TheatreWorks Silicon Valley to Present West Coast Premiere of IN EVERY GENERATION

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will ring in 2023 with the West Coast Premiere of Ali Viterbi's In Every Generation. This celebration of Jewish tradition, following one family through four millennia of Passover dinners, past, present, and future, was the winner of the National Jewish Playwriting Contest. As the multi-generational, multi-cultural Levi-Katz family asks, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" they find they all have different answers as they struggle with questions of race and religion that have yet to be resolved. Directed by acclaimed Armenian/ Israeli-American director Michael Barakiva, In Every Generation will be presented January 18 - February 12, 2023 (press opening: January 21) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View. For tickets (starting at $30) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (877)-662-8978.

In Every Generation received a workshop by the Kennedy Center/National New Play Network as well as readings at the Jewish Plays Project, San Diego Repertory Theatre, The Barrow Group, and North Coast Repertory Theatre. It premiered at Victory Gardens Theater and will also be performed at Olney Theatre Center as part of a rolling National New Play Network World Premiere.

TheatreWorks is committed to creating an environment that is accessible for all audiences in its community. American Sign Language interpretation will be available at the performance of In Every Generation at 7:30pm Tuesday, January 31, 2023. In partnership with c2 Caption Coalition, TheatreWorks will offer open captioning (a screen displaying all dialogue and a description of sound effects) for the performances of In Every Generation at 2pm & 7pm, Sunday, February 5, 2023 and 2pm Wednesday, February 8, 2023. TheatreWorks is partnering with Gravity in offering audio descriptions to assist patrons who are visually impaired. This service, which includes a pre-show talk, will be available 8pm Friday, February 10, 2023; 8pm Saturday, February 11, 2023; and 2pm Sunday, February 12, 2023. (To utilize audio description, patrons should pre-register at (877)-662-8978 after purchasing tickets). Assisted listening devices are offered at every performance with no advance registration required. For more information about accessibility programs at TheatreWorks the public may visit TheatreWorks.org/venues/accessibility/

TheatreWorks is also dedicated to engaging audiences through community programming and arts engagement, furthering its mission to develop programming that invests and amplifies the voices and experiences of the theatre company's diverse communities. For each of the shows in the 2022/23 season, TheatreWorks will host In Conversation events, a series of free community events allowing community members to be in conversation with artists and the works onstage. In Conversation events will be staged for In Every Generation after the 2pm matinees on Saturday, January 28, 2023 and Saturday, February 4, 2023. Investing in the voices of the future, TheatreWorks will present a student matinee of In Every Generation at 11am Thursday, February 9, 2023.

COVID-19 health and safety procedures will be announced closer to the date of the performance. For up to date information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org/safetyupdate/

TheatreWorks has assembled a talented cast for In Every Generation. Performing in TheatreWorks' productions of It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Archduke, and They Promised Her the Moon, Luisa Sermol (she/her) returns to TheatreWorks as Paola Levi, a Yugoslavian-Italian immigrant. Sermol's Broadway credits include Roundabout Theatre Company's Hamlet and she performed Off-Broadway in Classic Stage Company's production of Macbeth. She has performed at theatres across the country, including Lincoln Center Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Portland Center Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, City Light Theatre Company, and Hillbarn Theatre. Sermol's Film and TV credits include roles on NBC's "Grimm" and TNT's "Leverage."

Returning to TheatreWorks where he was seen in The Pitmen Painters, Michael Champlin (he/him) plays Davide Levi, an Italian immigrant married to Paola. Champlin has also performed at Los Altos Stage Company, Palo Alto Players, Pear Theatre, Dragon Productions Theater Company, and Pacific Repertory Theatre.

Cindy Goldfield

(she/her) plays Valeria Levi, Davide and Paola's daughter and a first generation American. A San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and Bay Area Drama-Logue Award winner, Goldfield returns to TheatreWorks where she was seen in Another Midsummer Night. Goldfield has also performed at leading regional theatres including LaMaMa, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Center Repertory Company, Marin Theatre Company, Broadway By The Bay, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and 42nd Street Moon.

Sarah Lo

(she/her) makes her TheatreWorks debut as Devorah Levi-Katz, Valeria's eldest adopted daughter. She reprises the role of Devorah after performing in the World Premiere of In Every Generation at Victory Gardens Theater. Lo's film and TV credits include Monkeypaw/ Universal's Candyman, HBO Max/ Paramount's "Station Eleven," Disney Channel's Christmas...Again, Netflix's "The Chair," Fox TV's "Empire," NBC TV's "Chicago Med," Sony Pictures' Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, and Amazon Studios' "Utopia." Onstage, Lo has been seen at Victory Gardens Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Second City, Drury Lane Oakbrook, and Ma-Yi Theatre.

Olivia Hoffman

(she/her) makes her TheatreWorks debut as Yael Levi-Katz, Valeria's younger daughter. Hoffman has performed at theatres across the country including Goodspeed Musicals, Hartford Stage, Theaterworks Hartford, Rebel Theatre Company, Warner Theatre, Playhouse on the Park, and the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. Hoffman's film and TV credits include CBS TV's "Magnum P.I.," PBS' "The Cobblestone Corridor," and Hallmark Channel's Two Tickets to Paradise.

In Every Generation features scenic design by Nina Ball, costume design by Suzanne Chesney, lighting design by Kurt Landisman, sound design by Sharath Patel, and projections design by Rasean Davonté Johnson. Randall K. Lum serves as stage manager.

Ali Viterbi

Viterbi's (Playwright) work has been developed, produced, or commissioned by Geffen Playhouse, The Kennedy Center/National New Play Network, La Jolla Playhouse, Round House Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Jewish Plays Project, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, The Barrow Group, Owl and Cat Theatre in Australia, North Coast Repertory Theatre, and Horizon Theater Company, among others. She won the 2019 National Jewish Playwriting Contest for In Every Generation and has been a finalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Viterbi has staffed on a TV show and developed projects with AMC and Anonymous Content. She was a member of the 2020/2021 Geffen Playhouse Writers' Room, and she is the associate artistic director of the annual Lipinsky San Diego Jewish Arts Festival. Viterbi received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.F.A. in Playwriting from U.C. San Diego.

Michael Barakiva

(Director) is an Armenian/Israeli-American director, writer, and producer. He is the Founder and Creative Director of Novel Readings, a company that uses the performance of text to produce social justice events and develop writers' work, and served as the Artistic Director of the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY (2015-2020). Michael is a recipient of the David Merrick Prize in Drama, a Summer Fellowship and New Directors/New Works Grant from the Drama League, Granada Fellowship at UC Davis, and the Phil Killian Fellowship in Directing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has presented at the National Puppet Theatre in Sofia, Bulgaria, as well as at the International Theater Festival at UNAM in Mexico City.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

led by Artistic Director Tim Bond and Executive Director Debbie Chinn, presents a wide variety of contemporary plays and musicals, revitalizes great works of the past, and serves more than 100,000 patrons per year. Founded in 1970 by Robert Kelley, TheatreWorks has grown from a truly original Silicon Valley start-up to become one of the nation's leading professional non-profit theatre companies. TheatreWorks was recently honored as the recipient of the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award. TheatreWorks also champions new work, offering artists support and a creative home as they develop new stories for the American theatre. Offstage, TheatreWorks' arts education programs in local schools and arts engagement programs in Silicon Valley neighborhoods uplift its audiences and strengthen community bonds. Whether onstage or off, TheatreWorks welcomes the mosaic of people that embody the Bay Area and beyond, celebrating the transformative power of theatre to ignite imagination, inspire conversation, and interconnect our human spirits.

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