Magic Theatre's Campo Santo Presents World Premiere Of SHELTER By Bennett Fisher

Magic Theatre will welcome a one-of-a-kind world premiere theatrical event from resident company Campo Santo: A "listening" of Bennett Fisher's pandemic thriller SHELTER. The production will be introduced remotely by Director Omar Metwally (as an actor, Mr. Metwally has appeared in tv's "The Affair," "Mr. Robot" among many others).

SHELTER will play on February 25th and 26th at 8:00pm. Single tickets range from $20 to $70 and are on sale now at MagicTheatre.org. Tickets are also available as part of a 2022 Season Pass (still available for a limited time).

From Artistic Director Sean San Jose:

We want to welcome you into a new world at the Magic Theatre, a new first time Home Resident Company in Campo Santo, an amazing writer new to this stage in Bennett Fisher- and with a new theatrical experience from the Campo Santo company led by Director Omar Metwally.

Developed with Campo Santo's Familia of artists, SHELTER originated from within the first few months of the shelter-in-place orders at the very start of the pandemic, when all the elements of a classic paranoid thriller were a part of daily life: eerie silences, the threat of the presence of strangers and the volatility of trust when the world shrinks itself down to the walls we live within.

Fleeing the pandemic and attempting to revive their troubled relationship, a young Bay Area couple retreat to the Sierra Mountains. When a stranger arrives at their door seeking help after an accident, they are forced to weigh their personal safety against the desire to assist someone in crisis.

Through the use of a meticulously crafted soundscape and a theater lit exclusively by candlelight, the Magic Theatre's space will be transformed into an intimate, visceral atmosphere designed to concentrate and heighten the senses of the gathered audience. From there it's a game of the imagination: Where your eyes go and what sounds you select to hear. The story may be told through sound, but the event is gathering and listening: to the play and the audience all around you.

From Playwright Bennett Fisher:

I started writing Shelter in May of 2020, just a few months into the pandemic. I wanted to capture something about the feeling of the moment, this sense that we were all profoundly unsafe in places that felt totally secure just a short time ago. And it wasn't so much that that lack of safety was something new, but rather that the illusion of safety was falling away. Shelter is about reckoning with the horror of uncertainty.

I wrote the play for Campo Santo and for this specific group of collaborators - Omar, Sean, Lauren, Juan, Catherine, Brian, and Chris. I've known Sean, Omar, and Catherine since my college years. These are all people who inspire me to be a better artist and a braver artist. It was so rejuvenating to be able to make art with them in a time when theaters were closing. If part of Shelter comes from a place of fear, another part comes from a place of profound love and gratitude.

The beauty of Campo Santo is that it's not a "franchise" theater company. They're not looking for whatever play happens to be making the rounds nationally at the moment. They don't want people to come in, do their thing, and leave. They've held onto something that seems rarer and rarer these days - the idea that art and artists are not interchangeable, that the individual matters, that the unique grouping of people who share space together for each performance - artists and audience - matters.

For me, Campo Santo is the vaccine for the soul. I hope you get as much from experiencing this piece as I got from helping to create it.

This is the first Campo Santo project of the new era at the Magic Theatre, as we enter a new age rightfully centering People of Color throughout the organization. While many of the Campo Santo Familia have been part of the first events and first Magic Theatre play as designers, curators, and more- this is the inaugural production for Campo Santo as the new Home Resident Company. As part of expanding the Magic Theatre's scope and reach in an attempt to make this a Home to more people, we have invited an amazing group of companies into the space to make it Home! Campo Santo is the Home Resident Company, joined by other Resident Companies: Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience (BACCE), Ellen Sebastian Chang/Sunhui Chang, along with a host of Resident Artists, including New Residency Curator Juan Amador.

The cast of SHELTER features Campo Santo Familia and All Stars: Juan Amador, Catherine Castellanos, Brian M. Rivera, and Lauren Spencer.

In addition to director Omar Metwally and playwright Bennett Fisher, the Creative Team includes: sound design by Christopher Sauceda, and an original score by Saucy, sound engineering by Thayer Walker and lowdown haus, producing director Joan Osato, line producer Daniel Duquue-Estrada, project director Ashley Smiley, production manager Brittany White.

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