Word for Word's 'STORIES BY ALICE MUNRO' Opens Tonight

Word for Word is proud to announce their next full theatrical production of 2015, Stories by Alice Munro: "The Office" and "Dolly" under the direction of Joel Mullennix, opening tonight, March 7, and running through April 12, 2015 at Z Below in San Francisco's Mission/SOMA district.

The production features two short stories by 2013 Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro. Ranging from Munro's first short story collection (Dance of the Happy Shades) to her most recent (Dear Life), these two stories showcase the irony, humor, and surprise found in Munro's heroines. Munro's prose reveals the ambiguities of life: her style places the fantastic next to the ordinary, with each undercutting the other in ways that simply and effortlessly evoke life.

Principal casting for the upcoming Word for Word world premiere production of Stories by Alice Munro: "The Office" and "Dolly" will include Sheila Balter,* Jeri Lynn Cohen,* Paul Finocchiaro, and Susan Harloe.* (*AEA) The creative team for Stories by Alice Munro: "The Office" and "Dolly" features direction by Joel Mullennix, scenic design by Jackie Scott with lighting design by Jim Cave.

In "The Office", a young housewife is convinced that an office of one's own is what she needs to be a real writer --but when she finds the perfect place, her landlord presents an unexpected and surprising obstacle; in "Dolly", our protagonist is confident that she and her husband have the enduring love of late life -- until Franklin's old flame pops up.

Word for Word presents: Stories by Alice Munro: "The Office" and "Dolly" March 4 through April 12 (March 4-5-6 ), Press Night tonight, March 7; 8pm At: Z Below, Z Space's new second venue, at 470 Florida St.. Performances; Wednesday-Thursday 7 pm, Friday-Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 3 pm PLEASE NOTE: No show April 10, additional performance 2 pm Sat matinée on April 11. Ticket prices: $35-$55, previews $20. Tickets: 866.811.4111 or at www.zspace.org.

Alice Munro is a Canadian writer, whose work has been described as having revolutionized the architecture of short stories, especially in its tendency to move forward and backward in time. She is the recipient of many awards, most recently the Nobel Prize for Literature, awarded for the first time to a writer of short stories.

Most of Munro's stories are set in British Columbia or in Huron County, Ontario. Her strong regional focus is one of the features of her fiction. Another is the omniscient narrator who serves to make sense of the world. Many compare Munro's small-town settings to writers from the rural South of the United States. Much of Munro's work exemplifies the literary genre known as Southern Ontario Gothic.

A frequent theme of her work, particularly evident in her early stories, has been the dilemmas of a girl coming of age and coming to terms with her family and her small town origins. In more recent work such as Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001), Runaway (2004), and Dear Life (2012), she has shifted her focus to the travails of middle age, of women alone, and of the elderly. It is a mark of her style for characters to experience a revelation that sheds light on, and gives meaning to, an event. Munro's prose reveals the ambiguities of life: her style places the fantastic next to the ordinary, with each undercutting the other in ways that simply and effortlessly evoke life.

Joel Mullennix (Director) directed the highly successful Word for Word productions of In Friendship, Olive Kitteridge, More Stories by Tobias Wolff, Which is More Than I Can Say About Some People, and "The Last Stand" from You Know When the Men Are Gone; Family Alchemy for Traveling Jewish Theater; and Acid Test: The Many Incarnations of Ram Dass at the Marsh Theater in Berkeley. He has also directed works by Chekhov, Shakespeare, Miller, Stephen Adly Guirgis, and others. Joel has performed in many Word for Word productions and other Bay Area theater as well as in New York and Europe.

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.

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