Rorschach Theatre Presents the World Premiere of A BID TO SAVE THE WORLD

From the theatre company that brought you Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and the five-times Helen Hayes nominated Very Still & Hard to See, comes a locally grown world premiere. As its season opening production, Rorschach Theatre presents A Bid to Save the World by Erin Bregman- a funny and moving new play about life without death.

Rorschach will also host a special, one-night-only cabaret performance by Helen Hayes nominated performer Tracy Lynn Olivera during the run of A Bid to Save the World.

A Bid to Save the World begins with three Pay-What-You-Can previews on September 9, 10 and 11 at 8pm. It opens to the press on Monday, September 12 at 8 pm.

Raised in a world without death, best friends Adam and Evelyn study the fine art of dying. In the recent past, a young woman barters for her beloved brother while Death peels oranges. Elsewhere, a rich man seeks to buy world peace, and a song of great sorrow and beauty is sung and sung again. When being immortal is normal, what is the meaning of life without death?

A Bid to Save the World is surprisingly funny for a play about death but it remains moving and poignant in surprising ways. The play is filled with a bold theatrical style that asks for the kind of impossible stagecraft Rorschach is known for: a voyage into the underworld, a strange future in which death does not exist and songs that are heard across time and space. The production will also include six original songs and music throughout, all devised by the ensemble.

Says Producer Jenny McConnell Frederick, "this play is very close to my heart. Like so many of my favorite Rorschach scripts, the first time I read it, I thought...'well, this play is impossible' and I immediately fell in love with it. Erin has constructed this complex interlocking fairytale that is full of whimsy and has a heart of dark wit. I couldn't be more proud to be producing it. "

Erin Bregman's fantastical A Bid to Save the World will have its world premiere after having been developed in DC by both Inkwell Theatre and Source Festival where it received a 5-performance run in 2014.

A Bid to Save the World will be led by local director and Rorschach company member Lee Liebeskind. Liebeskind is one of the founders and a former producing director of The Inkwell, the new play development company that developed A Bid to Save the World in 2013. With Rorschach he most recently directed Glassheart (2014) and last performed in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (2013). He served as a member of the inaugural Directors' Studio with Shakespeare Theatre Company, a professional development program for early-career directors. He is also an artistic advisor at Flying V Theatre, a two-tour veteran of the National Players and a film producer and editor for WILL Interactive.

The cast includes Rorschach Theatre Company Member ChristIan Sullivan (Neverwhere, Truth & Beauty Bombs: A Softer World), Rorschach alumni Natalie Cutcher (Glassheart), Louis E. Davis (She Kills Monsters) and Robert Pike (She Kills Monsters, Truth & Beauty Bombs: A Softer World) as well as Linda Bard, Nahm Darr, Rashard Harrison, Paige O'Malley, Daven Ralston, Jen Rabbitt Ring, Dallas Tolentino, and Tyasia Velines.

The designers include Rorschach company member and Sound Designer Veronica Lancaster whose past designs with Rorschach include Neverwhere, The Gallerist and The Skin of our Teeth, Lighting Designer Katie McCreary (Glassheart and The Electric Baby), Costume Designer Danielle Preston and Props Designer Becky Mezzanotte.

For more information visit http://www.rorschachtheatre.com/directions/

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