Pear Avenue Theatre to Present BIRDS OF A FEATHER, 5/1-24

The Pear Avenue Theatre is proud to present the third chapter in local playwright Paul Braverman's "stage-noir" trilogy featuring gin-soaked private eye Frankie Payne: BIRDS OF A FEATHER. Once again we travel to Boston in the 1960s to see Frankie battle the Irish mafia and solve murder mysteries, but this time she's engaged in mysteries of the heart as well. Will love finally find Frankie? or will it prove too elusive? Can she solve the riddle of crime in time? Directed by Pear veteran Michael Champlin, and featuring The Pear's Artistic Director Diane Tasca as the irascible, indomitable, chain-smoking and hard-drinking Frankie, the production runs May 1 through May 24, 2015.

Paul Braverman is a Bay Area playwright and actor, whose work has been read and produced extensively in Bay Area venues, as well as nationally and internationally. Braverman has had over a dozen plays produced, including having at least one short play in each of the Pear Avenue Theatre Slices productions. His play The Alpha Bindleman, originally produced at The Pear, was a nominee for the 2009 Heideman Award for the best American short play of the year, and is being adapted for film. While Braverman's short plays continue to be read and produced, he is also now known for his first two full-length plays featuring female detective Frankie Payne: No Good Deed, in 2011, and The Apple Never Falls, from 2013. Both shows premiered at The Pear to much acclaim, audiences falling in love with the curmudgeonly Frankie and her escapades with the Irish mafia of Boston. BIRDS OF A FEATHER, the final chapter in the trilogy, presents a culmination of over six years' work, including readings and development process. Braverman has also been seen as an actor in many productions throughout the area. Favorite roles include Roberts in Mister Roberts, Moon in The Real Inspector Hound, and The President in The Madwoman of Chaillot. Paul is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, The Playwright Center of San Francisco and The Pear Avenue Theatre Playwrights Guild.

Director Michael Champlin is a Bay Area actor and director who has frequently appeared on The Pear stage, and directed numerous shows there as well, including the award-winning Pygmalion and the two previous chapters in the Frankie Payne trilogy. Champlin directed The Illusion by Tony Kushner for The Pear, garnering a Silicon Valley Small Theater award, as well as Bach at Leipzig, The Apple Never Falls, and No Good Deed; he has also directed numerous children's theatre productions, most notably the recent Les Miserables for Peninsula Youth Theatre, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore for Palo Alto Players. Champlin's local acting credits include Angels in America, Part One, Our Town, Nickel and Dimed, Northanger Abbey, The Real Thing, Fifth of July, Cherry Orchard, and the acclaimed one-man performance of This Wonderful Life at The Pear; Side Man at Dragon Theatre; Romeo & Juliet with Shady Shakespeare; and Breaking the Code at Bus Barn Stage Company.

Featured in the production are Diane Tasca, reprising her role as Frankie Payne; Troy Johnson as Irish mafia boss Sean Kineen; Todd Wright as Falcone; Keith C. Marshall as Howie Murphy; Chuck Feinstein as Ben Allen; Adrienne Walters as Hannah Malone; Dan Roach as Fred Dooley; Jerry Hitchcock as Raymond Patriarcha and Gangster; and Keith Larson as Bernie McLaughlin and Gangster.

The production team includes: Michael Champlin, director; Norman Beamer, scenic design; Jeff Swan, lighting design; Pat Tyler, costumes; Champlin on sound design; and Kelly Weber, stage management.

To post a comment, you must register and login.