GWWBK PRESS RELEASE

The Girl Who Would Be King

Press/Media: Contact FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Racquel Lehrman, Theatre Planners May 14, 2010
(818) 342-4319

Absolute Theatre and Full Circle Theatrics presents
The WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION…

THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING
…A Gender Bending Modern Day Fairy Tale

Written by Jan O’Connor
Directed by Richard Tatum

HOLLYWOOD: In Jan O’Connor’s modern day comedic fairy tale, a struggle for power leads to deceit, gender identity crisis, and ultimately true love. Even though this satirical fairy tale takes place in medieval times, it is told through the perspective of a modern day storyteller. We are forced to now ask the question: have things really changed as much as we think? THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING has a playful and insightful manner of challenging traditional gender roles.

“I will stop up the blood; I will bind down the breasts, I will add one, nay, two more socks. I will never be a woman because I have chosen to be a man.”-Basil, Act 1

Once upon a time in a land far-far away, the Great King of Flugelhorn wanted to retire and spend his days feeding the ducks. But he didn’t have an heir, as his one offspring was a female and in Flugelhorn, the law stated that only males could become king. This opened the door for his brother’s son to take the throne. There was one slight catch. The king’s brother, the Duke of Lesser Flugel, also only had a daughter. But the Duke, still bitter about not being king himself, raised his daughter as a son in anticipation of this moment. Now the time has come for his “son” Basil to become the next King of Flugelhorn and the Duke will stop at nothing to make sure this happens. What could possibly go wrong?

“My inspiration for writing THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING started a few years ago, when I was reading lots of Mark Twain, and I came upon his short story, A Medieval Romance. I was intrigued by his tale of a girl secretly raised as a boy in order to be king, who then is accused on her coronation day of being the father of a princess’ unborn child. It was even more intriguing that Twain deliberately left the piece unfinished, telling the reader he had no idea how to resolve the situation. Whether he did that for comic effect or because he genuinely couldn’t go any further with the obvious sexual implications of this dilemma in his day, I was captivated with the idea of recasting the story as a play, filtering it through my own imagination and finishing it as one would be able to today. The title, an obvious allusion to Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King, just seemed to me to say it all.”-Jan O’Connor, playwright

Jan O’Connor is an award-winning playwright whose works have been produced in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Recent local productions in Hollywood include Cleo’s Girls at the Lex Theatre, One Morning by ShortLived 3.0 at the Asylum and The Intersection at Tre Stage. Taken for a Ride was one of the Moving Arts “Car Plays” for two years in a row in LA. Garden of Ashes was first place winner in Los Angeles’ FirstStage’s One-Act Contest this year and Gayby’s Playdate was just selected for 2010 ALAP/ City of West Hollywood Gay Play Reading Festival at the Celebration Theatre. She wrote book and lyrics for the musical comedy Murder at the Palace, which was given a concert reading at Theatre Building in Chicago. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the LA Stage Alliance, the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights and Fierce Backbone Theatre in LA.

Helming this World Premiere is Richard Tatum. He began directing twenty years ago at the Eugene O’Neill Center, but once in Los Angeles, he found his way to venerable Theatre West, where he directed experimental projects such as Rock Song and The Unusual Prospects. He was a founding member and Associate Artistic Director of the award-winning Ark Theatre Company; there he directed critically acclaimed productions of The Country Wife, The London Cuckolds, On the Verge, Good, and Hazard County, and hit World Premieres of The Big Ever After, Sounds of Silence and Gaining Ground. Around LA Theater he’s directed The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Lyric Theater, staged readings at the prestigious Slamdance on Stage, and will be working with the Lincoln Center Directors Lab West this Fall.

“Its theme of ‘love without boundaries’ is so powerful — it’s handled so beautifully and is so timely.” -Richard Tatum

This is the inaugural collaboration between Full Circle Theatrics and Absolute Theatre.

Full Circle Theatrics –Alice Ensor & Joe Koonce formed Full Circle Theatrics, LLC at The El Centro Theatre in 2007, after spending more than a decade with The Theatre District. While with The Theatre District, they worked on more than 25 productions with Macario Gaxiola. The goal of Full Circle is to explore both revivals of shows that examine the human experience, and to bring forth the voice of lesser known writers through the production of new works.

Absolute Theatre was conceived by Richard Tatum and Tracy Eliott. Their company’s focus is to produce world premiere plays, rarely produced works, or completely fresh takes on classics. They believe whole-heartedly that collaboration between theatre companies is the key to the survival of theatre in Los Angeles.

THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING stars: Adriana Bate, J. Blakemore, Riley Rose Critchlow, Warren Davis, Shelley Delayne, Tracy Eliott, Sean Faye, Whitton Frank, Ross Gottstein and Patty Jean Robinson
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THE FACTS:
THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING
Produced by Absolute Theatre and Full Circle Theatrics
Written by Jan O’Connor
Directed by Richard Tatum
Lighting Design – Sasha Venola
Set Design- Shelley Delayne
Costume Design- Beth Arford
Stage Manager – Stephaine Boltjes

Opening June 25th and running through August 1st (Preview the 23rd & 24th @ 8pm)
Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm and Sundays @ 2pm. No show on July 4th.
The 23rd through the 27th are part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival

El Centro Theatre, 804 N El Centro, LA 90038

Reservations: Call 323-230-7261 Tickets: $20 General Admission

Press/Media Contact: Racquel Lehrman, Theatre Planners (818) 342-4319