The Theatre Group at SBCC Presents GROUND, Now thru 5/10

The Theatre Group at SBCC presents a touching new play, GROUND by Lisa Dillman, as the final offering in the 2013-2014 SeasonFor its final offering in the 2013/2014 season, The Theatre Group at SBCC will present the West Coast Premiere of the new play GROUND by Lisa Dillman, directed by R. Michael Gros, in the Jurkowitz Theatre, today, April 23-May 10, 2014.

THE STORY

When Zell Preston inherits her father's struggling pecan farm and moves back to her childhood home on the border of New Mexico, she finds that the once tight-knit community is now split by culture, law, visible and invisible boundaries. The government has cracked down on the undocumented immigrant population, dividing families and pitting neighbor against neighbor. A premiere at the 2010 Humana Festival of New American Plays, this very moving and challenging new work is a personal drama about very big issues.

"Breathtaking in every way." TotalTheater.com

"...tackles the hot-button issue of illegal immigration." Back Stage

THE PLAYWRIGHT

Lisa Dillman's plays have been produced in Chicago at Steppenwolf, American Theatre Company, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, and Collaboraction; in New York at the Hypothetical Theatre Company; in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at Theaterwork; and elsewhere around the country. Her play Six Postcards was featured in the Goodman Theatre's 2005 New Stages Festival. Dillman has received the Sprenger-Lang New History Play Prize, the Sarett National Playwriting Award, and the Julie Harris-Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Award, as well as commissions from Steppenwolf, Northlight Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, and Imagination Theatre; two Illinois Arts Council playwriting fellowships; and residencies at the Millay Colony, the Ragdale Foundation, Blue Mountain Center, the William Inge Center for the Arts, and the O'Neill Theater Center, where her play Rock Shore was presented at the 2003 National Playwrights Conference. Ground premiered at the 2010 Human Festival of New American Plays. Dillman lives and writes in Chicago.

GROUND will feature Robert Demetriou, Jennifer Marco, Adrian Marquez, Marisol Miller-Wave, Maria Oliveira and Peter T. Rojas.

ROBERT DEMETRIOU (Cooper Daniels) has studied acting at SBCC, ACT in San Francisco, and with Daryl Hickman. He appeared last year as Carl in The Theatre Group at SBCC production of Bus Stop. He was also seen as the philandering corporate raider John in the Circle Bar B production of Any Wednesday. Twenty years earlier he had performed there in Something's Afoot, followed by his role as the Player in Naked Longings at the Center Stage Theater. Robert has also appeared as a featured reader with Speaking of Stories and has sung with Santa Barbara Revels and the SBCC Choir. A local attorney and mediator, he was raised in Santa Barbara.

JENNIFER MARCO (Zelda Preston) has recently been seen around Santa Barbara in King of Shadows, The Basic Elements and Sweet Nothing with Elements Theatre Collective, Antigone with the SBCC Great Works Festival and The Importance of Being Earnest with Circle Bar B Dinner Theatre. This is her first collaboration with The Theatre Group at SBCC.

ADRIAN MARQUEZ (Carl) is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and is currently enrolled at SBCC where he is studying chemical engineering. Ground not only marks his debut performance as an actor, it is also the first time he ever auditioned for a play.

MARISOL MILLER-WAVE (Angie (Ochoa) Zelaya) is excited to return to the stage in her hometown of SB after 10 years away. She has performed internationally as a vocalist for the Venetian Casino (China) and iLCirco (Mexico). Favorite roles include Maria in Lend Me a Tenor, Lucy in Charlie Brown, the Princess in Love's Labours Lost, Mona in Dames at Sea, Georgette in School for Wives. She is a graduate of the PCPA acting program and was last seen in The Theatre Group at SBCC production of The World Goes Round.

PETER T. ROJAS (Chuy Gallegos) is a tenured Mathematics Professor at SBCC. His early theatrical experience began when he was a student at Pepperdine University. He studied acting with Mark York, and later appeared in the University's productions of West Side Story, Over It All a Tent Was Spread, and several student-run plays. Locally, he appeared in the all-faculty cast of Shakespeare's As You Like It, directed by retired English Professor Jenny Weber.

MARIA V. OLIVEIRA (Ines (Ochoa) Sandoval) is a graduate from Santa Barbara City College and is currently attending UC Irvine, majoring in Drama. Maria has been involved in theatre both onstage and backstage for a number of years and for multiple Theatre Group productions. Some shows you may have seen her in are Trojan Barbie, August: Osage County and Circle Mirror Transformation. Maria was also awarded Outstanding Student of the Year for the SBCC Theatre Department in 2013.

THE PRODUCTION TEAM

R. MICHAEL GROS (Director) is a member of the professional theatre directors union (SDC) and currently serves as an associate professor and Co-Chair at Santa Barbara City College. He was a member of the graduate theatre faculty at Kansas State University. Michael served as Artistic Director for six seasons with PCPA Theaterfest. At PCPA he produced and/or directed 70 Equity productions including world and west coast premieres. At SBCC he teaches all levels of acting, development of drama and directing. Michael is Co-Artistic Director of PlayFest Santa Barbara. In 2005, Michael was one of 48 persons selected worldwide to receive a residency fellowship in non-profit arts leadership at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business Center for Social Innovation. He earned his MFA in directing from the University of California at Irvine, studying with Robert Cohen, Keith Fowler, Ian Bernard, William Needles (Stratford Shakespeare Festival) and Brewster Mason (Royal Shakespeare Company) among others. He earned his BA in theatre, Magna Cum Laude, at UCLA. Michael serves on the Board of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology and is the immediate past directing focus group representative for the Association of Theatre in Higher Education. Michael received an Indy Award for his direction of last season's Theatre Group production of Present Laughter and directed Bus Stop and The 25thPutnam County Spelling Bee. For SBCC he has also directed A Midsummer Night's Dream, Almost, Maine, Tartuffe and Trojan Barbie.

ADAM FLEMMING (Scenic and Projection Design) has collaborated regionally with the Hollywood Bowl/LAPhilharmonic, South Coast Reparatory, The Long Beach Opera, Pasadena Playhouse, East West Players, Noise Within, The Autry Museum NativeVoices, and The Theatre @ Boston Court amongst others, and has had productions in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Maria, Miami, Austin, Edinburgh, and Guadalajara. He holds an MFA in designfrom CalArts. Winner 2013 LA Drama Critics Circle DistinguishedAchievement in Video Design and L.A. Weekly's Best Projection Designof the Year. He is a member of USA829.

PATRICIA L. FRANK (Lighting Designer) serves as the Director of Design and Technology for the Theatre Department. In over 25 years at SBCC Pat has been involved with the execution of over 130 productions. As a Designer at SBCC and in the community she has designed over 90 productions. Recently Pat designed the sets and lights for the critically acclaimed premiere of Through the Fire and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Jurkowitz Theatre as well as sets for Noises Off, Bus Stop, The 25thSpelling Bee, Present Laughter, August: Osage County, and Avenue Q in the Garvin Theatre. She also designed the lighting for Food Confessions at the Lobero Theatre. This past December she was the lighting designer for the Nutcracker at the Arlington Theatre. Pat has an MFA in Visual Arts and an MA in Dramatic Arts.

PAMELA SHAW (Costume Designer) was Assistant Costume Designer for The Artist, the 2011 Academy Award winner: Best Picture & Best Costume Design, designer Mark Bridges. Credits include Noises Off, Bus Stop, Project Love, The 25thSpelling Bee, Becky's New Car, Present Laughter, A Midsummer Night's Dream, August: Osage County, Avenue Q, Through the Fire (SBCC), Ghosts, Lion In Winter, Crime & Punishment, The Liar (Ensemble Theatre Company), Home Siege Home (Ghost Road Ensemble at Inside the Ford), Doubt, Lonesome Traveler, Steel Magnolias, (The Rubicon Theatre), The Elephant Man, Children's Hour, The Rocky Horror Show, Lope de Vega's Lo vingido ferdadero (Loyola Marymount University), Camping with Henry and Tom (McCoy Rigby Entertainment), and the annual Holiday Parade for Universal Studios Theme Park. She is co-author of the definitive costume resource guide, Shopping LA: The Insiders' Sourcebook for Film & Fashion, 3rd edition. Ms. Shaw served two terms as Vice President of the Costume Designers Guild, Local 892 and is currently a Trustee for the Western Region Board of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

CRICKET S. MYERS (Sound Design). Broadway: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Drama Desk Award, Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway: Marvelous Wonderettes. Regional: Play Dead,Wrecks, Some Girl(s), Emergency (Ovation, NAACP nomination-Geffen); Steward of Christendom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Ovation Nomination), Vigil, Burn This, The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Ovation nomination), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, The Subject was Roses (Mark Taper Forum); Twist your Dickens (Ovation nomination), The Wake, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Ovation nomination), The Little Dog Laughed (Ovation nomination) (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Sideways, The Nightingale (La Jolla Playhouse); Book Club Play (Arena Stage); In the Wake (Berkeley Rep);Trudy and Max, 4000 Miles, The Fantasticks, Parisian Woman, Elemeno Pea, Three Days of Rain, Trip to Bountiful (South Coast Rep); Above the Fold, Crowns, Orson's Shadow (Pasadena Playhouse); Marvelous Wonderettes (Laguna Playhouse). Other selected L.A. theaters include The Colony Theatre, NoHo Arts, Ghost Road Theater Company, The Celebration Theater, and Circle X.

CHRISTOPHER BARBEE (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be serving as Production Stage Manager for the first time. He has been a part of The Theatre Group at SBCC since the fall of 2011. He has held various crew positions for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Avenue Q, August: Osage County, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Present Laughter, Project Love, Through The Fire and Trojan Barbie. In 2012 he was presented with the theatre group award for Technician Of The Year and made his directorial debut last spring with Anton Chekov's A Marriage Proposal, as part of SBCC's one act festival.

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

GROUND will be performed in the intimate Jurkowitz Theatre on SBCC's West Campus, 900 block of Cliff Drive. Performances are April 23-May 10, 2014, Wednesday through Saturday @ 7:30pm, Sunday @ 2pm, Saturday matinees May 3 & May 10 @ 2pm. The Sunday, April 27, 2pm performance will be live-captioned for the hearing impaired. Ticket prices are: Previews April 23 & 24 $16 general/$13 seniors/$8students, Wednesday & Thursday evenings, Saturday and Sunday matinees $22 general/$17 seniors/$12 students, Friday & Saturday evenings $24 general/$19seniors/$15 students. Tickets can be purchased at the Garvin Theatre Box Office, 805-965-5935 or online at www.theatregroupsbcc.com. The Jurkowitz Theatre is wheelchair accessible and has assisted listening headsets. Parking is free and near the theatre. Due to the intimate nature of the theatre, no late seating is permitted.

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