theatre AND ON THEWORLD STAGE
by lisa lipsey
Diversionary Theatre Executive Artistic Director, Matt Morrow, has managed to reel in a genuine ground
breaker.Now or Later is the latest work of young, brilliant LGBT playwright Christopher Shinn. While this production marks Shinn’s first production at Diversionary Theatre, he is hardly a stranger to the theatre world. He is the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, OBIE Award for Playwriting and a Robert Chesley Award and his play Dying City was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Morrow, who is directing the show, says, “I’ve been in love
with Shinn’s work since I read his first produced play,Four, back in
2000.Now or Later continues Shinn’s remarkable aptitude for melding whip-smart dialogue, sculpted characters and big ideas. Here, he whirls together the strained relationship between a father and his gay son, with the searing association between free speech and the Islamic faith. The result is a jaw-dropping play that will leave you spinning.” Now or Later first premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2008 under the direction of Dominic Cooke and the cast featured the very talented Eddie Redmayne. The play had its U.S. premiere at Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company, in October 2012 and now it arrives in San Diego this February. The play begins in a hotel penthouse on election
night, when the voter returns are all great news for the Democratic Presidential candidate and his family. But sequestered in a downstairs room, the soon-to-be President’s son watches as controversial photos of him at a college party, explode over the internet and begin sparking an international firestorm. Beyond the politically provocative story are
real people; a father and son and the crisis the son is undergoing. Shinn’s writing expands the conversation around ethics, LGBT rights, religious beliefs, freedom of expression and the challenges of an increasingly interconnected planet Earth. Ultimately, he begs us to examine how the political rhetoric impacts and affects individual lives. I believe in the adage, “Genius Loves Company...” It seems Morrow was able to nab Shinn’s work due to their mutual success. Prior to joining Diversionary Theatre, Morrow was the Associate Artistic Director of City Theatre Company, a LORT theatre in Pittsburgh dedicated
to producing new work. He has also worked with The Sundance Theatre Institute, The Banff Centre, American Conservatory Theater, Lincoln Center, PlayPenn, and Page 73 Productions while in residence at the Yale School of Drama. He also served as The John Wells Professor of Directing at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama (Graduate & Undergraduate Directing programs), and is a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. If the genius of a playwright and proactive themes don’t
HERE HE WHIRLS TOGETHER THE STRAINED RELA-
TIONSHIP BETWEEN A FATHER AND HIS
GAY SON, WITH THE SEARING RELATION- SHIP BETWEEN FREE SPEECH AND THE ISLAMIC FAITH.”
grab you, perhaps an intimate cast of six will. The Presidential hopeful, John Sr., is played by Eddie Yaroch who won the Craig Noel Award for his work inThe Curious Case of the Watson Intelligence, Enron at Moxie. He is a regular over at New Village Arts with roles inThe Miss Firecracker Contest, Circle Mirror Transformation, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest andThe Seven-Year-Itch to name a few. Yaroch is also a Shakespeare nut, with roles from Hamlet, Midsummer – The Musical, Richard II, King John, andMacbeth all under his belt. The son, John Jr., is played by Tyler Jones, you may have
caught him at the Diversionary he performed in Baby with the Bathwater or inHenry V (New Fortune Theatre);Mud Blue Sky (Moxie); La Jolla Playhouse’s Accomplice: San Diego); orMacbeth at Intrepid. Alongside Yaroch and Jones are co-stars Whitney Brianna Thomas (Tracy), Lisel Gorell-Getz (Jessica), Joshua Jones (Matt) and Matt Thompson (Marc). Often I share an LGBT special event night hap- pening in conjunction with a play. You know what I love about Diversionary? Every night is LGBT night! But, with this show, I highly recommend attending onThursday, March 3 and arrive early, at 6 p.m. That will allow you to attend the Director Happy Hour event, during which Morrow will be in the lounge chatting aboutNow or Later. The perspective will get you thinking and add value to what you see and hear and beside that, it includes hosted hors d’oeuvres... Might as well indulge all the senses.
Now or Laterruns at the Diversionary Theatre Thursday, February 11 through Sunday, March 13. For tickets and more information, call 619.220.6830 or go to
diversionary.org.
IF THE PRESIDENT’S SON WERE GAY…
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RAGE monthly | FEBRUARY 2016 RAGE monthly
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