Strikes Anonymous, about five quirky individuals with a unique electrical addiction. Twisted Oak presents the world premiere of Fortune's Fool: A Monster's Odyssey, a mythological allegory about the confrontation between Harmony and Strife. This double bill runs February 24 - March 4, 2017, with shows at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 26. Tickets are $15 - $45, and may be purchased online atodc.dance/tickets.

On the heels of Next Time, I'll Take the Stairs, 13th Floor's surreal elevator adventure in the mode of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, comes Lightning Strikes Anonymous in a substantial new version since it premiered in 2010. The playlet opens amid a support group meeting for five individuals with a morbid taste for electricity. There's John, who's been hit so many times he can't go near an ATM without shorting it out; Blake and Iris, who share an unhealthy need to hook up in empty fields when it starts to rain; Juliet, who has moved on to large appliances; and Paul, who is compelled to attend the meeting as part of his parole agreement.

"This time around I'm coming at the story with more questions," said 13th Floor Founder and Artistic Director Jenny McAllister. "The play is about five very different characters, all of whom have a different relationship with their addiction to being struck by lightning. Lightning Strikes Anonymous addresses the topic of addiction writ large with 13th Floor's signature thoughtfulness and wit."

Lightning Strikes Anonymous features performances by Colin Epstein, Zach Fischer,Julie Mahony, David Silpa, in addition to McAllister. Keriann Egeland returns as the company's costume designer.

Founded by Epstein in 2013, Twisted Oak draws on acrobatics, aerial work, clowning and dance in its theater making. In the company's most ambitious work to date,Fortune's Fool: A Monster's Odyssey tells the story of Strife's escape from the Underworld and the restoration of chaos and entropy - alongside choice and free will - wherever Strife travels.

"This double bill is an exciting opportunity for Twisted Oak," said Epstein. "Jenny and I have been collaborating for a couple of years. After I performed with 13th Floor in A Wake, Jenny and I continued to be paired together under the direction of other artists including Deborah Slater and Liz Roman. We're both bookish, literary-minded people who share some of the same artistic vocabulary."

Fortune's Fool is directed by Amelia Adams with a commissioned score by Aaron Gold. The cast includes Jamie Coventry, Kai Crusos, Natasha Kaluza, Marria Kee,Slater Penney, Shira Yaziv, Althea Young, as well as Epstein and Fischer. Jennifer Schmidt of Boneflowers Designs serves as the costume designer. Delayne Medoff is the lighting designer and technical director for both Twisted Oak and 13th Floor.

For more information about 13th Floor, visit 13thfloortheater.org. For more information about Twisted Oak, visit twistedoakdance.com.

The presentation of this double bill is supported in part by ODC Theater and the Rainin Opportunity Fund.

ABOUT 13TH FLOOR

13th Floor was founded in 2010 by Jenny McAllister, along with a troupe of talented performers equally adept at acting and moving. With a background in both theater and dance, the company explores how narrative theater can be enhanced by character-based movement - using dance, fight choreography, acrobatics, or riffs on simple human gestures. Over the past six years, 13th Floor has premiered six plays marrying text and movement in unusual ways, including Bloomsbury/It's Not Real, which sets Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group inside a reality television premise; Being Raymond Chandler, about the iconic detective fiction writer as he struggles to write; A Wake, inspired by James Joyce's final novel, Finnegans Wake; The Broken Knife, riffing off ancient Greek and Norse mythology, and most recently Next Time, I'll Take the Stairs, a dark and magical Alice in Wonderland-inspired tale. 13th Floor has been supported in part by grants from ODC Theater, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the Fleishhacker Foundation, The Mellon Foundation, The Fort Mason Foundation and the Dancers' Group Lighting Artist In Dance Award. 13th Floor was the recipient of a creative work/play residency at ODC Theater in 2013, The Sandbox Series in May of 2015, and a one-month residency at Levy Dance in January 2015

ABOUT TWISTED OAK

Founded in 2013 by Colin Epstein, Twisted Oak is an ensemble of talented performers committed to movement-based storytelling through dance, circus and theater. The company has premiered four works including The trees are old. Eyes peer from the undergrowth..., a tour of fairy tale tropes and how to survive them; Beneath a Twisted Oak, about a trio of princesses, and why one should never trust the youngest;Calendar Girls, about the months of the year, personified, who gather to exchange stories and bicker as all families do; and Untangled, a story about the struggle between the Fates and Chaos with humanity as the battleground. Among the members of the ensemble is Bay Area-based composer Aaron Gold who, with support from the Rainin Opportunity Fund and private donors, has scored the last two years of performances.

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