Eureka Theatre Presents World Premiere of CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Now thru 3/23

CRYSTAL SPRINGS, a thought-provoking new play that interweaves the challenges of parenting in the digital age with a suspenseful tale of online misbehavior and its vicious consequences, will receive its world premiere at the Eureka Theatre in March. This latest work by rising playwright Kathy Rucker, a Humana Festival Heideman Award finalist, will be directed by award-winning British director Anna Jordan. CRYSTAL SPRINGS plays today, March 6 - 23, 2014 at The Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson St., San Francisco. For tickets ($45-$65) and information the public may visit www.CrystalSpringsThePlay.com or call 800.838.3006.

Inspired by true events, CRYSTAL SPRINGS follows a suburban mother who gets wrapped up in, and ultimately obsessed by, her daughter's online social circle, using the teenager's Web connections to fire salvos and seek revenge. Among those drawn into this vortex are a wary neighbor who naively believes curbing Internet access will keep her own daughter safe, and a young office assistant, whose Web savvy inadvertently sets into motion a scheme with a horrifying outcome. The play begins at the story's conclusion, and unfolds backwards in time, turning surprising corners on a labyrinthine path to reveal an unexpected beginning.

Kathy Rucker is a past member of the San Francisco Bay Area theatre company, Playground. Her first play, Beautiful Scar, was a finalist for the Heideman Award at the Humana Festival Ten-Minute Play Contest. Her next play, Chop Shop, earned her an invitation to the Sewanee Writers Conference where she developed the work with playwrights Romulus Linney and Dan O'Brien. Ms. Rucker's play, Turing Tested, was selected for participation in the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska, as was Sultan's Battery, which was also selected for the Great Plains Theatre Conference and was a finalist in the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest. The play was also nominated for the London Fringe Festival Theatre Writing Award and had its world premiere in 2010 in Los Angeles, produced by the Fresh Baked Theatre Company. In 2013 her play, Done There, Been That, was produced at the Bierkeller Theatre in Bristol, England, directed by Natasha Harper-Smith. CRYSTAL SPRINGS received a staged reading, directed by Tracy Ward, at the Z Space Theatre in San Francisco in the summer of 2013. Kathy Rucker is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, with a degree in French and Art History.

Anna Jordan is Artistic Director of London's multi-award winning Without A Paddle Theatre. Her recent production of Tomorrow I'll Be Happy was performed at The National Theatre. In 2012 Ms. Jordan directed two of her own short pieces, Staunch at The Arcola and Coming Home at The Bush Theatre. She has helmed sold-out runs of two plays, Only Human and Vote of No Confidence, at London's Theatre503. She also directed three short plays as part of Fragments at Riverside Studios. Other work includes acclaimed productions of BENDER at The Old Red Lion Theatre; ShortStuff at Waterloo East Theatre; Marianne which sold out at Wimbledon Studio Theatre; Just For Fun - Totally Random at Camden People's Theatre/New End Theatre; and We Will Be Gone at Camden People's Theatre. Closer to God won the inaugural Off Cut Festival at The Old Red Lion. Also an active playwright, Ms. Jordan is the 2013 recipient of the prestigious £16,000 Bruntwood Prize for her play Yen.

A talented cast has been assembled to work with the creative team including: Sally Clawson as "Linda," Siobhan FitzGerald as teen daughter "Jenna," Amy Prosser as their neighbor "Rose," Marissa Keltie as Jenna's friend "Haley," Susan Shay as Linda's office assistant "Mia," and Heather Robison as local reporter "Claire." Sally Clawson has been seen locally with the Magic Theater (Expedition 6, The Rules of Charity), Berkeley Rep (Fete de la Nuit), California Shakespeare Theater (Twelfth Night) and others. Newcomer Siobhan FitzGerald is a recent graduate of Oak Park River Forest High School, where she played roles ranging from Lady Capulet to Rita in Prelude to a Kiss. Amy Prosser's credits include Denver Center Theatre Company (Electra, Our Country's Good, The Seagull, A Christmas Carol), Magic Theatre (Madam Ho), Shotgun Players (The Great Divide), and TheatreWorks (My Children! My Africa!). Marissa Keltie has been seen in the Bay Area with Magic Theatre (Terminus), SF Playhouse (Safe House, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Shotgun Players (The Shaker Chair, The Three Musketeers), and Marin Theatre Company (Bellwether) among many others. Susan Shay has worked in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, and San Francisco developing new plays with Terrence McNally, Marisa Wegrzyn, Josh Tobiessen, Derek Goldman, and Bonnie Levinson. She was most recently seen at Union Women Actors' Coalition (the World Premiere of Megan Cohen's My Year), and Tides Theatre (5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche), as well as in the independent film "The Cedars." Heather Robison appeared at New York's New Victory Theatre (Romeo and Juliet), The Public Theatre (Love's Fire), and understudied the Broadway production of Collected Stories with Uta Hagen. Her regional theatre appearances include Shotgun Players (The Great Divide), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (The Belle's Stratagem, Napoli Milionaria, Lorca in a Green Dress, Cyrano), The Arena Stage (The Misanthrope), The Guthrie (Misalliance), and many others.

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