Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: David Mong (801) 363-0526
Email: mong@saltlakeactingcompany.org
Salt Lake Acting Company presents the world premiere of BILLION DOLLAR BABY by SLAC Resident Playwright Julie Jensen.
Recommended for mature audiences.
Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) is pleased to present the world premiere of BILLION DOLLAR BABY, a one-woman comedy by Utah native and SLAC Resident Playwright Julie Jensen. BILLION DOLLAR BABY will have preview performances November 7th and 8th with the Press Opening on Friday, November 9th at 8:00 PM at The Salt Lake Acting Company. BILLION DOLLAR BABY is scheduled to play Wednesdays through Sundays through December 2, 2007.
Jere Hodgin, current Artistic Director of Idaho Repertory Theatre and professor at the University of Idaho, will direct. This will be the fifth play by Julie Jensen Jere Hodgin has directed. The design team will be SLAC Producing Director and Resident Designer Keven Myhre- Set; James M. Craig- Lights; K. L. Alberts- Costume Design and Cynthia L. Kehr Rees- Sound. The one-woman play features SLAC veteran Dee Macaluso (ICE GLEN, SATURDAY'S VOYEUR 2006 and MEMORY OF WATER). Sarah Mohr will be the Production Stage Manager.
BILLION DOLLAR BABY by Julie Jensen was given a workshop production by Idaho Repertory Theatre andUniversity of Idaho in Moscow, ID, February, 2007, directed by Jere Hodgin, starring Patty Duke. It was also given a staged reading at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis MN, April, 2007, dramaturged by Polly Carl, directed by Tracy Ward, starring Sally Wingert. The world premiere of BILLION DOLLAR BABY at the Salt Lake Acting Company is supported as a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays grant.
BILLION DOLLAR BABY is Julie Jensen's inimitable take on the "conspicuously consumptive" act of "obsessive parenting", a generational look at the new rules of childrearing. The comic play offers up a few days in the life of Polly Parchment, theatre writer for a local newspaper and grandmother to her son's worshipped three year-old daughter, Bernie, the "Azure" child. Bernie, from her parents' point of view, is the future of the human race and the serious work of giving over one's life in the effort cannot be taken lightly. Polly is currently working on a piece about one-person plays, the shrinking of the theatrical canvas and what that may mean, but, it must take a backseat to the epiphanal event of Bernie turning four. Polly's son and daughter-in-law enlist her aid in watching the little genius as they prepare for the most important event in the world, although with grave trepidation. Polly has not always exhibited the appropriate "maturity" when tending Bernie.
Polly is stunned by her once fearless son's obsessive preoccupation with ever-looming, outside-massing danger in the face of raising his precocious daughter. He visits websites dedicated to tracking predators. He's convinced there is a "pedophilia cartel". He buys copious equipment to keep this golden child safe. His wife, Doreen, is relentlessly "evolved" and isn't shy in passing along her accumulated wisdom. She is convinced that Bernie has had many former lives and mustn't be thwarted with small-minded acts of discipline. "An Azure child must not be frightened or physically traumatized. She must be kept safe and free". Free to bang silverware on the table at a restaurant. Free to choose her meals (usually Kit Kats, gummy bears and green Jell-O powder) from her own food-on-demand diet, free to choose her own bedtime, even her preferred parenting style! If it is true that the younger generation has been imprinted with the need to "improve" upon the preceding wisdom, Julie Jensen is asserting that turn around is fair play. Do we go too far in trying to keep our children safe and smart and "successful"? Are we giving away part of their humanity from overprotection and insularity? Julie Jensen has cast her unique and entertaining eye on the phenomenon and delivered a fascinating and funny treatise on parents and parents of parents in the 21st century.
JULIE JENSEN (Playwright) was reared in Beaver, Utah. She has a Ph.D. in theatre from Wayne State University inDetroit, and has taught playwriting at seven different colleges and universities. She worked as a writer in Hollywood for five years and until recently directed the graduate playwriting program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. She is now Resident Playwright at Salt Lake Acting Company. BILLION DOLLAR BABY is the sixth full-length play of Jensen's to be produced by SLAC. Others include WHITE MONEY, LAST LISTS OF MY MAD MOTHER, TWO-HEADED, WAIT!, and DUST EATERS. This is also the fifth play of hers to be directed by Jere Hodgin, although his first at SLAC. Jensen is the recipient of the Kennedy Center Award for New American Plays for WHITE MONEY, the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work for THE LOST VEGAS SERIES, and the LA Weekly Award for Best New Play for TWO-HEADED. She has received the McKnight National Playwriting Fellowship for WAIT!, the TCG/NEA Playwriting Residency for WAIT!, and a major grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts for DUST EATERS. She has won the Mill Mountain Theatre Playwriting Competition three times for TENDER HOOKS, LAST LISTS OF MY MAD MOTHER and TWO-HEADED. Her play, TWO-HEADED, was included in the volume Best Plays by Women, 2000, and she has twice been nominated by the American Theatre Critics Association for the best new play produced outside of New York for LAST LISTS OF MY MAD MOTHER and DUST EATERS and twice a finalist for the PEN USA Award in Playwriting for TWO-HEADED and DUST EATERS. Her work has been produced in London and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as in this country in New York and theatres nationwide. She has been commissioned by Mark Taper Forum, ASK Theatre Projects, Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Salt Lake Acting Company, Geva Theatre, and Philadelphia Theatre Company. Her work is published by Dramatic Publishing, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Inc., and Smith and Kraus.Recent productions of Jensen's plays include: LAST LISTS OF MY MAD MOTHER at Theatre Artists Studio in Phoenix, AZ, TWO-HEADED at Cleveland Public Theatre in Cleveland, OH, Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA, and Black Cat Theatre in St. Louis, MO, and DUST EATERS at Borderlands Theater in Tucson, AZ.
JERE HODGIN (Director) is an MFA graduate in Acting and Directing from the University of Georgia with over 20 years experience in professional theatre and 10 years experience in academic theatre. He has produced over 200 productions, many of which were new and premiere works, and his directing career includes more than 175 plays, operas, and musicals. Scripts he has written and adapted include CASTLEWALK, A CHRISTMAS CAROL (two versions-musical and non-musical), THE SHINIEST ROCK OF ALL, and THE CHRISTMAS CUP. For 20 years he was the Producing Artistic Director of Mill Mountain Theatre where he founded the nationally recognized Norfolk Southern New Play Festival. Jere served as Artistic Director and Co-Producer of Highlands Playhouse in NC and has directed at numerous theatres including Walnut Street Theatre, The Barter Theatre, and Wayside Theatre. He has directed at Shenandoah Playwright's Retreat, Missoula Writer's Colony, and The Phoenix Theatre New Play Festival. He has served as a National Endowment for the Arts site visitor and has been a member of the NEA Creativity Panel multiple years. He has also been a regional panelist for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, as well as theatre panelist for the SC and NC Arts Councils. Jere is a past president of the Southeastern Theatre Conference where he also chaired the Playwriting Committee. He currently serves as Vice-President of the board of The National Alliance for Musical Theatre for which he has been co-chair of New Works and member of the Festival of New Works committee. He has been a reader and judge for numerous national new play contests and competitions. He is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Actor's Equity Association, Theatre Communications Group and the National Theatre Conference. He received the Perry F. Kendig Award in recognition of his efforts to champion the arts in Southwestern Virginia and was named the 1999 Citizen of the Year in Roanoke, Virginia. Jere is currently a professor at University of Idahoand Artistic Director of Idaho Repertory Theatre.
SLAC NOTES:
FIRST SUNDAY MATINEE POST-PLAY DISCUSSION: Sunday, November 11th, 2007 following the matinee performance, with Playwright Julie Jensen, hosted by SLAC Literary Manager David Mong in the Upstairs theatre.
2ND WEDNESDAY PRESHOW PRESENTATION: Wednesday, November 14th at 7:00pm, an introduction to the play by Playwright Julie Jensen and SLAC's Valerie Kittel and Cynthia Fleming.
NEW PLAY SOUNDING SERIES: Monday, November 19, 2007 at 7:00 PM
New plays, new voices. Theatre unplugged.
THE RANT by Andrew Case
A young African-American man is shot and killed by the New York City police. His mother swears it is cold-blooded murder. The white cop swears it's a "good kill". His black partner is strangely withholding. An investigator for a civilian board of inquiry and a reporter attempt to unravel the incident. A searing, breathtakingly complex look at the headline we see nearly every day in this country and think we understand.
Free Staged Readings and Talk Backs. Be a part of theatre in the making.
Sponsored by American Express and the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts, and Parks Program
SATURDAY MATINEE POSTPLAY DISCUSSION: Saturday, December 1st following the Matinee performance, hosted by SLAC Dramaturg Mike Dorrell.
Salt Lake Acting Company will host a Community Fund Drive throughout the run of BILLION DOLLAR BABY. We will be accepting money donations to the Utah Food Bank's KIDS CAF'E and the Maliheh Free Clinic's PEDIATRIC CARE. This is to help provide basics for children who may go without.
The Salt Lake Acting Company is holding a fundraiser performance of BILLION DOLLAR BABY Tuesday, November 17th at 7:30pm to aid SLAC in the commissioning and development of new plays. For more information call the box office at 363-SLAC.
Salt Lake Acting Company
168 West 500 North, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103
FACT SHEET
SLAC PRODUCTION BILLION DOLLAR BABY
PLAYWRIGHT Julie Jensen
DIRECTOR Jere Hodgin
CAST Dee Macaluso
UNDERSTUDY Annette Wright
SET DESIGN Keven Myhre
LIGHT DESIGN James M. Craig
COSTUME DESIGN K. L. Alberts
SOUND DESIGN Cynthia L. Kehr Rees
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Sarah Mohr
DATES
Previews: November 7th & 8th , 2007
Opening: November 9, 2007
Closing: December 2, 2007
TIMES
Previews: Wed & Thurs- 7:30PM
Regular: Wed & Thurs- 7:30PM
Fri & Sat- 8:00PM
Sun- 2:00PM & 7:00PM
Sat. Matinee: Sat. December 1, 2007 - 2:00PM
TICKETS $13 - $34, students/30 & under/senior discounts available.
BOX OFFICE (801) 363-SLAC (7522) (Mon-Fri- 10:00AM to 6:00PM) or www.saltlakeactingcompany.org to buy online.
David Mong
Literary Manager/Media Relations
Salt Lake Acting Company
168 West 500 North, Salt Lake City, UT 84103
Admin: (801)363-0526