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ITHACA, NY: The Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC) continues its 2005/06 - 15th Anniversary MAIN STAGE Season with The Accidental Activist, Kathryn Blume's solo play written in response to her real-life experience as the co-creator of the Lysistrata Project. Directed by Jason Jacobs (originally developed and directed by Michaela Hall) and performed by the playwright/actor Kathryn Blume, The Accidental Activist begins previews on Thursday, April 20 at 7:30pm, opens Saturday, April 22, and runs through Saturday, May 13, 2006. Laced with optimistic socio-political observations and clever sketches depicting determined women of the world, this bold and uncontainable performer recounts her story and imagines how she might possibly make a difference on a planet that couldn't care less. November 2002: Kathryn is an exuberant out-of-work NYC actress and environmentalist with gargantuan dreams of stardom, a deep desire for world-salvation and a serious chai addiction. Enraged by the impending war in Iraq, she struggles with a sense of helplessness about America's direction - a feeling made more acute by her stalled acting career and dead-end job. Her despair activates an inspirational (and accidental) journey as she inadvertently kicks off a global act of theatrical dissent that results in the Lysistrata Project, readings and performances of the ancient Greek anti-war comedy performed on a world-wide scale. After two months of 18-hour days, The Lysistrata Project is a raging success with over 1000 simultaneous readings in 59 countries and in all 50 states; but after the project is over, Kathryn still doesn't have an acting career and the U.S. goes to war anyway. In the aftermath, she discovers that while she hasn't saved the world, she has activated a transformation in herself.
Kathryn Blume appeared on the Kitchen Theatre Company stage earlier this season in Two Rooms (SEE BIO BELOW). Jason Jacobs from NYC directs the play. "Directing this production of The Accidental Activist presents a unique opportunity and challenge. The show was developed three years ago, in an intensely short time period, with few resources, so the entire focus of the piece was the contagious energy and heart of Kathryn's performance. Now, the Kitchen Theatre Company has offered Kathryn a fully-realized production for her play," says Jacobs. The scenic and lighting design is by Owen Walz (Two Rooms). Projection design is by Chris Kalb. Sound design is by Kitchen Theatre Company Resident Sound Designer Tim Reppert of REP Studio. In The Accidental Activist, Kathryn challenges you to ask, "Have I done enough?" Through her personal story, as well as stories from other determined and defiant women around the world, she shows us that we all possess the power to make change happen. This is a play for anyone who ever wanted to save the world. Kathryn Blume (Playwright/Actor) returns to the Kitchen Theatre Company following last fall's production of Two Rooms. She is Co-Founder of the Lysistrata Project, the first worldwide theatrical event for peace, and has toured The Accidental Activist to over 30 cities in the US and Canada, receiving an Austin Critics Table Award nomination. She is an Artistic Associate at Vermont Stage Company in Burlington, where her play Vanya/Vermont - a modern adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya - premiered in the spring of 2005. Unable to abandon the whole Lysistrata theme, her new solo show The Boycott, which tells the story of a worldwide sex strike to fight global warming, will premiere at VSC in 2007. Off-Broadway credits include The Seagull, Mirandolina, and The Country Wife. Regional theater credits include She Stoops to Conquer, A Child's Christmas in Wales, Sylvia, Waiting for Godot, A Streetcar Named Desire, Amadeus, June Moon, Antigone, Much Ado About Nothing, The Baby Dance, and Our Country's Good. Film credits include Deception, My Mother's Early Lovers, The Apartment, and Maybe It's Me. She was also a company member of Living Voices, touring one-woman shows about the Holocaust and immigration to communities nationwide. In amongst her theatrical activities, Kathryn has worked for environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and Forest Watch. She founded Earth on the Air, a nationally-syndicated, award-winning environmental and social justice radio program, and serves on the boards of the Vermont Conservation Education Fund and the Lewis Creek Association. She has also served as an advisor to the Backbone Campaign and the World Without Walls Foundation. Kathryn co-founded The Hill Actor's Retreat Center and New Paradigms Personal Coaching Services, and has taught yoga, acting, Shakespeare, stress-reduction, and public speaking in venues across the country. She received her BA from Yale with a self-designed degree in environmental studies and theater (with her senior thesis project about logging in Oregon directed by none other than Jason Jacobs). She lives in Vermont. Jason Jacobs (Director) directed Kathryn Blume's environmental drama What Lasts? as a fellow undergraduate at Yale. More recently he conceived and directed Vanya/Vermont, written by and featuring Kathryn, for Vermont Stage Company. Jason is the co-artistic director of Theatre Askew in New York. With his artistic partner Tim Cusack he recently co-directed and co-adapted I, Claudius Live!, producing a new episode each week. He conceived and directed Bald Diva! (inspired by Ionesco's The Bald Soprano) which was nominated for a GLAAD Media award in 2004 and was short-listed on several critics "best of the year" lists. For Askew he also directed The Tempest and is currently preparing Thirsty, a solo project for the Theatre Askew Youth Performance Experience. He was stage director for the professional premiere of Mario and The Magician for Center for Contemporary Opera. He has taught theatre at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Columbia's High School Program, New York area high schools, and is a resident director in NYU's Dramatic Writing program. Jason holds an MFA in directing from Columbia University. Performance Dates:
April 20, 2006, Thursday at 7:30 pm (Preview 1 of 2)
April 21, 2006, Friday at 8:00 pm (Preview 2 of 2)
April 22, 2006, Saturday at 8:00 pm (Press/Opening) April 26, 2006, Wednesday at 7:30 pm
April 27, 2006, Thursday at 7:30 pm
April 28, 2006, Friday at 8:00 pm
April 29, 2006, Saturday at 8:00 pm
April 30, 2006, Sunday at 4:00 pm (Matinee 1 of 2) May 3, 2006, Wednesday at 7:30 pm
May 4, 2006, Thursday at 7:30 pm
May 5, 2006, Friday at 8:00 pm
May 6, 2006, Saturday at 8:00 pm
May 7, 2006, Sunday at 4 pm (Matinee 2 of 2) May 10, 2006, Wednesday at 7:30 pm
May 11, 2006, Thursday at 7:30 pm
May 12, 2006, Friday at 8:00 pm
May 13, 2006, Saturday at 8:00 pm (Closing) ----
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