Pear Slices 2010: Brand-New and Brilliant!
Celebrating the work of emerging Bay Area playwrights, the Pear Avenue Theatre is proud to present its seventh production of Pear Slices, a delightful gathering of new short plays. Each of the eight plays to be premiered in Pear Slices 2010 was written by a member of the Pear Playwrights Guild.
The Pear Avenue Theatre began producing Pear Slices in 2004, to showcase the work of writers who had been meeting regularly under the aegis of the Pear since the theatre's founding. Over the years, Slices has grown into a great favorite with our audiences and has become a beloved tradition in the Pear season of plays. The talented writers featured in Pear Slices 2010 have seen their works produced at the Pear, as well as other Bay Area theatres.
One of the great pleasures of producing Pear Slices is seeing how the plays grow each year in depth, grace, and entertainment value. And variety is the spice of Slices. The plays explore subjects fantastical and historical, realistic and futuristic, tender and satiric. The settings range from the Portland Vietnam Memorial to a rocky Pacific shore to an Italian church to the River Styx.The works are brought to life by a gifted acting ensemble and a company of dedicated directors, designers. Here's the lineup:
1-Timelines tangle as visitors from The Future invade a bedroom and push the re-set button on a couple's missed opportunity . . . to procreate. – Paul Braverman, Out of Time
2-A man and a woman run the gamut of a relationship in ten minutes, performing a courtship dance that might have been choreographed by Samuel Beckett.– Helena G. Clarkson, As Is (No Warranty)
3- Two lifelong friends--one too busy to appreciate life, the other with too little time left--rediscover the ties that bind them, and forge new ones – Megan Ma, Foreign Bodies
4- A creature from Scottish legends crawls out onto California's rocky coast: Half-man, half-seal, and looking for Love, the Selkie encounters an aging flower child and uptight female park ranger. --Margy Kahn, The Selkie
5- A Jewish mother and daughter find temporary sanctuary from the Nazis in a Catholic church in Italy. A friendly priest offers them longterm protection, but they must assume the identity of Catholic nuns. – Elyce Melmon, The Veiling
6- A homeless, wheel-chair-bound Vietnam vet helps a woman find the name of the father she never met in Portland's Vietnam Memorial. – Leah Halper, Eye Level Eye
7- A young woman returns from Italy with a surprising announcement for her parents: She had found God in the person of a polite young man whom she met on the sidewalk in Rome. – Doug Brook, Finding God
8- Two peace activists are stuck for ideas about political theatre. So they cross the River Styx to seek advice from the master--the Greek playwright Aristophanes. –Ross Peter Nelson, The Return of The Frogs
The plays are directed by Pear Slices veteran Troy Johnson and Pear Artistic Director, Diane Tasca. The cast includes Lance Fuller, Maria Giere, Shelley Johnson, Bill C. Jones, Kate Jopson, Peggy Lynch, Ray Renati (member, Actors Equity Association), and Alika U. Spencer. Robyn Ginsburg Braverman is the co-producer and assistant director, and Jeanie Forte provided dramaturgical support.
Pear Slices 2010 previews on Thursday, February 11, opens Friday, February 12, and closes on Sunday, February 28. Performances are Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm; there is also a 2pm Saturday matinee on February 27.
Location: the Pear Avenue Theatre, 1220 Pear Avenue , Mountain View , CA 94043 .
Tickets: Thursdays & Sundays: $20 General / $15 Students + Seniors; Fridays & Saturdays: $25/$20; opening-night gala: $30/$25.
Reservations: 650-254-1148 or www.thepear.org. For credit card orders, call Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006..
