SMUT: An Unseemly Story Adds A Performance at WORD for WORD

Word for Word will add an additional performance on Saturday, June 10, at 3 pm of SMUT: An Unseemly Story (The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson) by Alan Bennett, the production must close Sunday June 11th in the Z Below Theater in San Francisco. Word for Word is humbled by the heartwarming response to SMUT: An Unseemly Story (The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson) which at it's premiere was described as "deliciously, ludicrously," funny, with a"superb cast" and"a gem not to be missed at Z Below."

Alan Bennett is one of England's finest and wittiest writers who explores the uncomfortable and tragicomic gap between people's public appearance and their private desires in this tender and surprising story. Bennett is known for authoring a range of plays and screenplays including the plays: The History Boys (Tony 2006), Kafka's Dick, The Wind in The Willows,The Madness of George III and for film: The Lady in The Van, A Private Function, Prick Up Your Ears, and The Madness of King George.

In The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson, (first of the two novella-sized stories in Smut) a recently bereaved widow finds interesting ways to supplement her income by performing as a patient for medical students, and renting out her spare room. Quiet, middle-class, and middle-aged, Mrs. Donaldson soon discovers that she rather enjoys role-play at the hospital, and the irregular and startling entertainment provided by her tenants.

SMUT: An Unseemly Story (The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson) is directed by Amy Kossow and features Word for Word Charter Members Nancy Shelby (as Mrs. Donaldson), Patricia Silver and Delia MacDougall. Returning to Word for Word are Søren Oliver, Rosie Hallett, Robert Parsons, as well as actors Phil Wong and Andre Amarotico. This production is adapted to the stage by Word for Word Performing Arts Company from Smut: Stories by Alan Bennett, a Picador paperback (Farrar Strauss and Giroux Publishers).

Ticket prices: Previews $20, $40-$60. with no additional fees. Tickets: 415-626-0453 or at www.zspace.org

"The Greening of Mrs Donaldson," is the first of the two novella-sized stories in Smut. Underneath the story's gentle demeanor stirs a plot that leads straight to a sort of deep radicalism."There is a joyous anarchism here-a tale of a late life liberation, told with a narrative tone both tender and comic towards its heroine-protagonist. Bennett brings out the nuances of English life in a fully clothed story, as Mrs Donaldson welcomes her radical adventure with a furious bout of tea-making, the boiling kettle a suggestive substitute for her own fulminating yet impossibly English sensibility." (JS Tennant, The Guardian, 3/12)

WORD FOR WORD Performing Arts Company, a program of Z SPACE, is an ensemble whose mission is to tell great stories with elegant theatricality, staging performances of classic and contemporary fiction. Founded in 1993 by Susan Harloe and JoAnne Winter, Word for Word believes in the power of the short story to provide solace, compassion, and insight into our daily lives.

Z SPACE: Operating two venues in San Francisco's historic Mission District, a mainstage and a black box theater, Z Space hosts new works from a variety of performance disciplines year-round. Under Artistic Director Lisa Steindler, keystone initiatives include New Work, a development program that supports artists and ensembles from conception to realization of unique works, Word for Word, a resident theatre company that transforms works of literature verbatim to the stage, and Youth Arts, an arts education program promoting literacy and engaging students' creativity.

We foster opportunities around the nation for these works and we engage diverse audiences through direct interactions with the process, the projects, and the artists.

For more information about Z SPACE on the web and social media:

WEBSITE: https://www.zspace.org

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/zspaceSF/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/zspaceSF

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/zspace_theatre/

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