Sound Theatre Company to Present David Ives' THE SCHOOL FOR LIES, Begin. 8/7

Sound Theatre Company will launch into raunch and ruffles this summer with the Seattle premiere of The School for Lies by David Ives, co-directed by Teresa Thuman and Ken Michels. This saucy update of Molière's The Misanthrope by Tony Award-nominated David Ives (Venus in Fur) stuffs contemporary off-color slang into the classic baroque farce, in which rivals scheme romance to expose a notorious cynic. A few cunning lies set party girl Celimene and acerbic wit Frank up for battle and sex. Misbehavior, gossip, glamour and scandal reign in this clowning burlesque written in rhymed couplets.

The School for Lies is the second production in Sound Theatre Company's 2014 season, a collection of three Seattle premieres that examine The Language of Love and Hate. Each play explores how we express, fail to express, or inhibit expression of these most fundamental human emotions, and the consequences of each. The production features the return of several Sound Theatre Company audience favorites, including Frank Lawler (Holiday of Errors, The Illusion, Pygmalion) as the misanthropic Frank, and Page Byers (Top Girls), as the romantically scheming Celimene. Also returning are Marianna de Fazio (Holiday of Errors, The Foreigner), Matthew Gilbert (Compleat Works/Abridged), Corey Spruill (Dogg's Hamlet), and Alysha Curry (The Foreigner). New faces include Dylan Smith, Paul Barrois, and Henry James Walker.

Lighting design is by the Gypsy Award-recognized Richard Schaefer, with set design by Suzi Tucker, costume designs by Linnaea Boone Wilson, sound design by Josh Blaisdell, and prop designs are by Tucker and Ashley Banker. Original music compositions are by Jesse Smith.

The School for Lies opens on Saturday, August 9 for a limited run at Center Theatre at the Seattle Center Armory, 305 Harrison St. with preview performances on August 7 and 8. Tickets are $25, $15 for students, and pay-what-you-can performances on May 29, June 9, and June 16.

The School for Lies was first performed in 2011 at Classic Stage Company in New York City.

David Ives first came to wide notice in the theatre with his one-act plays, including the popular anthology All In The Timing, winner of the Outer Critics Circle Playwriting Award. His full-length plays include Venus in Fur, The Liar (adapted from Corneille's comedy), New Jerusalem, Is He Dead? (adapted from Mark Twain), Irving Berlin's White Christmas, and Don Juan in Chicago. A former Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting and a graduate of Yale School of Drama, he lives in New York City. He is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Teresa Thuman founded Sound Theatre Company in 2006, for which she has directed productions of The Illusion, The Foreigner, Pygmalion, Compleat Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The Tempest, Troilus and Cressida, Top Girls, The Last Five Years, The Further Adventures of Anse and Bhule in No-Mans Land and The Belle of Amherst. She has also directed locally for GreenStage, Seattle Musical Theatre, Bainbridge Performing Arts, and Second Story Repertory, among others. Regionally, she has directed at Central Coast Shakespeare Festival, and Centerpoint Theatre Group, and served as Assistant Director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Teresa has taught at UW School of Drama PATP, UNC Chapel Hill, Shoreline Community College, Cornish College, George Fox University, Freehold ETI and served eight years as an Artist-in-Residence at PCPA Theatrefest.

Ken Michels has contributed his expertise in physical comedy and clowning to many Sound Theatre Productions, and has directed for Bainbridge Performing Arts, Greenstage, Mount Baker Repertory Theatre, and SecondStory Repertory.

The School for Lies is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service.

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