BONE TO PICK And THE BALD SOPRANO Among Cutting Ball Theater's 2009/10 Season

San Francisco’s cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater proudly announces the lineup for its 10th Anniversary season. The season opens in October with The Bald Soprano, Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist comic masterpiece, in a new translation by Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose, who will also direct. The company is also poised to present … And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, a new play by Marcus Gardley, directed by Amy Mueller. Back by popular demand is Eugenie Chan’s retelling of the Ariadne myth, Bone to Pick, which received its World Premiere in Cutting Ball’s 2007-2008 season as part of Avant GardARAMA!; this provocative play, starring Paige Rogers, will be accompanied by a newly commissioned companion piece, Diadem, in May; both will be directed by Rob Melrose.

The Cutting Ball Theater continues its Hidden Classics Reading Series with six new installments this season: Aristophanes’ The Knights in September; William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida in November; Euripides and Seneca’s versions of Medea in January; Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton in February; August Strindberg’s Storm, in a new translation by Paul Walsh, in April; and Carlo Goldoni’s The Antiquarian's Family, in a new translation by Beatrice Basso, in May. The entire season will be staged in San Francisco at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor. For tickets and information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006.

“For 10 years now, The Cutting Ball Theater has brought experimental new plays and re-visioned classics to the Bay Area,” says Rob Melrose, Cutting Ball Artistic Director. “Our 10th Anniversary season will be a year-long celebration of this mission featuring productions of new plays and our most extensive offerings in the Hidden Classics Reading Series ever. We are so proud to be presenting some of the most exciting and challenging stage works in San Francisco, as well as preparing risk-taking work to potentially transfer to the national stage; this indeed will be a great season.”

In chronological order, The Cutting Ball Theater 2009-10 season is as follows:

The Bald Soprano
By Eugène Ionesco
In a new translation by Rob Melrose
Directed by Rob Melrose
October 23 – November 22, 2009

Steven Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Saturday Night Live are all examples of how much our culture loves absurdity. But when did this love affair begin? The Cutting Ball Theater opens its 10th season with the play that started it all, Eugène Ionesco’s comic masterpiece The Bald Soprano. The Smiths are a traditional couple from London who have invited another couple, The Martins, over for a visit. Mr. and Mrs. Smith mourn the loss of Bobby Watson, but can’t quite decide which Bobby Watson they are mourning. Mr. and Mrs. Martin are pleased to have just met even though they have been married for many years and have two children together. This hysterically funny play, the perfect follow up to last season’s hit production of Ionecso’s Victims of Duty, which garnered a Bay Area Critics Circle award for Best Production, premiered in Paris in 1950 and was Ionesco’s first work for the theater. Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose directs The Bald Soprano.

…And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi
A New Play by Marcus Gardley
Directed by Amy Mueller
A co-production with Playwrights Foundation
March 12 – April 11, 2010

Set on the banks of the Mississippi during the final days of the Civil War . . . And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi is a poetic journey of forgiveness and redemption. Inspired by the myth of Demeter and Persephone, this thought-provoking fantasia play combines traditional storytelling, gospel music, and a wicked sense of humor to create a rich, imaginative world that allows trees to preach, rivers to waltz, and Jesus to moonwalk. Amy Mueller directs this profoundly moving story, which was workshopped during Risk is This…The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival, the only play festival in America solely dedicated to experimental works for the stage.

About the production Gardley says, “Jesus Moonwalks is in a lot of ways my signature play . . . this play has a personal resonance to me because it is based upon a story my great-grandmother used to tell about her father who fled the bonds of slavery and traveled the country in search of his family . . . It is my hope that the play opens the door for dialogue about the impact of myth, spirituality, and history on our national culture.” One of the Bay Area’s most important new poet-playwrights, Gardley was among Dramatists Magazine’s 50 writers to watch in 2007.

Bone to Pick & Diadem
By Eugenie Chan
Directed by Rob Melrose
May 21 – June 20, 2010

Back by popular demand, Cutting Ball Theater presents playwright Eugenie Chan’s BONE TO PICK. Re-telling the myth of Ariadne in a dizzyingly postmodern look at the costs of love and war, this incendiary play, commissioned by Cutting Ball Theater and Magic Theatre/Z Space New Works Initiative and nominated for the Glickman prize for Best New Play in the Bay Area, received its World Premiere during last year’s Avant GardARAMA!, becoming a stand-out of the season. The San Francisco Chronicle dubbed the production “richly rewarding right down to its marrow,” noting Paige Rogers’ performance as “riveting;” Rogers will reprise her tour de force role for this re-staging.

Accompanying Bone to Pick is a newly commissioned companion piece, also by Chan, called Diadem, a romantic retelling of the earlier parts of Ariadne’s myth, when she was young and in love.  Together, these two original works will convey the complete story of Ariadne’s epic romance.

Hidden Classics Reading Series

In addition to Cutting Ball’s work with experimental and avant-garde stageworks, the company’s commitment to the classics has never been stronger – this season, Cutting Ball has expanded its Hidden Classics Reading Series to include the widest variety of classics ever. From the ancient Greeks to the Elizabethans and Jacobeans, to the wild experimentation of August Strindberg and commedia dell’arte, Cutting Ball offers a profound look at some of the greatest authors ever to write for the stage in a program that continues to be one of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets.

The Knights
By Aristophanes
September 27, 2009

Full of Aristophanes’ trademark bawdy humor and political satire, The Knights tells the story of two servants who come across an oracle that will change their lives, as well as the life of an honorable but lowly street vendor. Attacking corruption, injustice, and public figures, The Knights reminds us that it’s never a good idea to get on Aristophanes’ bad side.

Troilus and Cressida
By William Shakespeare
November 8, 2009

Based on the writings of Chaucer and Homer, Troilus and Cressida is The Bard’s most satiric and biting critique of war. Wickedly funny and devastatingly poignant, this play chronicles a doomed love story set in the middle of the Trojan War.

Medea vs. Medea
Greek & Roman Versions
Euripides vs. Seneca
January 31, 2010

The grudge match is on! Euripides’ play is the original story of the infamous sorceress Medea, who exacts the ultimate revenge on her cheating husband. Seneca’s version is the one that Shakespeare used as the inspiration for his Lady Macbeth and is perhaps the most modern and compelling. Cutting Ball will be presenting readings of both plays with identical casts, a discussion to follow, and a vote from the audience for the best version of Medea.

Women Beware Women
By Thomas Middleton
February 7, 2010

The tragicomedy Women Beware Women by Shakespeare’s contemporary Thomas Middleton sizzles and surprises with its potent blend of love, lust, adultery, incest, and murder. This Jacobean rarity feels surprisingly contemporary as it examines how love sometimes makes you do outrageous, unspeakable, and even deadly things.

Storm
Part I of the Chamber Plays
By August Strindberg
In a new translation by Paul Walsh
April 25, 2010

Cutting Ball continues its series of Strindberg’s Chamber Plays, going back to the beginning of it all with Storm, in which a man returns to visit his ex-wife and his now grown daughter, but finds that the ghosts of his past still haunt him.

The Antiquarian's Family
By Carlo Goldoni
In a new translation by Beatrice Basso
May 20, 2010

Count Anselmo’s obsession for valuable antiques make him a prime target for scams. Arlecchino, Brighella, Pantalone, and Columbina are all in on the act. This comedy by the author of The Servant of Two Masters is a rare treat to one of Italy’s most uproarious plays. This reading of The Antiquarian's Family will be followed by a discussion on the art of commedia dell’arte.

As it approaches its 10-year milestone, The Cutting Ball Theater has transitioned from a nomadic theater into a residency at EXIT on Taylor, the first company to do so at the venerable San Francisco performance venue; the move marks something of a return for the company, which launched its career in a production of Richard Foreman’s My Head Was a Sledgehammer at the EXIT-sponsored San Francisco Fringe Festival in 1999.

Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. Cutting Ball Theater has partnered with Playwrights Foundation, Magic Theatre, and Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental works. The company has produced a number of World Premieres and West Coast Premieres, and re-imagined various classics. Recipient of the 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie award for outstanding work in the performing arts, Cutting Ball Theater earned the Best of SF award in 2006 from SF Weekly, and was selected by San Francisco Magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007.

All mainstage performances Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm.

All Hidden Classics readings are Sundays at 1pm.

The Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor 277 Taylor St., San Francisco.

For tickets or more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006; discounts available for students and seniors.

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