STRAP-ON FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Strap-On
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Jeff Mills
(805) 453-8242 or [email protected]
Listing: Theater
Start: NOW through June 27, 2015
Hollywood, CA
STRAP-ON
Conceived, devised and written by Jeff Mills, Madelyn Robinson and Erica Flor
Fact Sheet and Schedule
WHO: Proboscis Theater Company, Jeff Mills Producer
http://www.jmproboscis.com/ – !proboscis/c164h
WHAT: Strap-On directed by Jeff Mills
WHEN: JUNE 4-25, 2016
World Premiere!!
Saturday June 04 2016, 4:00 PM | 1hr | preview
Lounge Theatre (Lounge 1) 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard
Friday June 17 2016, 11:55 PM | 65 mins
Lounge Theatre (Lounge 1) 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard
Saturday June 18 2016, 4:00 PM | 1hr
Lounge Theatre (Lounge 1) 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard
Friday June 24 2016, 11:55 PM | 65 mins
Lounge Theatre (Lounge 1) 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard
Saturday June 25 2016, 4:00 PM | 1hr
Lounge Theatre (Lounge 1) 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard
WHERE: All performances will be at the Lounge Theatre (Lounge 1) Hollywood CA.
TICKETS: $15 General; $12 Students and Seniors. Buy tickets through the Hollywood Fringe Website http://hff16.org/3711
From the Lunatics who brought you the BLOAT Award winner (2015) La La La Strada! Proboscis Theatre Company from Santa Barbara, CA presents a World Premiere play devised and written by company members Madelyn Robinson, Erica Flor and Jeff Mills (who is also director and artistic director.)
Straight from today’s headlines. Two twenty something women find themselves caught in a sensational courtroom drama. The complainant claims that she did not know that her “boyfriend” of two years was actually a woman and is pressing criminal charges of gender fraud and sexual assault. The defendant claims that both parties were aware of her true gender and that the role-play and use of a strap-on dildo was always consensual.
Is it possible that the complainant could have been fooled for two years? How did the defendant pull off this con? Did the complainant actually know and consent to penetrative sex with her female lover wearing a strap-on? Will she ruin an innocent woman’s life because she can’t admit she is gay? Who is telling the truth? These questions and many more will be pondered by audience and performer as our two brave young actors perform Strap-On, a new play based on the true story of Gayle Newland, a University Student from Chester, Great Britain, who in November of 2015 was sentenced to eight years in prison for sexual assault. Based on public court records and witness testimony, Proboscis has devised a play that posits how any and all scenarios might have brought these two would-be lovers to a legal confrontation, the outcome of which will certainly provide precedents for juries and judges for years to come.
Proboscis leaves it to the audience to sort through all the issues of gender definition, homophobia, sexual consent, obsession, lies and deceit to find the core human emotions of love, attraction and fear of loneliness. This entertaining and very sexy story was destined to become a stage drama and Proboscis is the perfect company adapt it!
Founded in 2010 by Jeff Mills, Proboscis creates a theatrical world that is physically daring, dramatically gripping and visually gorgeous. Our multidisciplinary approach mixes masks, puppets, live music, circus and clowning with traditional dramatic acting styles. Most of our work is original and devised by the ensemble but we also love Shakespeare, the Greeks, Beckett and plays from around the world. Our mission is to provoke imaginative collaboration between audience and artist. Together we create an unforgettable theatrical experience that is transformational for everyone in attendance!
Bios
Jeff Mills- (Artistic Director, Director, Co-Writer)
Jeff is an award winning actor, director, fight director, teacher and musician. He holds an MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver, CO and he best known for his work with the award winning BOXTALES Theatre Company in Santa Barbara. As a core member of BOXTALES, Jeff co-created ten original works in as many years including his direction of OM: An Indian Tale of Good and Evil (The Ramayana) and his portrayal of Odysseus in The Odyssey. Jeff and BOXALES have toured their innovative theater for young audiences throughout the U.S. and in Mexico. Nationally and internationally, Jeff has worked with the Denver Center Theater Company, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, American Folklore Theater, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Door Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Shakespeare Festival, Wooden O Theater, the International City Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Pominencer Census (Munich,) the Estudia Busqueda de Pantomima Teatro (Guanajuato, MX) and Theater Mitu/Visthar Center (Bangalore, India.) In Santa Barbara Jeff has acted and/or directed with several companies including PCPA Theaterfest, Naked Shakes, Launchpad, Shakespeare Santa Barbara, Speaking of Stories, Genesis West, Dramatic Women, Lit Moon Theater, Santa Barbara City College, and the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice. In 2014/2015 Jeff played Hamlet in Lit Moon’s Hamlet at the National Theater of China in Beijing and the Bitola International Shakespeare Festival in Bitola, Macedonia. In 2004 Jeff appeared on screen as Tristan in Bill Viola’s and Peter Sellars’ production of the opera Tristan and Isolde which was performed at the Opera National in Paris, the Disney Hall in Los Angeles the Lincoln Center in New York. Jeff is currently working with his new company Proboscis, creating original works of mask and physical theater exploring Science, Shakespeare, Vaudeville and a new radio variety program called Live from the Piano Kitchen. Jeff currently teaches movement and acting at the University of California Santa Barbara and will be joining the faculty of the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago in September.
Madelyn Robinson (Actor, Co-Writer)
Madelyn graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2014 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. Since graduation, she has made extensive use of her undergraduate vocal training by sing-yelling over crowds of half-interested children and herding them on and off stages across California. In the fall, she’ll be heading to Boulder, Colorado to pursue an M.F.A. in Contemporary Performance at Naropa University. She is excited to share the culmination of this challenging and fascinating process with an audience, and would like to thank Roberto for tolerating her obscene rehearsal hours, range of egregious British dialects and, last but not least, her personality.
Erica Flor (Actor, Co-Writer)
Erica is a recent graduate from UC Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting. She made her Hollywood Fringe debut last year in La La La Strada as Fellini’s sexy ring leader muse. When she is not working (and playing!) with her fellow Proboscins, she is developing her one-person show about a crazy countess Bloody Beautiful which will premiere at the Hollywood Fringe this year. Past roles include Judith (Equivocation), Jane (‘Dentity Crisis), Lady Macduff/Young Siward/Witch (Macbeth), Bettie Rage (Life is a Drag), Young Woman (Can-Can), Aspera (Reverse Transcription), Nerissa (Merchant of Venice), Juliet (Measure for Measure), Antonio (The Tempest) Alex (Museum of Woman, Lead), Cupid (Cupid’sArrow).
Erin Elizabeth Davison (Manager, Illuminator, Co-conspiritor) A recent Graduate of UCSB’s Theater and Dance Bachelor of Arts Program in Directing, Erin comes to Santa Barbara from Salinas, California. Here, she finds herself exploring her love of directing, and she feels so blessed to have such wonderful and talented artists here to push her into the professional world. Her past accomplishments include Assistant Directing under Avila Reese for Frontera Sin Fin/Endless Border By Carlos Morton, Assistant Stage Managing and Mentoring for Michael Morgan’s The Odyssey Project, Stage Managing and Light Design for Mary Zimmerman’s The Arabian Nights at UCSB, and Directing two One-Acts last year within the department: Women in Heat by Rich Orloff and Auto-Erotic Misadventures by F.J. Hartland. She also at times dabbles in the role of actress, having most recently been seen in the 2014 Vagina Monologues with W.E.T.T, the Graduate Directed Winter One-Acts Festival as the Director in Tennessee Williams’ I Never Get Dressed til After Dark on Sundays as Mae in Reefer Madness and as The Girl Bad Idea Bear in Avenue Q! with Paperwing Theatre Company in Monterey. She looks forward this year to Stage Managing for the Santa Barbara Revels, directing the upcoming performance of Split Decisions by Zackery Alexander Humphreys with High Stakes Theatre Co., working with Jeff Mills, Christina McCarthy and a host of fabulous players on LaLaLaStrada, as Stage Manager and Lighting Designer.
