TONGUES / THE WAR IN HEAVEN Comes to EXIT Theatre in San Francisco

“Tongues / The War In Heaven,” two rarely performed short plays by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin, evoke the elusive logic of a dream to form a speculative fantasia of the afterlife.

The plays are enacted by Theatre Valentine's Lorraine Olsen and Val Hendrickson. In “Tongues,” a man's death is only the beginning of a mysterious journey wherein the voices of loved ones inhabit the soundscape of his passing. In “The War In Heaven” an extraterrestrial regales her captors with tales of previous incarnations, both celestial and human.

Renowned playwright Sam Shepard collaborated with director/actor Joseph Chaikin on four one-act plays over a period of eighteen years. “Tongues” was originally presented at The Magic Theater in San Francisco in 1978 and “The War In Heaven” by WBAI in New York in 1984.

Theatre Valentine is the alias for the collaborative work of Lorraine Olsen and Val Hendrickson in the Bay Area since 1993.

Lorraine Olsen‘s original solo-show, “Figuratively Speaking,” won “Best of” The San Francisco Fringe Festival and performed at Shotgun Players Cabaret, SF Playhouse; in NYC at WOW Café Theater and as an “Encore Artist” at United Solo Festival. Other Bay Area appearances include several productions at SF Playhouse and, most recently, the Baloney production of Thighs Wide Shut.

Val Hendrickson's credits include stints with Shotgun Players, Berkeley Rep, Magic Theater and, most recently, Theatre Rhinoceros in “Breaking The Code,” for which he was nominated for a Bay Area Critics Circle Award. He has staged numerous plays in New York and San Francisco and was the recipient of both a Villager Downtown Theatre Award and a Dean Goodman Choice Award for outstanding direction.

EXIT Theatre is a 40-year-old theater company that commissions, produces and presents theater, workshops, and festivals including the San Francisco Fringe Festival and the EXIT Theatre Short Play Festival.

EXIT Theatre Presents

“Tongues / The War In Heaven”

by Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaiken

8PM Friday/Saturday February 16 and February 17, 2024

At Phoenix II Theatre, 414 Mason Street Suite 604 San Francisco

Tickets $25  https://tongues-at-the-phoenix.eventbrite.com

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