New Conservatory Theatre Center Announces World Premiere Of Dipika Guha's Coming-Of-Age Travelogue GETTING THERE

In January, New Conservatory Theatre Center will kick off 2023 with Dipika Guha's stirring story of self-discovery in the world premiere of Getting There.

Initially scheduled for January 2022, but canceled in the final week of rehearsals due to a COVID outbreak, this remounted production is a celebration of the resilience of Bay Area theatre artists and the collective power of live theatre. Featuring a cast made up entirely of BIPOC women, Getting There is an intergenerational meditation on love, aging, and solitude filled with surprises and serendipity from start to finish.

Kai and Julie came to Paris to see the sights, enjoy the food, and maybe learn something about themselves. After a falling out sends them on separate paths, Kai is pulled into an affair with a sophisticated older married couple, while Julie encounters an enigmatic woman deep in a war against herself. Twenty-four hours later, none of these five women are the same.

Playing January 20 - February 26, 2023, Getting There's Opening Night is Saturday, January 28 at 8pm. Tickets are $25-65 and are available at nctcsf.org, by emailing boxoffice@nctcsf.org or by calling (415) 861-8972. Pay-what-you-wish tickets are available for preview performances, January 20 - 27, and can be reserved starting one week before the first performance through the box office.

As part of NCTC's continued commitment to the LGBTQ+ community, this production is proud to partner with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), the first national LGBTQ legal organization founded by women. As a non-profit, public interest law firm, NCLR litigates precedent-setting cases at the trial and appellate court levels; advocates for equitable public policies affecting the LGBTQ community; provides free legal assistance to LGBTQ people and their legal advocates; and conducts community education on LGBTQ issues.

Audiences can enjoy these special events during the run of the show:

• Low-cost Previews: Friday, Jan 20 - Friday, Jan 27

• Live Parisian Pre-show Music: On Wednesday nights from 7-8pm, join us pre-show for live Parisian pre-show from Kitten on the Keys aka Suzanne Ramsey who recently won the Bay Area Reporter Besties Award for Best Live Musical Act! This event is free with ticket purchase and takes place Jan 25, Feb 1, Feb 8, Feb 15, and Feb 22.

• Opening Night will take place on Saturday, Jan 28, 2023 at 8pm

• Onstage Insight, Post-Show Discussion featuring the cast, and moderated by the director will take place after the performance on Sunday, Feb 5 at 2pm

• Enhanced Safety Performance with limited capacity seating and additional COVID safety precautions will take place on Wednesday, Feb 22 at 8pm

• Additional special events to be announced

Critics around the world are falling in love with playwright Dipika Guha:

"One of the most exciting up-and-coming playwrights hitting the San Francisco Bay Area stages" declares India West.

"A brilliant playwright" praises Playwrights' Center Associate Artistic Director Hayley Finn.

"I can therefore only look forward to whatever Guha writes next" acclaims London Theatre Playwright Dipika Guha is an LA based, Calcutta-born playwright raised in Russia, India and the United Kingdom. Her plays include Yoga Play, The Art of Gaman (Relentless Award semifinalist) and Unreliable. Recent commissions include Azaan, a play for Oregon Symphony, In Braunau for Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, and contributions to You Across From Me (Humana, Actors Theatre of Louisville). Dipika is currently under commission from South Coast Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club and Barrington Stage. For television, she's written for projects in development at AMC the series Sneaky Pete & currently writes for Black Monday on Showtime.

Director Nailah Harper-Malveaux is an emerging director, community organizer, and Oakland-based theater artist of color with a passion for centering complex intersectional identities and challenging systems of injustice and complacency. She has worked with Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Creative Artists Agency, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and Crowded Fire Theater (CFT). Nailah recently produced and directed a Crowded Fire Matchbox Project, SUBVERiTas: SUBVERTING whiteness as TRUTH/ UNEARTHING the BLACK play. She finished a 9-month Community Producing Fellowship at A.C.T., where she co-produced Every 28 Hours: Black Arts Festival, assistant directed Hamlet featuring John Douglas Thompson, directed Sunset Baby as a part of A.C.T.'s Sky Festival and directed Brainpeople for the 2018 Fellowship Project. She recently returned to A.C.T. to direct Belleville for Sky Festival, assistant direct Men on Boats (directed by Tamilla Woodard), and associate direct A Midsummer Night's Dream (directed by Dawn Monique Williams). She received her B.A. in American Studies and Theatre Studies from Yale University.

The cast of Getting There includes Simone Bloch (Anissa), Laura Domingo (Ira), Lauren Garcia (Julie), Leigh M. Marshall (Kai), and Desiree Rogers (Radha). The creative team includes stage management by Liora Jacob, lighting design by Justin Partier, dialect coaching by Ryan Marchand, costume design by Michelle Mulholland, dramaturgy by Pirronne Yousefzadeh, and set design by Deanna Zibello.

New Conservatory Theatre Center has been San Francisco's premier LGBTQ+ and Allied performing arts institution and progressive arts education conservatory since 1981. NCTC is renowned for its diverse range of innovative, high-quality productions, touring productions and shows for young audiences; its foundational anti-bullying work with youth and educators through YouthAware; and its commitment to developing new plays to continue expanding the canon of queer and allied dramatic work.

Supported in part by The Bernard Osher Foundation, Horizons Foundation, Grants for the Arts and the generosity of NCTC's individual donors.

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