'my new friends' Comes to Seattle's Theatre Off Jackson March 12-14

Nancy is an outgoing, witty, worldly person who is popular but who reserves the right to define herself on her own terms. Gwen is a woman who has not quite found herself in her career or in motherhood. Between these former friends stands the memory of a teenage girl whose attempt at making friends online ended in tragedy. But that is not the end of the story.

This project began with overlapping events: An invitation to create a new work as a resident artist at New City Theater in Seattle; the appearance of several news articles and blogs on the subject of cyber-bullying; seeing Mike Daisey's How Theater Failed America; and joining an online social network.

The first two events provided a place to work and an inspiration. The third was a reminder to only do work that matters--to us, and to the audience with which we hope to share it. The fourth offered a daily glimpse into the social needs and activities of hundreds of people we thought we knew.

This project is about identity and popularity, and how the two interlock. The objective at every phase of the writing and editing, and later in rehearsal, was to get at the heart of our need to attract the affection and admiration of others. This process, of assembling and presenting ourselves to one another, is timeless. Its expression in a technological age makes it transparent in some ways, yet still mysterious. Above all, it is becoming clear that no matter how much power we have to redesign and rename and represent ourselves, our nature remains essentially the same: we are creatures in need of both privacy and social connection, and when we are received in a manner we didn't intend, there is a disruption in our feelings about who and what we are.

"Bit by bit the personalities and family histories are revealed. Bit by bit, the horror of it all grows stronger. Gradually, as the story evolves, one is overwhelmed with the understanding of the harm that can be done on the Internet. Rowe quietly, with no histrionics, draws the audience deeper and deeper into the tale and lays bare its emotional power." --Nancy Worssam, The Seattle Times

S.P. Miskowski (playwright) earned an M.F.A. in Playwriting at the University of Washington and received two NEA Fellowships, for short fiction and playwriting. She's been commissioned by ACT Theatre three times as part of the FirstACT program, and her scripts have been produced by UW, Seattle Theater Project, Youth Theater Northwest and 14/48 the World's Quickest Theater Festival. She has had workshops and staged readings of plays at GEVA and Cherry Lane Alternative in New York. This is her third time working with her brilliant friend and collaborator Morgan Rowe.

Morgan Rowe (collaborator/performer) is a great fan of facebook. It keeps her connected to all her friends from College, The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. She also stays in touch with actors and teachers that she has worked with in Chicago, Florida, Cleveland, NYC, and Norfolk, Virginia (her hometown, where she started acting with her Mom and Dad at the ripe old age of six.) facebook lets her brag to everyone she knows about her recent "Broadway" debut at the New Victory Theater on 42nd St. where she represented The Seattle Children's Theater in their production of The Green Sheep. She also posts notices about her past local endeavors at various theaters including, ACT, 14/48, the world's quickest theater festival, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and many wonderful productions at S.C.T. Lately Morgan has been updating her status to reflect the incredible joy she feels working with S.P. Miskowski. This is their third production together, their first as collaborators. Previously, Morgan played HELP The Red Room at Victor Hugo House, and Paula in The Mae West Fest's 2007 production of Daughters of Catastrophe.

"my new friends (are so much better than you)" was originally presented as a resident artist production by Open Heart Productions in association with New City Theater.

SPF is Seattle's annual solo performance theatre festival, and is dedicated to presenting fearless, cutting-edge, diverse performances by solo theatre artists. SPF (Solo Performance Festival) strives to create a resonance in the community by illuminating the compelling nature of solo performance that exists between just one performer on stage and an entire audience.

SPF:3 - Apply Liberally continues to take risks. This year we are partnering with:

* Local theater, dance and performance artists including both first time solo performers and veterans in "Shorties! An Evening of Short Solo Performance" (Wed-Thur Mar 4-5, 8PM)
* San Francisco's James Judd returns to SPF with "7 Sins" (Fri-Sat Mar. 6-7, 8PM)
* The Burlesque Community: "xxperience Boylesque" curated by and featuring Waxie Moon (Fri-Sat Mar 13-14, 10PM)
* Local playwright S.P. Miskowski's "my new friends (are so much better than you)" featuring Morgan Rowe (Thur-Sat Mar 12-14, 8PM)
* People's Republic of Komedy presents "Theatre of Pain" (Fri-Sat Mar 13-14, 10PM)
* Local playwright Keri Healey's "Otter Pop" featuring Keira McDonald (Thur-Sat Mar 19-21, 8PM)
* "xxplicit" by Seattle's gender-bending queer boylesque performer (Thur-Sat Mar 19-21, 8PM)
* London, Ontario's J. McDonald presents his third show at SPF, "Fall Fair" (Thur-Sat Mar 19-21, 8PM)

 

 

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