Crowded Fire Theater to Present 410[GONE] World Premiere, 6/6-29

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) presents the World Premiere of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's 410[GONE], opening Monday June 10 with a press night at the Thick House in San Francisco, (Previews June 6-8) running through June 29.

In 410[GONE] Cowhig creates a buoyant underworld landscape run by punk operatic Chinese gods and goddesses soaring with energy, humor, tricks, and avatars Winner of the Yale Drama Series Award, Cowhig has established herself as a fearless, fiercely intellectual writer. "Cowhig's voice pulses with raw, heartbreaking honesty as she examines the loving and fractured relationship between a dead brother and a sister who reunite in the underworld." states Artistic Director Marissa Wolf. In 410[GONE] a brother and sister are suspended in the interstitial spaces between their American culture and Chinese heritage as they wrestle within the lines of life and death.

Where do we go when we die? In Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's dark and dazzling play 410[Gone], that all depends on how you play the game - the stakes are high. Under Taishan, a sacred mountain in China, the powerful Goddess of Mercy, Guan Yin, patiently awaits the arrival of the souls of the dead, freeing them from the pain of memory and releasing them into their next life. Told in richly poetic language, 410[GONE] looks at the bonds of love between siblings when a sister searches for her lost brother in the Land of the Dead. In this underworld brother and sister must face the ultimate question: if there is no love without pain, what does it mean to love?

Evren Odcikin directs this World Premiere of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's 410[GONE], featuring Cindy Im as Twenty-One, Chris Cortez as Seventeen, Charisse Loriaux as the Goddess of Mercy, Alexander Lydon as the Monkey King, and Michael Uy Kelly as the Ox Headed God. Lead video designer, Wesley Cabral, creates the landscape of the underworld in 410[Gone], he has worked with CFT on The Hundred Flowers Project, Invasion, and Wreckage.

Crowded Fire Theater (CFT) presents the World Premiere of 410[Gone] by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, June 6-29, with Press Night Monday June 10 (Previews June 6-8), at Thick House, 1695 18th St., SF (between Carolina St.& Arkansas St. in Potrero Hill). Performances: Wed-Saturdays 8 PM; Special Opening Night Monday, June 10, 8 PM.

Tickets: Prices range from $10-$35 progressively during the course of the run. We offer Pay-What-You-Can Preview performances and student/senior/group rates. Tickets: Visit www.crowdedfire.org for more information and to purchase tickets. Box Office by phone (415) 746-9238.

Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's play Lidless received the Yale Drama Series Award, an Edinburgh Fringe First Award, the Keene Prize for Literature, and the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize. In 2011 she was awarded the Wasserstein Prize by the Educational Foundation of America. She has been a finalist for the Blackburn Prize, received residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, Ragdale, and the Santa Fe Art Institute, and is under commission from South Coast Rep and Seattle Rep. Her plays have been produced by Trafalgar Studios 2 on the West End, Page 73 Productions in New York, Interact Theatre in Philadelphia, and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in West Virginia. They have been developed at the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival, Seattle Rep, PlayPenn, the Alley Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Playwright's Foundation and Yale Rep. Frances received an MFA in Writing from the James A. Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin, a BA in Sociology from Brown University, and a certificate in Ensemble Created Physical Theatre from the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Her work has been published by Glimmer Train, Methuen Drama, and Yale University Press. Frances was born in Philadelphia, and raised in Northern Virginia, Okinawa, Taipei and Beijing.

Evren Odcikin serves as the literary artistic associate with Golden Thread Productions. For the company, he directed the West Coast premiere of Yussef El Guindi's Language Rooms in San Francisco and Los Angeles (Los Angeles Times Critic's Pick) and produces the new plays reading series New Threads. His other Bay Area directing credits include The Oldest Profession (Two BATCC nominations including best ensemble) and Machinal (Three BATCC Award nominations including best director and best production) for Brava Theater; The Play About the Naked Guy for Impact Theatre ("2010 Honorable Mention" from Bay Area Reporter); and RHINO for Boxcar Theatre ("Most Inventive Staging of 2010" from SF Weekly, "Best Play of 2010" from SF Bay Times). He has directed readings and workshops for Magic Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theater, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Cutting Ball and PlayGround. Born and raised in Turkey and a graduate of Princeton University, Evren was selected as an Emerging Theatre Leader in 2012 by Theatre Communications Group.

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