NEW ORLEANS (August 7, 2014) - Southern Rep Theatre is pleased to announce new details about the first show in its 2014-15 Mainstage Season: BROOMSTICK by John Biguenet. BROOMSTICK will open October 4, 2014 and run through November 2, 2014 at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center. Previews will run October 1-3, 2014.

 

"We are thrilled to bring the wonderfully wicked and hilarious BROOMSTICK to the Ashé Cultural Arts Center's stage. The intimate space will be the perfect place for our protagonist's story - just like you've stepped right on to her front porch!"
- Aimée Hayes, Producing Artistic Director

Noted film and theatre actress Liann Pattison will play the featured role in the one woman production, and Amy Holtcamp will direct. This will be the Regional Premiere of BROOMSTICK, Southern Rep has previously produced the World Premiere of John Biguenet's The Rising Water Trilogy from 2007 through 2012.

 

BROOMSTICK will Southern Rep's first 2014-15 Mainstage production in a Season focused on productions that share the stories of, and about, Louisianans.

LISTING INFORMATION
Regional Premiere
BROOMSTICK
By John Biguenet
Directed by Amy Holtcamp
Featuring Liann Pattison

 

October 4 - November 2, 2014 (Previews October 1 - 3)
Performances: 8:00 pm/Sunday Matinees: 3:00 pm
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113

 

In a remote cabin deep in the woods, an old crone spins a spellbinding tale about her life, her love affairs, and her cursed reputation. Mischievously funny, dark, and just in time for Halloween, BROOMSTICK is the story of one woman who hovers in the shadowy space between good and evil, fantasy and reality, and who, some say, may be a little too hungry for justice.

 

 

TICKETS:
$40/$35 for teachers, students, seniors, military and theatre professionals
Subscriptions and more information at www.southernrep.com

 

INTERVIEWS:
For interviews with Liann Pattison, Amy Holtcamp, John Biguenet, or Producing Artistic Director, Aimée Hayes, please contact pr@southernrep.com

 

 

 

ABOUT JOHN BIGUENET:
John Biguenet is the author of Oyster, a novel, and The Torturer's Apprentice: Stories, published by Ecco/HarperCollins in the U.S. and by Orion Books in the U.K. His fiction is published in Hebrew translation by Matar Publishing Company in Tel Aviv, in French translation by Éditions Albin Michel in Paris, and in Dutch translation by Uitgeverij Ailantus in Amsterdam. Among his other books are Foreign Fictions (Random House), two volumes on literary translation (The University of Chicago Press), and Strange Harbors, an anthology of international literature in translation (Center for the Art of Translation). Biguenet's radio play WUNDMALE, which premiered on Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Germany's largest radio network, was rebroadcast by Österreichischer Rundfunk, the Austrian national radio and television network.

 

Two of his stories have been featured in Selected Shorts at Symphony Space on Broadway. THE VULGAR SOUL won the 2004 Southern New Plays Festival and was a featured production in 2005 at Southern Rep Theatre; he and the play were profiled in American Theatre magazine. RISING WATER was the winner of the 2006 National New Play Network Commission Award, a 2006 National Showcase of New Plays selection, and a 2007 recipient of an Access to Artistic Excellence development and production grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the 2008 Big Easy Theatre Award for Best Original Play; it has had numerous productions around the country. SHOTGUN, the second play in his Rising Water cycle, premiered in 2009 at Southern Rep Theatre; it has won a 2009 National New Play Network Continued Life of New Plays Fund Award and is a 2009 recipient of an Access to Artistic Excellence development and production grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Productions are scheduled in 2010 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater and Florida Studio Theatre. He was awarded a 2007 Marquette Fellowship for the writing of NIGHT TRAIN, which he then developed on a Studio Attachment at the National Theatre in London. Biguenet was named 2008 Theatre Person of the Year at the Big Easy Theatre Awards. His work has received an O. Henry Award and a Harper's Magazine Writing Award among other distinctions, and his stories and essays have been reprinted or cited in The Best American Mystery Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The Best American Short Stories, and Best Music Writing.

 

Having served twice as president of the American Literary Translators Association and as writer-in-residence at various universities, he is currently the Robert Hunter Distinguished University Professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Named its first guest columnist by The New York Times, Biguenet has chronicled in both columns and videos his return to New Orleans after its catastrophic flooding and the efforts to rebuild the city.

 

 

ABOUT SOUTHERN REP THEATRE:
Now in its 28th Season, Southern Rep Theatre produces award-winning programs that are engaging, educational, and accessible for audiences of every socioeconomic background. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director, Aimée Hayes, Southern Rep Theatre's Mainstage Season work includes bold World and Regional Premieres as well as the best of Broadway, off-Broadway, and classic plays. Southern Rep Theatre's Lagniappe Series and "School to Stage Pipeline" of Arts Education Programs reflect the company's ongoing commitment to new play development by providing resources for students and burgeoning theatre professionals and supporting a more diverse theatre community. A mainstay of New Orleans' arts community, Southern Rep Theatre continues to build on its unique position as a sector leader, creative force, and important resource for contemporary American theatre.

 

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