Wordplay! World Premiere of WHERE WORDS ONCE WERE Headed to Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents Where Words Once Were, a wordplay-filled world premiere commission from playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer, directed by Colin Hovde. The production, most appropriate for patrons age nine and up, is part of the Kennedy Center's Theater for Young Audiences 2016-2017 season, and will run November 5 through November 27, 2016.

Orhan, played by Chris Lane, lives in a world where words are both very precious and very dangerous. Only 1,000 of them can exist, and people who disobey the rules lose their right to speak and be spoken of. When Orhan accidently takes a pen from school, he sets in motion an adventure to reclaim lost words.

Lane will be joined onstage by D.C. favorites Alina Collins Maldonado, Regina Aquino Smith, Tony Nam, and Marcus Kyd.

The creative team includes scenic design by Andrew R. Cohen, projection design by Patrick Lord, lighting design by Mary Keegan, costume design by Danielle Preston, sound design by Matthew Nielson, with dramaturgy by Jonathan Shmidt Chapman.

Playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer has had 79 commissioned plays performed on five continents and translated into six languages. He has previously delighted young audiences at the Kennedy Center's IRELAND 100 Festival with The Girl Who Forgot to Sing Badly. A recipient of the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, Kruckemeyer will have 30 plays (including nine premieres) presented worldwide this year, with productions in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and throughout the United States.

Colin Hovde is the Producing Artistic Director of Theater Alliance. He holds a BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is a member of SDC. His directing credits include: Theater Alliance: Going to a Place Where You Already Are, Spark, The Wonderful World of Dissocia, In On It, How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found, Hum; Imagination Stage: A Year with Frog and Toad; Adventure Theatre MTC: Stuart Little; Rustaveli Theatre: euphoria: something better is coming; Washington Shakespeare Company: Mary Stuart, House of Yes; Rorschach Theatre: Dream Sailors; Washington Savoyards: Man of La Mancha; Solas Nua: Made in China; Perseverance Theatre: Tape and The Last Five Years.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the national champion for arts learning and creativity. Committed to increasing opportunities for all people to participate in, learn about, and understand the arts, Education at the Kennedy Center offers programs and events that strive to reflect the nation and communities and that are accessible and inclusive for all. From performances and exhibits on the Center's stages and in the community, to classroom and community partnerships, including the recent addition of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities Turnaround Arts initiative, to online resources accessible nearly anywhere, the Center serves the burgeoning artist, the exploring student of any age, the teacher and teaching artist, and even the local and national infrastructure-any person interested in arts learning and utilizing the arts for positive change. As an essential component of the living memorial to President Kennedy, the Center's Education utilizes the arts to embrace the ideals of service, justice, freedom, courage, and gratitude, and to activate and support the Citizen Artists in all our audiences. For more information, visit kennedy-center.org/education.

Where Words Once Were will be performed from November 5, 2016 through November 27, 2016. Tickets for the performance are $20 and are currently on sale. For more information please visit the Kennedy Center website, in-person at the Kennedy Center box office, or call (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324.

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