Initiative for NEW and REIMAGINED WORK presents first play

The UCSB Initiative for New and Reimagined Work & Center Stage Theater Present

LOVE

by Kate Cortesi

a new play developed at the 2019 OJAI PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE

Starring Joe Spano / Faline England 

October 5 @ 7:30 PM

October 6 @ 2 PM

Center Stage Theater

751 Paseo Nuevo

 

Get tickets HERE!

 

Times of societal energy demand forthright plays that consider the nuances of divisive social issues. Straight from the 2019 Ojai Playwrights Conference Initiative for NEW and REIMAGINED WORK comes Love, a play that faces the damaging fallout of sexual encounters in the workplace. By award-winning playwright Kate Cortesi, Love draws and redraws the unsteady lines of acceptable professional behavior, and searches the complicated grey area of power dynamics related to gender and consent.

With their romantic entanglement in the past, Penelope maintains a close friendship with her ex-lover (and former boss), Otis. Penelope is disturbed when she’s approached by a group of women, also Otis’s ex-employees, who are going public with allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. Penelope’s experience with Otis was consensual—even loving. She can’t concede that Otis is predatory, but with both sides of the story coming to light, questions arise about the legitimacy of her experiences and the veracity of the claims of the women calling foul play.

Written and performed in a time when hashtags like #metoo and #believewomen exemplify a changing social dynamic, Love dares to examine the uncertainties beyond the slogans. Both performances will be followed by a discussion of the play’s themes with the playwright, facilitated by a panel of local academics and social advocates.
 
Presented by the UCSB Initiative for New and Reimagined Work and Center Stage Theater, this staged reading (October 5th and 6th) precedes the play’s world premier at Marin Theater Company in March 2020. Love is the inaugural project from the newly formed UCSB Initiative for New and Reimagined Work, a production entity committed to bringing new plays to the community and supporting the upcoming generation of dramatic artists.
 
Love is directed by Maggie Mixsell and features Joe Spano, Faline England, Diahnna Nicole Baxter, Brian Harwell, Ivy Vahanian, Dan Gunther, Lisa Gates, and Verenice Zuniga.
Panel discussion with playwright to immediately follow each show.
 

The UCSB Initiative for New and Reimagined Work — CREATE FORWARD! 

The Initiative for New and Reimagined Work is a brand new program. Committed to introducing new plays to the community, the Initiative (headed by Vickie J. Scott) explores the past, the present, and the possible! The mission is to encourage and support new and reimagined works while nurturing the next generation of playwrights, directors, choreographers, designers, administrators, and performers. 

 

 

 

September 26, 2019 - 5:27pm