FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: David Hyry (415) 864-3547 dahon@aol.com
WORD FOR WORD PRESENTS AN EVENING OF PERFORMANCES OF TWO SHORT STORIES BY TWO AWARD WINNING AUTHORS THAT ARE JUST LIKE FOOD-EVEN BETTER WHEN SHARED.
FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure”
“Sorry Fugu” by T.C. Boyle and “Enough” by Alice McDermott
DIRECTED BY John Fisher
January 14 – February 5 (Previews Jan 11 12 & 13)
Z SPACE at Theater Artaud
450 Florida Street, (Near 16th Street BART) San Francisco
WORD FOR WORD, presents FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure” a world premiere production of short stories by T.C. Boyle and Alice McDermott. Directed by John Fisher, FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure,”opens with a press night on Saturday, January 14, at 8 PM at Theater Artaud, 450 Florida Street in San Francisco (Previews Jan 11 12 & 13) and runs through February 5.
Food, appetite, and pleasure from two great writers: satirist T.C. Boyle with the witty, fervent “Sorry Fugu” and award-winning Alice McDermott’s sensuous “Enough.” T.C. Boyle writes of food and passion in “Sorry Fugu”, a wicked look at restaurants and critics. The dreaded Willa, critic terrible, is coming to Albert’s restaurant. Disaster ensues until Albert concocts a diabolical plan. Boyle’s verbal showmanship is the perfect match for Word for Word’s literary-theatrical style. Alice McDermott’s sensuous “Enough“ takes us from the childhood licking of ice cream bowls to the teenage “trouble with the couch” through aging and the endless variety of pleasures:”Enough” chronicles a woman’s life.”Pleasure is pleasure. If you have an appetite for it, you’ll find there’s plenty.” Directed by John Fisher FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure” features Word For Word Charter Members Delia MacDougall* and Patricia Silver* with Molly Benson, Rudy Guerrero*, Gendell Hernandez*, and Soren Oliver*. (*member AEA).
On Saturday January 21, 8 pm Word for Word presents “An Evening with T.C. Boyle” with a performance of the company’s Food Stories. “Sorry Fugu” by T.C. Boyle and “Enough” by Alice McDermott, followed by an onstage conversation and reception with T.C. Boyle. Mr. Boyle’s books will be available for purchase and he will be happy to sign them.
Word for Word’s FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure” is a world premiere production of short stories by the “explosively gifted” satirist T.C. Boyle and the award-winning author Alice McDermott. FOOD STORIES runs from January 14 – February 5 (Previews Jan 11,12 & 13).
At: Z SPACE, 450 Florida Street, San Francisco.
Performances; Wednesday-Thursday 7 pm, Friday-Saturday 8 pm, and Sunday 2 pm
Tickets for FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure” are: Wednesday – Thursday $30; Friday – Sunday $40; Jan. 21 author night $55, with a $5 student/senior discount and $20 previews.
Photo editors: A selection of photographs is at www.zspace.org
Tickets: at www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006 (24-Hour Ticket Hotline) or visit www.zspace.org.
As a part of the “Food Stories” run, Word for Word provides a buffet of experiences that reflect the multi-flavored environment in which we live and work: The Bay Area. Speakers include David Cody from Permaculture, Sue Conley from Cowgirl Creamery, Bette Kronening from Bette’s Oceanview Diner, and Alison Ghiorse from Savory Thymes. Food samplings from up-and-coming local chefs will be available, and food-related artwork from Emily Heller and Leah Rosenberg will be on display in the Gallery.* Partial, preliminary list of “Food Stories” activities and participants, for calendar of related events please visit www.zspace.org
T. Coraghessan Boyle is the author of twenty-two books of fiction, including, most recently, After the Plague (2001), Drop City (2003), The Inner Circle (2004), Tooth and Claw (2005), The Human Fly (2005), Talk Talk (2006), The Women (2009), Wild Child (2010) and When the Killing’s Done (2011). He received a Ph.D. degree in Nineteenth Century British Literature from the University of Iowa in 1977, his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1974, and his B.A. in English and History from SUNY Potsdam in 1968. He has been a member of the English Department at the University of Southern California since 1978, where he is Distinguished Professor of English. His work has been translated into more than two dozen foreign languages. His stories have appeared in most of the major American magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, The Paris Review, GQ, Antaeus, Granta and McSweeney’s, and he has been the recipient of a number of literary awards, including the PEN/Faulkner Prize for best novel of the year (World’s End, 1988); the PEN/Malamud Prize in the short story (T.C. Boyle Stories, 1999); and the Prix MÈdicis …tranger for best foreign novel in France (The Tortilla Curtain, 1997). He currently lives near Santa Barbara with his wife and three children
Alice McDermott is the author of six novels, the latest of which, After This, was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize, a nominee for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and was named a best book of the year by The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, The Boston Globe, among others. Her fifth novel, Child of My Heart, was a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection, one of Book Magazines Ten Best Novels of 2002 and also a nominee for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her fourth, Charming Billy, received the 1998 National Book Award for fiction, the American Book Award, and was short-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. A stage adaptation premiered in 2011 at The Roundhouse Theater in Bethesda, Maryland. Her third novel, At Weddings and Wakes, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her second, That Night, was nominated for the National Book Award, The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The PEN/Faulkner Award and was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A film version of the novel was produced by Warner Brothers in 1992. Her articles, reviews and stories have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, USA Today, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Redbook, Ms, Commonweal and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award, the 2008 Corrington Award for Literature, and the 2010 F. Scott Fitzgerald Award. Her seventh novel will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. She is the Richard A. Macksey Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University. She lives with her family in Bethesda, Maryland.
John Fisher (director) returns to Word-for-Word after directing the company productions of “Two on a Party” by Tennessee Williams, “Almost Home” by Armistead Maupin (Theatre Rhino Co-production), and the Off-the-Page reading of Lillian Helman’s “Julia.” As a playwright, John is a two-time winner of the Will Glickman Playwright Award for Medea, the Musical and Combat! He is also the recipient of the NEA, Zellerbach, SF Arts Commission and Wallace Foundation grants as well as the GLAAD Media Award, the L.A. Weekly Award, BackStage West Garland Award, two Cable Car Awards, the San Francisco Guardian Goldie Award, and five Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Awards. Recent plays include Fighting Mac!, Special Forces and Ishi: The Last of the Yahi (soon to be revived at UC Berkeley.) John has also worked extensively in New York City and at the American Conservatory Theatre, the Yale School of Drama, Seattle ArtsWest, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. He holds a Ph.D. in Dramatic Arts from U.C. Berkeley and has taught play writing, directing and acting at U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Santa Cruz, A.C.T., and at the Yale School of Drama. Since 2003, John has served as Artistic Director of the GLAAD Media Award-Winning Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco. He makes his home in San Francisco with his husband Michael.
WORD FOR WORD is the theatre company that transforms classic and contemporary fiction into performance works for the stage. Founded in 1993 by Susan Harloe and JoAnne Winter, the company is in its 19th year. Word for Word performs short stories in their entirety, preserving the author’s language and honoring his or her literary intent. Word for Word has staged works throughout the Bay Area, as well as in France. In 1997, Word for Word received a special Bay Area Critics Circle Award for its unique concept and in 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2005, the Bay Area Critics Circle awarded the company numerous honors for productions including “The Halfway Diner,” “Winesburg, Ohio,” Stories by Tobias Wolff,” and “Immortal Heart.” In 2008 Word for Word received the Best Ensemble Award for “Sonny’s Blues,” with composer Marcus Shelby receiving the best Original Score for the production. Playwright Octavio Solis, Cal Shakes Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone, and Word for Word co-Artistic Directors JoAnne Winter, and Susan Harloe, came together in 2006 to create an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven which premiered at Cal Shakes in 2010. Word for Word is a program of the Z Space.
Z SPACE was founded in 1993 to promote the artistic and professional advancement of Bay Area theatre. With our signature Word For Word and Youth Arts programs, along with our commissioning and careful development of new plays, we have become one of the nations leading laboratories for the development of new works and emerging playwrights. In August, 2009, we moved to our new home in Project Artaud, and commenced the upgrade and transformation of this iconic theatre venue where we will create a most welcoming hub of outstanding artistry from all disciplines including theatre, dance, music, multimedia and visual arts.
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CALENDAR EDITOR PLEASE NOTE:
WORD FOR WORD, presents FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure” performances of short stories by T.C. Boyle and Alice McDermott. Directed by John Fisher, FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure”opens on Saturday, January 14, at 8 PM at Theater Artaud, 450 Florida Street in San Francisco (Previews Jan 11 12 & 13) and runs through February 5. Food, appetite, and pleasure from two great writers: satirist T.C. Boyle with the witty, fervent “Sorry Fugu” and award-winning Alice McDermott’s sensuous “Enough.”
FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure”
Directed by John Fisher
January 14 – February 5 2012 (Previews Jan 11,12 & 13)
Z SPACE at Theater Artaud, 450 Florida Street, San Francisco
On Saturday January 21, 8 pm Word for Word presents “An Evening with T.C. Boyle” with a performance of the company’s Food Stories. “Sorry Fugu” by T.C. Boyle and “Enough” by Alice McDermott, followed by an onstage conversation and reception with T.C. Boyle.
Performances; Wednesday-Thursday 7 pm, Friday-Saturday 8 pm, and Sunday 2 pm
Tickets for FOOD STORIES: “Pleasure is pleasure” are: Wednesday – Thursday $30; Friday – Sunday $40; Jan. 21 author night $55, with a $5 student/senior discount and $20 previews.
Photo editors: A selection of photographs is at www.zspace.org
Tickets: at www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006 (24-Hour Ticket Hotline) or visit www.zspace.org.
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