OHIO PREMIERE JOINS NIGHT OF COMEDY TO MARK FINALE OF DAEDALUS' SOPHOMORE SEASON
One-acts from David Ives' All in the Timing paired with Oh Nancy! by Dawson Moore for summer double featureCOLUMBUS, OH (July 7, 2010)—Theatre Daedalus is thrilled to present a night of comedies this August with selections from David Ives' hilarious short plays, ALL IN THE TIMING, and the Ohio premiere of OH NANCY!, a new romantic romp by Alaskan playwright Dawson Moore. The summer comedy double feature, directed by Jeremy Sony, will be presented during a limited engagement at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Ave, August 13-21, to close out the company's second season.
"One of our goals for the season was to produce a night of pure comedy to round out our dramatic offerings," Artistic Director Jaclyn Villano said. "Premiering OH NANCY! alongside ALL IN THE TIMING continues to fulfill Theatre Daedalus' mission of presenting new work as well as showcasing established playwrights. We feel that combined, they make for an excellent summer theatrical experience."
First up for the evening is Ives' ALL IN THE TIMING, a contemporary comedy classic. The collection of one-acts opens with SURE THING, where two people meet in a cafe and find their way through a conversational minefield as an offstage bell interrupts their false starts, gaffes, and faux pas on the way to falling in love. The laughs continue with WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, which recalls the philosophical adage that three monkeys typing into infinity will sooner or later produce Hamlet. What goes on in that writer's room is revealed by Ives' deft comic play. Next stop is THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, which brings together Dawn, a young woman with a stutter, and Don, the creator and teacher of Unamunda, the world's newest language. Their lesson sends them off into a wild display of verbal pyrotechnics—and, of course, true love. From there, Ives takes us into THE PHILADELPHIA where a young man in a restaurant falls into a Twilight Zone-like state in which he cannot get anything he asks for. The series concludes with VARIATIONS ON THE DEATH OF TROTSKY, which shows the Russian revolutionary on the day of his demise, desperately trying to cope with the mountain-climber's axe he's discovered in his skull.
The second feature of the night is the Ohio premiere of OH NANCY!. In Moore's new comedy, a friendly dinner with an ex disintegrates into an hysterical battle between suitors for the affections of one woman. The play has been featured in theater festivals around the country and was most recently staged at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Alaska, where it came to the attention of Villano and ALL IN THE TIMING director, Sony.
"We already had a great night of theater in Ives' comedies," said Sony, "but when we saw OH NANCY!, we knew it would be a perfect compliment to ALL IN THE TIMING. Dawson's comedic language and sense of timing blend very well with Ives' shows. We're excited to be granted permission to premiere this play in Ohio, and we think it will be well received by our audiences."
The evening features Daedalus company members Dale Bush, Michael Parsons, and Kim Sanders, alongside frequent Daedalus guest artists John Grote, Jeff Kemeter, and Laila Newell.
Theatre Daedalus is rapidly becoming old hands at premiering new plays. Their first premiere of a full-length production was Villano's UNANSWERED, WE RIDE this past November. Their short play festival PROJECT 10 unveiled new works from the Daedalus writers in 2008 and 2009, and the troupe's 24 and 48 hour play festivals (TRIPLE PLAY, CAUGHT IN THE ACT) featured new work conceived, created, and performed over one weekend. Their tradition will continue with Playwright in Residence Michael Parsons' 29 BELLS, a full-length play that will open in November. 29 BELLS will launch the company's third season.
"It's been a fantastic two years," Parsons said. "In the past year as Playwright in Residence, I've had the chance to work with playwrights from around the country, talented actors and designers, and I've been given a chance to create new work. ALL IN THE TIMING and OH NANCY! are a great close to our season—and we think next year will be even better."
ALL IN THE TIMING and OH NANCY will be presented together at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, August 13, 14; 7 p.m. Sunday, August 15; and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, August 20, 21, in the Van Fleet Theater at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Avenue. Tickets are Pay What You Can at the door, or you can purchase seats in advance online. Advanced tickets cost $15. Call 614-787-0327 or visit www.theatredaedalus.com for more information.
About the Playwrights
DAVID IVES was born in Chicago and educated at Northwestern University and Yale School of Drama. A former Guggenheim Foundation Fellow in playwriting, he is probably best known for his evenings of one-act comedies. His short plays are collected in two anthologies, ALL IN THE TIMING (Vintage) and TIME FLIES (Grove). His full-length theatre works are available in POLISH JOKE AND OTHER PLAYS (Grove). He is also the author of two young-adult novels, "Monsieur Eek" and "Scrib." Most recently, he translated Georges Feydeau's classic French farce A FLEA IN HER EAR for which he won a Jefferson Award for Best Adaptation and a Prince Prize for New Work. He lives in New York City.
DAWSON MOORE is an award-winning playwright, director, teacher, and actor. He works for Prince William Sound Community College as the Coordinator of their Playwriting AFA degree and the annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference. He began writing plays in 1994. His work has been produced in New York City (Off-Broadway), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Alaska, Texas, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, and Virginia. Bile in the Afterlife was produced in 2003 in Bologne, Italy. He has won national playwriting awards for his short comedies The Peach, Burning, The Bus, Bile in the Afterlife, and Domestic Companion. The companies who have staged his work include TBA Theatre, Kokopelli Theatre Company, Theatre Artists Conspiracy, Three Wise Monkeys, Unidentified Theatre Company, Reston Community Players, Impact Theatre, Bellingham Theatre Guild, UAA Theatre & Dance, Circle East, Fairbanks Drama Association, Eccentric Theatre Company, Bradley University, Prince William Sound Community College, Eureka Theatre Company, Expanded Arts Theatre, 78th Street Studio Theatre, Las Positas College, Theatro del Naville, Isis Arts Collective, Nearly Stellar Entertainment, Love Creek Productions, Playwrights Center of San Francisco, Venue 9, TOAST, the Rough Theatre Company, Two Spoons Theatre Company, Northwest Playwrights Alliance, Theatre Limina, Alleyway Theatre, Java Theatre, the University of Idaho, and the Mid-America Theatre Conference. His other plays include LibidOFF; Happy Loving Couples are a Thing of the Past; Secret Stuffing; Alyson and the Great Bagel Mistake; The Fears of Harold Shivvers; Living with the Savage; Oh, Nancy!; In a Red Sea; Laundry Day; Love's Lumberings Remembered; Skid Marks; The Tie; and The War of Virginia and Alabama. He is a member of the Anchorage-based theatre company Three Wise Moose, who produce new works by Alaska's playwrights, including the Alaska Overnighters, which to date has produced 132 new plays by 38 different writers. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and is on-line at www.dawsonmoore.com.
About Theatre Daedalus
Founded in 2008 by Michael Parsons, Jeremy Sony, and Jaclyn Villano, Theatre Daedalus believes in the power of theater to educate and entertain. To that end, we seek to develop original plays, cultivate theatrical awareness in the community, and present thought-provoking works for the stage. As a theater founded by writers, we are committed to showcasing gifted new playwrights as well as paying homage to established masters of the craft. Theatre Daedalus collaborates with exceptional, diverse artists to bring powerful theatrical experiences to its audience. For more information, please visit www.theatredaedalus.com.
