Padua Playwrights Opens 2009 with "The Neo-Sacred Revival"

Padua Playwrights announces “The Neo-Sacred Revival: 3 Short Plays for the Modern Soul" opens January 23rd and will run until February 15th, 2009. These three short plays examining sex, God and death in Los Angeles were developed in collaboration between Padua Playwrights’ ongoing Playwriting Workshop, led by Artistic Director Guy Zimmerman, and Padua Playwrights’ new Actors’ Lab, led by Gill Gayle.

It will be held at Art Share L..A. located at 801 East 4th Place). In the adjoining Art Share Gallery, painter Matt Aston will exhibit work inspired by the text.

"The Neo-Sacred Revival" runs January 23rd through February 15th, 2009 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 8:00 p.m. Call (213) 625-1766 for reservations. Tickets are $20.

Acts of Love : A well-off couple invites the husband’s womanizing friend and his new date to their house for dinner. Unspoken attractions for other people’s partners brew and insecurity and other emotions are sparked between the foursome as they all attempt to have a good time. The hosts admit they have been “swinging” with other couples and try to flaunt their openness, but end up revealing the problems and unhappiness in their own relationship. Things are further exacerbated when an uninvited guest with emotional problems shows up to the dinner party - someone from the swinging circuit – perhaps looking for answers with people she has had physical intimacy with but finding emptiness instead.

Written by Sharon Yablon: Ms. Yablon was nominated for a Playwriting LA Weekly Award. Her work is in LA Under the Influence and her short plays are in Pharmacy quarterly. “The Collection” is in the Echo One-Act Festival, currently running. “You Might Be Waking Up” will be in the Doomsday Kiss festival in April.

Directed by Gray Palmer: Mr. Palmer is editor and publisher of the forthcoming ‘zine Wheel – L.A. Taxi Culture, and is on the advisory committee for the Los Angeles Taxi Workers Alliance health project. Mr. Palmer has appeared recently in plays by Murray Mednick, Wesley Walker, Rita Valencia, Kevin O'Sullivan, Joseph Goodrich, and Sharon Yablon. Watch for his play Naked Taxi.


Tiny Trumpets: A gifted but troubled young woman (Rin) pursues membership in a mysterious new religion while her estranged parents spend a night together, attempting to come to terms with their role in Rin's fate. As the action unfolds, Tiny Trumpets offers a compelling portrait of death as a continuation of life; a shadow play that filters the present through the thickness of memory. Underneath, the quiet warning of tiny trumpets calling out, wake up, wake up...

Written by Heidi Darchuk: Ms. Darchuk has worked with Padua Playwrights, Circle X, Sharon's Farm, Annex Theatre and A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle as a playwright and/ or actor. She lives in Los Angeles.

Directed by Gill Gayle: Mr. Gayle has appeared in over eighty plays. He has had the pleasure of working with several great playwrights; including John Steppling, Kelly Stuart, Michael Sargent, Justin Tanner and Greg Suddeth. His recent television appearances include guest starring on CSI, Bones and Saving Grace. This fall, he can be seen in the feature film Surveillance alongside Bill Pullman, Julia Ormond and French Stewart.

Hammers: In "Hammers" the potential sale of a screenplay about legendary Comanche chief Quannah Parker unleashes powerful archetypal forces in modern day Reseda. The author of the screenplay (Emmerich) feels the weight of a resurgent spirituality; his brother (Hammers), a man doing penance for a crime committed years earlier, is liberated by a visiting spirit.

Written and Directed by Guy Zimmerman: A playwright and director, Mr. Zimmerman has served as artistic director of Padua Playwrights since 2001. Under his direction the company has staged over twenty new plays, including three productions in New York City and three abroad that have garnered a host of L.A. Weekly, Ovation, Garland, and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle awards and nominations - as well as an American Theatre Critics Association citation. His own plays include La Clarita, The Inside Job, The Wasps and Vagrant.

"The Neo-Sacred Revival" is produced by Padua Playwrights with support from LADAD Space, LARABA, Downtown Artist Project and Councilwoman Jan Perry. Photo: Guy Zimmerman courtesy of VFaL.