Unexpected Stage Company's TRISH TINKLER GETS SAVED Set for Women's Voices Theater Festival

As part of the citywide Women's Voices Theater Festival, Unexpected Stage Company-the fast-growing, Washington, D.C.-area professional theater company-will present the world premiere comedy Trish Tinkler Gets Saved, by Jacqueline Goldfinger. Trish Tinkler Gets Saved follows former Whitesnake groupie Trish as she waits for a visit from a divine presence at the Eat 'n' Save mini-mart. The production is running October 8 through 18, 2015, at Randolph Road Theater, 4010 Randolph Road, Wheaton, MD (the former home of Round House).

General admission tickets are priced $16 to $27.50, and are on sale via phone at 800-838-3006, online atwww.unexpectedstage.org/tickets, and subject to availability at the door. For information, please call 301-337-8290 or visitwww.unexpectedstage.org/tickets.

This daring new comedy begins as die-hard Whitesnake groupie Trish Trinkler, abandoned by the band's tour bus, finds her way to an Eat 'n' Save mini-mart--a convenience store run illegally by power couple Rhonda and Jan, a former stripper and a woman who dresses like a bear. The store offers the promise of a new beginning if Trish can convince them to let her stay. But how does she do that? Will the divine presence of Dave Coverdale return to save his most dedicated groupie? Will the corporate suits discover that Jan and Rhonda are selling goods that fell off the back of a K-Mart truck? And what is up with all of those Rolos? This marks the first world-premiere for Unexpected Stage, a theater known for staging thought-provoking works such as last year's critically acclaimed production of Kooman and Dimond's Dani Girl (nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards) and productions such as Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van (2013) and David Johnston's Candy and Dorothy (2011), both Helen Hayes Awards recommended.

"The comedy of this play is as shocking and jarring as the drama is touching and inspired. Haven't we all found an ending we didn't want to confront? Haven't the vast majority found a way forward? This is a celebration of moving forward," says director Christopher Goodrich, who serves as Unexpected Stage Company's co-artistic director with Rachel Stroud-Goodrich.

For playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger, "Inspiration struck for Trish almost three years ago. I was pregnant with my twins and hanging out in the playground with a friend's kids. A 40-something woman rounded the corner of the playground. Still dressed from, what must have been, a monster party the night before - six inch heels, enormous hair, spray-on tan - she looked like she'd lived long and hard but now was a little lost, at loose ends. When Unexpected Stage approached me about writing a full-length play for the Festival, I suggested that we explore this woman's story. Too much comedy is about hate and denigration of character; it's easy, cheap and mean. We hope that we have created a piece that is full of laughter and heart and hope."

Jacqueline Goldfinger's (Playwright) work has been produced nationally at theaters including Seattle Public, Azuka, Manhattan Theatre Works, North Coast Rep, Penobscot, Flashpoint, Acadiana Rep, and BTE. Her original full-length plays include Skin and Bone, Slip/Shot, The Oath, The Terrible Girls, and The Burning Season. She's won Best New Play at the Philadelphia Critics Awards, the Brown Martin Award, Outstanding New Play at the Barrymore Awards, and the National New Play for the 21st Century Award as well as been nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Haas Award, and the Weissberger Award (2010). She co-Founded The Foundry, an emerging playwrights lab in Philadelphia, and sits on the Advisory Boards for Orbiter 3, and the Director's Gathering. She teaches playwriting at the University of Pennsylvania and University of the Arts. For more information: jacquelinegoldfinger.com

Heather Helinsky (Dramaturg) is a freelance dramaturg based in Philadelphia, developing new work and world premieres with over 25 playwrights this fall. Regionally, she has worked at the ART, Borderlands, Philadelphia Theatre Company, PICT Classic Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, and many others. She has also developed new works through NNPN, The Kennedy Center, The Lark, PlayPenn, and Great Plains Theatre Conference, among others. She has
mentored emerging dramaturgs at KCACTF, regionally and nationally. She has been a Visiting Professor of Dramaturgy at Carnegie Mellon and University of Arizona and currently advises MA students for Brooklyn College. MFA in Dramaturgy from the A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard. www.helinskydramaturgy.com

Kristen Jepperson (Trish) is known to DC audiences as an actor, harpist, and set designer. Amanda Spellman plays Jan andRachael Murray plays Rhonda. The production team includes Robert Pike (Sound Designer), Kathleen Miller (Set Design/Construction), William Fleming (Fight Choreographer), Gary Hauptman (Lighting Designer), and John Barbee (Prop Design).

The Women's Voices Theater Festival, which boasts participation from more than 50 theaters throughout the Nation's Capital region, is dedicated to featuring new work by female playwrights and highlighting the scope of plays being written by women.

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