Pepperdine Theatre to Present THE THREEPENNY OPERA

The Pepperdine University Fine Arts Division Theatre Department will present Bertolt Brecht's groundbreaking musical The Threepenny Opera at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6 through Friday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, April 9, at the Malibu campus' Smothers Theatre.

Tickets, priced at $15 for the public, $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, and $12 for Pepperdine faculty and staff, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522 or online at http://arts.pepperdine.edu/. More information: http://arts.pepperdine.edu/performances/theatre.htm

The Threepenny Opera tells the story of Macheath, a notorious London gangster, whose marriage to Polly Peachum threatens to undermine London's Union of Beggars, run by Polly's father. Without this trailblazing musical, which produced the hit song "Mack the Knife," the political musicals of Stephen Sondheim, Kander and Ebb, and others might not have been possible. The Pepperdine Theatre Program is excited to present The Threepenny Opera for the first time, with funding provided in part by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc.

Pepperdine Professor of Theatre Bradley Griffin directs the Pepperdine student cast which features Sarah Barney, Olive Bieni, Chris Bozzini, Will Craig, Dylan Forehand, Parker Johnson, Tasia Jungbauer, Brittany King, Isabel Klein, Kate Klimist, Caroline Pitts, Michael Mossucco, Jalon Matthews, Audrey McKee, Julian Ortega, Sarah Roach, Brooks Robinson, Kailee Rogers, Mathew San Jose, and Aidan Turner.

The music and message of The Threepenny Opera "have the capacity to broaden the way we define our "neighbors," whether locally or globally," says director Bradley Griffin.

Brecht infused this musical with elements of "epic theatre," which juxtaposes historical subjects with a radically deconstructed approach. "Brecht never wanted his audiences to get so caught up in the illusion of the theatre that they would forget to think critically about what they were seeing," says Griffin. "Threepenny uses the music to comment on the action of the play, rather than to amplify the emotion of the scene. Politically-charged musicals like Kander and Ebb's Chicago, Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, or Hollmann and Kotis' more recent social satire Urinetown would not have been possible without Brecht and Weill."

This play contains strong language and adult themes, appropriate for ages 13 and up. There will be a free pre-performance conversation with the director on Friday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Surfboard Room at Payson Library.

The Threepenny Opera is presented as part of Pepperdine's Mary Pickford-Stotsenberg Performances series, through special arrangement with R & H Theatricals.

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