A Bright Room Called Day

March 9 – April 8, 2012

A Bright Room Called Day

By Tony Kushner

directed by Brian Katz

Tickets at http://www.custommade.org/tickets

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Angels in America” comes a powerful portrayal of individuals confronted with political catastrophe.

“A Bright Room Called Day” follows a group of artists and activists struggling for love and meaning in 1930s Berlin, as Germany surrenders to the seduction of fascism.

In her cozy one-bedroom apartment, Agnes Eggling (Xanadu Bruggers) provides comfort from the brewing storm for actors, revolutionaries, homosexuals, and communists as the Nazis begin to consolidate power. As the darkness threatens her small circle of friends, Agnes must try to hold them all together, even as outside forces, including the supernatural, try to invade her bright room called day.

Kushner also “interrupts” his historical play with the passionate outpourings of Zillah (Maggie Ballard), a slightly paranoid and extremely passionate American Jew, sifting through the past in contemporary Berlin. By the end of this tale, time and place will blur into one, and our own democracy may seem less secure than it once was.

Tony Kushner’s first play is a lyrical, savagely funny piece of theatre that is both a warning cry for the future, as well as a remembrance of an apocalypse that was anything but inevitable.

Starring:
Maggie Ballard, Megan Briggs, Xanadu Bruggers, Steve Budd, Shelley Lynn Johnson, Chris Morrell, Jessica Rudholm*, Nick Trengove, David Vega, and Vahishta Vafadari

Directed by Brian Katz*
Stage Manager – Ashley Bodnar
Set Design – Marci Ring*
Costume Design – Scarlett Kellum*
Lighting Design – Andrea Schwartz
Sound Design / Composition – Brendan Aanes
Video / Puppet Design – Maxx Kurzunski*
Dramaturgy – Perry Aliado* & Sarah Gold

Opens Tuesday, March 13, 8pm
Previews March 9-10, 8pm, March 11 7pm
Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm thru April 8
no performances April 5 & 6

General Admission $32
Students/Seniors/TBA $25
Previews $20-$25

*Custom Made company member

Comrades!

This is a big weekend for the Bright Room cast. It’s our first run through! It’s going to be a “rough draft” if you will, but I’m very excited to see how it’s all shaping up. This is actually going to be the first time I’ve seen some of the other actors in rehearsal since the reading in January. Because of the way this play is set up, the rehearsal process has basically been broken down into three groups (and please note that these are the names that I have given these groups to help explain them): the “modern day” group,...

Tony’s AIDS Prayer

I was made aware of this prayer by Custom Made’s intrepid Artistic Director (and the director of our upcoming Production of A Bright Room Called Day), Brian Katz. It is the AIDS Prayer written by Tony Kushner in 1994, for The National Day of Prayer for AIDS. First, here is a link to the first minute of Mr. Kushner’s Prayer, read by Meryl Streep (from the documentary Wrestling with Angels): Tony’s AIDS Prayer And here is the full text of the prayer: Dearly Beloved, Let us pray. God: A cure would be nice. Rid those infected...

Welcome to Germany!

It’s great to be back! Back at Custom Made Theater Company (last time I was here we were performing at the Off-Market Theater), back working on another fabulous Tony Kushner play, and back to the Berlin featured in “A Bright Room Called Day.” I had the pleasure of doing this show back in college and I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to get the chance to perform it again. I’m looking forward to seeing what new things I will be able to discover as Paulinka, and how some additional life experience will change the way I see...