LINCOLN ADJACENT EXPLODES MYTH OF GREAT EMANCIPATOR

Lincoln Adjacent: Three Plays NOT About Abraham Lincoln

Onion Creek Productions
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Reem Hassani
[email protected]
(310) 866-7323 (for media only)

LINCOLN ADJACENT
by Roger Q. Mason and Stephen Blackburn

Short Play Collective Explodes Abraham Lincoln Myth

LOS ANGELES (May 27, 2014) – From the brave new minds of playwrights Roger Q. Mason and Stephen Blackburn comes Lincoln Adjacent, a collective of three short plays exploring characters often cast to the shadows of the Abraham Lincoln myth. Theatre and opera director Julianne Just helms this production, which opens on June 12 at the Lounge Theatre as a part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

On the three plays: Stephen Blackburn’s Douglass finds an aging Frederick Douglass (Rif Hutton) reconciling his estranged relationship with women’s suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Roger Q. Mason offers two works to the collective: Lizzy, which imagines a hapless final meeting between mixed race dressmaker Elizabeth Keckley (Luise Heath) and widowed patron Mary Todd Lincoln (Ann Ryerson); and Booth, wherein Shakespearean actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth (Nils Jansson) broods over surrender to the Union army in a Virginia farmhouse.

“As a playwright, I’ve always been interested how theatre can re-imagine history. When we grow up, we’re given the ‘official’ story, but there are so many other tales to be told,” explains Roger Q. Mason

“People are people, no matter what the era. They love, they hate, they fear, they triumph. Shakesepare understood that – one of the reasons many of his plays are historically based,” relates Stephen Blackburn.

“Both playwrights have brought unique and original perspectives to these historical moments. They bring into focus lesser known moments from their iconic figures’ personal histories,” offers Julianne Just.

Roger Q. Mason is a Los Angeles based playwright, director and producer whose dramatic work explores “forgotten moments in remembered times”, historical episodes that tradition silences or casts aside. Recently, Mason’s Onion Creek, about black and Irish relations in 1870s Texas, ran to sold out houses at Son of Semele Theatre. He holds a BA in English and Theatre from Princeton University. Mason will receive his MA in English from Middlebury College this summer, and join Northwestern’s MFA in Writing for Screen and Stage this fall.

Stephen Blackburn is a past recipient of an endowed James Michener Fellowship. Blackburn is a co-founder of Fierce Backbone Theatre Company in Hollywood. Blackburn’s ancient Greek murder mystery The Rock of Abandon premiered at the Lillian Theatre in Hollywood October 2012. Backstage praised it as “always engrossing and fun to watch,” while Examiner.com hailed the drama as a “masterpiece” that “delivers twists and turns worthy of Hitchcock himself.”

Julianne Just is a Los Angeles based theater/opera director and co-artistic director of The Speakeasy Society. Directing credits include: Ibsen’s Little Eyolf, Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, Purcell’s Baroque Semi-Opera Spectacular -The Fairy Queen, various new operas, plays, and unique site-specific events created with The Speakeasy Society. She has also done concept development for Creative Entertainment/Walt Disney Imagineering. Julianne holds an MFA in Directing from the School of Theater at California Institute of the Arts and BA in Theater & Literature from Sarah Lawrence College.

Luise Heath was last seen in Theatre 40’s west coast premiere of Kin as “Kay” and “Tracy” in the Attic Theatre Production of Ex’s Exes, for which she received the Audience Choice Award for Best Female Actor. Theatre goers, on and off-Broadway, as well as internationally have seen Luise in Carmen Jones, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac, The River Niger, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Ragtime Blues and the groundbreaking, Black Quartet. TV shows include Brothers and Sisters, My Wife and Kids, A Different World, Cagney & Lacy and the upcoming martial arts series, Clandestine Path.

Rif Hutton has made over 150 guest star appearances and a ton of commercials. For three years, 80 spots, he was spokesman for KFC. He has also done voiceover work in commercials and animation. He has been lead in numerous Equity productions, include Julius Caesar, Short Eyes and I’m Not Rappaport.

Nils Jansson received his BFA in Acting at California Institute of the Arts (2012). Past appearances: The Speakeasy Society’s Ebeneezer: An Adult Christmas Carol directed by Julianne Just, Honest Ghosts directed by Alexis McNabb, and The Collective’s Richard II directed by Mary Lou Rosato. Last August, he wrapped his first feature OMG, I’m In A Horror Movie.

Ann Ryerson began her professional career in improvisational theatre in home town Minneapolis at Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop, then The Second City in Chicago. She has performed extensively in television, movies (including Minority Report and 3 movies by Robert Altman), and radio commercials. She was a regular on the TV series Private Benjamin in the early 80’s and recently had a small recurring part on Curb Your Enthusiasm as Nan Funkhauser. She is a singer, dancer, avid tennis player, and member of Fierce Backbone Theatre Company.

Music direction for Lincoln Adjacent is by Chris Porter; costume design is by Kate Fry; Justin Jones serves as production design consultant; Adam Frank is lighting consultant; Benjamin Scuglia is stage manager; Victoria Quintanar is production manager; Roger Q. Mason, Onion Creek Productions presents.

Lincoln Adjacent opens on June 12 and continues through June 26, with specific dates below: Thursday, June 12 at 8 pm; Saturday, June 14 at 4 pm; Sunday, June 15 at 6 pm; Saturday, June 21 at 4 pm; Thursday, June 26 at 8 pm. There will be one preview performance on June 8 at 2 p.m. General admission is $15 except preview is are $5. The Lounge Theatre is located at 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038. For information and to purchase tickets, go to www.hff14.org/1818.

Details for Calendar Listings
LINCOLN ADJACENT

WHAT:

LINCOLN ADJACENT — What riff still haunted Frederick Douglass long after he secured black men’s right to vote? What did Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker Elizabeth Keckley reveal about the former First Lady in her tell-all book? Why did John Wilkes Booth REALLY shoot the Great Emancipator? In this triad of short plays, the brave new voices of playwrights Roger Q. Mason and Stephen Blackburn bring to light historical figures over cast to the shadows of the myth of Abraham Lincoln.

WHO:

Written by Roger Q. Mason and Stephen Blackburn
Directed by Julianne Just
Starring Luise Heath, Rif Hutton, Nils Jansson, and Ann Ryerson
Produced by Roger Q. Mason
Presented by Onion Creek Productions

WHEN:

Preview Sunday, June 8
Opening Thursday, June 12 at 8 pm;
Saturday, June 14 at 4 pm;
Sunday, June 15 at 6 pm;
Saturday, June 21 at 4 pm;
Closing Thursday, June 26 at 8 pm

WHERE:

Lounge Theatre
6201 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

HOW:

For tickets, visit hff14.org/1818

TICKET PRICES:

General Admission: $15
Previews: $5