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STRAIGHT TO PRIMAL PLAY TIX!
remaining performances! Friday May 30 at 4pm, Saturday May 31 at 5:30pm!
running time: 80 minutes
“Directorial and technical invention are two of the purest pleasures in Krista Knight’s comedy Primal Play. Dr. Valerie Naymark (Kate MacCluggage) and her trusty photographer Mabe (Genesis Oliver) crash-land in the jungle in a sweet, handmade cardboard plane, and Naymark’s subject, the chimpanzee Lorelei (stunning Brenda Withers), is a triumph of physical invention.” — Time Out New York
“This unusual play is laugh out loud funny, thanks in part to Brenda Withers’ humorous portrayal of a chimpanzee. In this play’s unusual staging, New Georges lives up to its reputation for being innovative and unusual by completely reworking the setup of Dixon Place’s theater so that it is almost unrecognizable. New Georges’ production of Primal Play is a unique one, one that stands out in one’s memory as its subject matter and clever staging make it an experience that is peerless amongst one’s theatrical experiences. Withers is especially entertaining as Lorelei, as she shows a knack for physical comedy, delivering lines in the impulsive manner in which an animal would likely speak. MacCluggage is also especially convincing at conveying Valerie’s self-absorption and cluelessness. If the rest of the offerings in the Jam on Toast festival are as inimitable as this production then they are surely all worth seeing.” — Theatre is Easy
IN PRODUCTION:
PRIMAL PLAY
by KRISTA KNIGHT
directed by JESS CHAYES
Primatologists know: we all do strange and wonderful things when we don’t think anyone is watching. Eat some grass. Scratch an itch. But if you take your mother to Tanzania, don’t forget to bring her home.
Performances: Thu 5/15 @ 7:30pm; Sat 5/17 @ 9pm; Mon 5/19, Wed 5/21 & Fri 5/23 @ 7pm; Sat 5/24 & 5/31 @ 5:30pm; Mon 5/26 @ 8pm; Wed 5/28 @ 6:30pm; Fri 5/30 @ 4pm
WITH! Susan Greenhill, Kate MacCluggage, Genesis Oliver, Brenda Withers
DESIGN BY! Sara C. Walsh, Barbara Samuels, Brandon Wolcott, M. Meriwether Snipes
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER! Christine Scarfuto
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER! Mary Ellen Allison
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER! Lydia Oquendo
SPECIAL OBJECTS! Heather Piper PROPS! Rachel Graf Evans
DIALECT COACH! Lizzie King-Hall
more from PRIMAL PLAY (Kate & Brenda in rehearsal, above!):
What Krista’s working with (a little insight on people and incidents that inspired the play….):
“Louise Leakey, a British archeologist and naturalist, famously trained a coterie of female primatologists known as “Leakey’s Angels.”
In 1960, Leakey sent Jane Goodall, the first and perhaps most visible of the ‘Angels’, to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to study Chimpanzees. Goodall brought her mother on this expedition because as a young woman she was not allowed to travel alone.
On May 19th, 1975, in an event almost entirely glossed over in Goodall’s otherwise exhaustive autobiographies, three dozen uniformed men under the command of African rebel leader Laurent Kabila entered Goodall’s camp and kidnapped three of Goodall’s Stanford students. Goodall slipped into the jungle after a local Tanzanian spotted the guerrillas and warned her of the raid. Goodall attempted to field the hostage negotiations herself before officials stepped in and she was forced to leave the country.”
And here’s a link to what’s inspiring Meriwether, our costume designer!
GREAT LAKES
THE VAULTS
WORKS-IN-PROGRESS
LOUNGE SHOWS & ONE-SHOTS
