News and Events
Kitchen Dog Theater and Meadows Present the Area Premiere of Our Lady of 121st Street Nov. 16-Dec.15
November 16 – December 15, 2007
Heldt/Hall Theater
The McKinney Avenue Contemporary (The MAC), 3120 McKinney Avenue
In this recent Off-Broadway hit, a group of old friends find themselves at Harlem’s Ortiz Funeral Home to mourn the death of a beloved nun from their childhood. As they bounce off of each other with old hurts and the harsh realities of grown-up life, a murder mystery (and a few lives) begins to unravel. KDT Co-Artistic Director Tina Parker directs the area premiere of this hilarious, raunchy, and ultimately very touching play by Stephen Adly Guirgis (Jesus Hopped the “A” Train).
The cast and production staff will feature a mix of KDT Company Members alongside current SMU students and faculty. KDT Co-Artistic Director Christopher Carlos, Artistic Company Members Ian Leson, Christina Vela and Bill Lengfelder (who is also on the faculty at SMU) and SMU alum Jamal Gilbran Sterling join students Amelia Johnson, Ryan Johnson, Giselle Le Bleu, Keenan Olson, Josh Peterson, Gwen Templeton and Johnard Washington. The production team will feature KDT Artistic Company Members Christina Dickson (Costume Design), John M. Flores (Sound Design), Judy Niven and Jen Gilson Gilliam (Prop Design) and Mike Wang (Technical Director) alongside SMU Theatre Department’s Emily Bean (Light Design), faculty member Ashley Smith (Dialect Coach) and a set design conceived by the 2008 SMU M.F.A. Design Class. SMU student Lee Helms will serve as Stage Manager.
“This ensemble-centered play seemed to me to be the perfect piece for collaboration between our institutions,” says director Tina Parker. “Every role is rich, from acting to design, providing ample opportunities for everyone to stretch their legs creatively. And since our rehearsal process at Kitchen Dog is deeply rooted in the training we received at SMU, I think this project also serves to reinvigorate the company members’ core techniques and to reinforce the tenets currently taught in the SMU Theatre training program for the students.”
Stephen Adly Guirgis (Playwright) Stephen Adly Guirgis is a longtime member of NYC's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States. They include the extended, sold-out run of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; Our Lady of 121st Street (10 best plays of 2003; Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Best Play Nominations); Jesus Hopped the “A” Train (Edinburgh Fringe First Award, Olivier Nomination as London's Best New Play, Barrymore Award, Detroit Free Press Best Play Award); and In Arabia We’d All Be Kings (10 Best of '99, TimeOut New York; critics pick, TimeOut London). All four plays were originally produced by LAByrinth, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and are published through Dramatists Play Service and by Faber and Faber. Guirgis was awarded a 2004 TCG fellowship, attended the 2004 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, was named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine, and appeared in Entertainment Weekly’s 2005 Summer Must List. He has received new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club and South Coast Rep, is a member of New Dramatists and the MCC Theater Playwrights’ Coalition, and is a regular contributor to Esopus magazine. Television writing credits include “NYPD Blue,” “The Sopranos,” David Milch’s CBS drama “Big Apple,” and Shane Salerno's NBC drama “UC: Undercover.” As an actor, he has appeared in Brett C. Leonard’s Guinea Pig Solo, produced at the Public Theatre in New York, and played leading roles in two recent films: Todd Solondz's Palindromes, and Brett C. Leonard's award-winning Jailbait opposite Michael Pitt. Currently, he is developing a project with Mos Def and HBO, and is writing his first feature film for Scott Rudin Productions, to be directed by George C. Wolfe. He lives in New York City.
OUR LADY OF 121st STREETopens on Friday, November 16 and runs through Saturday, December 15 in the Heldt/Hall Theater at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary (The MAC) located at 3120 McKinney Avenue in Uptown. Ticket prices are $25 for all opening night tickets, $15 - $20 for adults and $10 - $15 for MAC, STAGE, KERA, DART, Artscard and TCG members, SMU faculty, students and senior citizens/65+ (all with proper ID). Special group rates are also available. All tickets are general admission seating.
Performances are Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with additional performances on Wednesday at 8 p.m. (November 21 and 28 and December 12) and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. (November 25 and December 9).PLEASE NOTE: There will be no performance on Thanksgiving night, November 22 and the performance on Saturday, December 8 will start at 8:30 p.m. “Talk-Backs” with the actors and director follow the Sunday matinee performances.Pay-What-You-Can specials (available to the first 25 patrons nightly) are on Wednesdays (November 21 and 28 and December 12) and Thursdays (November 29 and December 6 and 13). This production contains cigarette smoking and adult language and situations.
For tickets and reservations, please call the Kitchen Dog Theater box office at 214-953-1055 or buy online at www.kitchendogtheater.org .
This production is supported, in part, by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, The 500, Inc., The Shubert Foundation, TACA, Texas Commission on the Arts and individual donors. Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.