CSULA’s Recession Theatre Collective presents four original plays
Los Angeles, CA -- Recession Theatre Collective (RTC)—a new theatre company created as part of the California State University, Los Angeles’ Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Television, Film, and Theatre (TVFT) program—will present four original plays on April 12, 13, 19 and 20 in the University’s Arena Theatre.
A culmination of its year-long focus on live theatre, the MFA first-year cohort consists of actors, writers and directors, many of whom are professionals who returned to school in midcareer to pursue an MFA degree.
The four student-written plays to be performed include The Good by Randee Trabitz, Rob, Ronnie, Rob by Margaret Viola, Silenced Screams by Marcela Toledo, and Water Under the Bridge by Martin Horvat. The plays will be directed by Candice Clasby, Evan Nelson, Leah Brown and Todd Leiser, respectively. Other RTC members include Kristin Mellian, Ryan Pest, Lainie Escovedo, Claudia Mercado, Charles Ortiz, and Andrea Slominski; all of the students are working toward their MFA.
Supervising the theatre endeavor are CSULA faculty members Meredith Greenburg and Stephen Rothman. Both Greenburg and Rothman are in their 13th year serving as professors of theatre at Cal State L.A. Greenburg is a long-time member of Actors’ Equity and a highly sought-after production/stage manager in Los Angeles for both The Los Angeles Opera and The Hollywood Bowl. Rothman is an award-winning director who has served as founder and artistic leader of the revitalized Pasadena Playhouse, artistic director of the Sacramento Theatre Company, and producing director of Pennsylvania Center Stage.
The Good - As America runs up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, what it is to embody The Good becomes an urgent conversation for a philosophy professor and his two students: one an Iraqi refugee and the other an innercity kid who joined the National Guard to pay his student loans.
Silenced Screams - Persecuted, attacked and even butchered, journalists and Mexican media face two common enemies: the drug cartels and the authorities who have been savagely isolating society, annihilating freedom of expression and the right to be informed.
Water Under the Bridge - A man and a woman find themselves atop a bridge trying to end their lives. They will both leave the bridge. But, in what way?
Rob, Ronnie, Rob - In desperation, a failed ex-Hollywood child star tries to become a robber, but he even fails at that.
Performance Schedule:
Friday, April 12, 8 p.m. - The Good
Saturday, April 13, 2 p.m. - Silenced Screams
Saturday, April 13, 8 p.m. - Water Under the Bridge and Rob, Ronnie, Rob
Friday, April 19, 8 p.m. - Water Under the Bridge and Rob, Ronnie, Rob
Saturday, April 20, 2 p.m. - Silenced Screams
Saturday, April 20, 8 p.m. - The Good
The Arena Theater is located in the Music Building on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, California 90032. The University is just a five-minute drive east of the Los Angeles Music Center.
Free to the public. For more information, please contact Marcela Toledo, RTC media relations, (734) 757-7974, or [email protected].
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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 225,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu