DEAL WITH THE DRAGON Comes to Magic Theatre in July

Kevin Rolston's critically acclaimed Deal with the Dragon, a three-character, one-man performance comes to the Magic Theatre for a limited run. Developed with and directed by M. Graham Smith, written by/starring Rolston, and produced by TigerBear Productions, the captivating comedy unfurls a cunning grown-up fairy tale laced with terror in this new production which audiences will find revised from previous Bay Area outings. Deftly staged and artfully performed, the free-wheeling fantasy was selected as one of the top 20 theater shows (out of 900) to see at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe by The List.

Deal with the Dragon will be performed July 22 - August 14 at Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Boulevard, Building D, San Francisco. For tickets ($20-$70) and more information, the public may visit magictheatre.org or call (415) 441-8822.

Deal with the Dragon, Rolston's first solo show, finds an artist desperate to land a gallery show at a prestigious museum, an acolyte who will stop at nothing to protect the artist's process, and a flamboyant rival competing for the same museum slot. All are portrayed by Rolston in a performance SF Weekly called "infused with razor blades that have been soaked in honey." Deal with the Dragon was also named by KQED Arts' John Wilkins as one of six "singular and brilliant theater pieces" of 2016. "Deal with the Dragon gave me more after-the-fact pleasure than any other play this year," he declared. "This show burrowed into my mind." A workshop production at A.C.T.'s Costume Shop was described by KQED Arts as "Sly, shocking, and won't let you go," a play that "theaters should [be] fighting for the right to even have a chance to produce."

Playwright and performer Kevin Rolston is a San Francisco actor and playwright. His first play Crystal Christian-about the hypocrisy of loud-mouthed homophobes who get caught doing crystal meth with gay hookers-enjoyed a workshop production at Magic Theatre in 2008. His second play This Many People covered the lives of Bay Area LGBTQ senior citizens and premiered at Counterpulse as part of the 2010 Queer Arts Festival. As an ensemble actor he was last seen as Charles Cooper in A.C.T.'s staging of 8, the marriage equality play. Other acting credits include A Steady Rain at Marin Theatre Co, The Crowd You're in With at Magic Theatre, Blithe Spirit at CalShakes, Once in a Lifetime at A.C.T., Doubt at Center Rep, Opus at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, and many others.

M. Graham Smith is a San Francisco-based director, educator, and producer. An O'Neill/NNPN National Directing Fellow, Oregon Shakespeare Festival FAIR Fellow, and a proud Resident Artist at SF's Crowded Fire, Smith has directed plays in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Portland (Oregon), Washington D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area. He spent five years as the producer of Aurora Theatre Company's new play development program and festival The Global Age Project. He directed the West Coast Premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera and won the Bay Area Critics Circle Best Director for Truffaldino Says No at Shotgun Players. Recent productions include the World Premiere of Obie winner Christopher Chen's Home Invasion, Kevin Rolston's Deal with the Dragon at A.C.T. & Edinburgh Fringe, Mia Chung's You for Me for You at Crowded Fire, James Ijames' White at Shotgun, and Kait Kerrigan's Father/Daughter at Aurora. During the pandemic he directed his first full length film, a hip-hop musical adaptation of As You Like It with music and lyrics by Ryan Nicole Austin produced by A.C.T., as well as the "hold me the forgotten way' audiocycle produced by TigerBear. His latest project is a new musical The Mortification of Fovea Munson at The Kennedy Center.

This work is being presented at Magic Theatre, among the most prominent theaters in the nation dedicated solely to the development and production of new plays. Established in 1967, its history includes premieres of over 200 new works, including Sam Shepard's Buried Child, the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979. Other renowned writers whose works have premiered at Magic Theatre include David Mamet, Michael McClure, Nilo Cruz, Rebecca Gilman, and Edna O'Brien, among many others.

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