Shotgun Players Presents ELEVADA, By Sheila Callaghan

We meet a couple on their first date. One has a wild scheme to sell his personality to the highest bidding corporation. The other has cancer. Despite these obstacles, they make plans to meet again. Elevada explores family ties, tango, and romance under the most unlikely circumstances. Expect to be whisked off your feet with Callaghan's incisively witty tale. Elevada begins previews on Thursday, October 17; opens on Thursday, October 24; and runs through Sunday, November 17, 2019, at the Ashby Stage.

Playwright Sheila Callaghan incorporates tango into this unlikely romance. "It's all part of the crazy, lovely, lyrical, anarchic, eminently theatrical world of Sheila Callaghan", says director Susannah Martin. What better metaphor for love - and the risk of loving - than the intimacy of tango? "Whether it's being swept off your feet, or falling into (and in love with) someone at the absolute worst moment of your life; whether it's about being lifted above the fray, or digging into the earth and letting yourself get dirty - to dance with someone, partner with someone - is an act of courage." Dance history is notoriously questionable, but as legend has it, tango started in the backstreets of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the late 19th century, where the dance was originally done by compadritos (young toughs) on the dirt and cobblestones of the waterfront. It was supposedly then that "the elevada" - a method of stepping high to minimize contact with the ground - was invented.

The cast of Elevada features Wes Gabrillo, Karen Offereins, Soren Santos, and Sango Tajima. The dance ensemble features Ebony Araman, Jonas Aquino, Andy Collins, Maggie Kelley Connard, Xiaomin Jiang, Jason Torres Hancock, Paul Melish, Mimu Tsujimura, Jessica Uher, and Quinci Waller. The creative team features direction by Susannah Martin, set design by Mikiko Uesugi, lighting design by Cassie Barnes, costume design by Alice Ruiz, stage management by Bri Owens, props design by Devon LaBelle, sound design by Matt Stines, video design by Erin Gilley, and choreography by Natalie Greene.

More at shotgunplayers.org/online/article/elevada.

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