Performers Under Stress to Present Three Short Plays By Harold Pinter And Nirmala Nataraj

PERFORMERS UNDER STRESS will present "Interrogations: Pre-Election Coverage", three short plays by Harold Pinter and Nirmala Nataraj.

Comprised of The New World Order and One for the Road by Harold Pinter and People of the Shifting Sands by Nirmala Nataraj, the evening opens October 5, 2024 at Potrero Stage. "Interrogations" explores what can happen when political parties demonize and dehumanize each other. When each side describes the other as fascists and enemies of democracy, the danger arises that torture and sexual assault will be perceived as legitimate tools of the state.

Directed by Scott Baker, with lighting design by Colin Johnson, and starring Scott Baker, Valerie Façhman, Duane Lawrence, Nandini Minocha, and introducing Nyima Velez. Stage Management by Novalynn Stone.

Opening the evening is The New World Order by Harold Pinter. Written in 1991, the scene is set the moment before a political prisoner will be tortured. The two "interrogators" discuss what they are about to do to this person and his wife. In a prescient echo to the horrors of Abu Ghraib over a decade later, the two torturers agree they are making the world safe for democracy.

In the second play of the evening, an interrogation is turned on its head. People of the Shifting Sands by Nirmala Nataraj, originally written for the San Francisco Olympians Festival playreading series, receives its World Premiere production. A psychiatrist, Tallulah, is called to a prison in the middle of the night to interview and discover how a whole cellblock of prisoners disappeared. She meets Seth, an androgynous and enigmatic figure who has been tortured by the prison officials. The psychiatrist begins running her usual drill, but Seth flips the tables and she finds herself the interrogated. With themes of the immigrant experience and Egyptian mythology, People of the Shifting Sands leaves the audience wondering about what is real and how can we determine truth? Nirmala Nataraj is a New York-based writer, editor, book midwife, theater artist, and mythmaker. As a multi-genre collaborator and creative facilitator, Nirmala believes in generative solutions in the midst of chaos, the coexistence of messiness and magic, and breathtaking beauty as a natural consequence of this wild ride. Nirmala is also the author of three bestselling books about the cosmos (Earth +Space, The Planets, Stargazing, all published by Chronicle Books, with prefaces by Bill Nye)-with a new book, Spacecraft and Rockets, that will be published by Chronicle in October 2024.

Named as 1984's Play of the Year by Drama magazine, Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter's One for the Road is a chilling study of the abuse of political power. Set in an unnamed totalitarian regime, the play presents a disturbing portrait of an interrogator tormenting a tortured prisoner, his imprisoned wife and child. Inspired by his reading of Jacobo Timerman's Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, a book about torture on Argentina's military dictatorship and also his investigations of political torture in Turkey in the 80s with Arthur Miller, One for the Road isn't a comfortable play to watch. In its production at the Manhattan Theatre Club, a sizable portion of the audience walked out after its performance as the second play on a three play bill. Said Pinter, "They were asked why they were going and invariably they said, 'We know all about this. We don't need to be told.' Now, I believe that they were lying. They did not know about it and did not want to know".

Production dates: Preview Thursday/Friday, 10/3-4, 2024. Opens Saturday, October 5, 2024. Runs Thursdays-Saturdays 7:30pm, Sundays 2 pm. Closes Sunday, 10/20, 12 total performances. Runs approximately 70 minutes, with 15 minute intermission.

Tickets: Previews/Thursdays $10, Fri-Sun. $20.

Location: Potrero Stage, 1695 18th Street

San Francisco, CA , 94107

Warning: not suitable for children under 16. Sensitive material: torture and sexual assault described, violence to minors described.

Interrogations: Pre-Election Coverage is presented as part of PlayGround's Potrero Stage Presenting Program.

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