Welcome to middle age… proceed with caution! Diane Cary, Jane Kaczmarek and Sharon Sharth star as three successful women who challenge themselves to find love and personal fulfillment in the middle years of life. Steven Robman directs the ensemble cast, which also includes Gregory Harrison, James Lancaster and Joel Polis, in the world premiere of The Snake Can by Kathryn Graf (Hermetically Sealed). Performances run January 19 through February 24, 2013 presented by Indie Chi Productions at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles.
Growing older doesn’t always mean growing wiser. Harriet (Kaczmarek) is a widow and single mother; Nina (Cary) has left her actor husband to escape the shadow of his celebrity; and twice-divorced Meg (Sharth) has been navigating the single world for ten years. These women, and the men in their lives, take a journey of self-discovery, stopping along the way to examine the gray areas of marriage and divorce, want and need, sexual ambiguity and dating in the age of online matchmaking.
“This play comes very much out of my own personal experience,” explains Graf. “I’m a widow who raised two kids, my husband was a successful film and television actor, and I know what it means to be single for a long time. I’ve often felt the way these characters do—at once free and eager, wild and surprised, unhinged and terrified.”
“I was won over by the wit and insight in Kathy’s writing,” says Robman, a veteran stage and television director who is new to L.A.’s 99-seat theater scene. “I directed the premieres of Wendy Wasserstein’s first two plays [Uncommon Women and Others and Isn't It Romantic], and now, with The Snake Can, I feel like I’m coming full circle. The landscape is very different for those of us in middle age than it was for the women in Wendy’s plays. The divorce rate is higher, people are living longer, we switch jobs and locales more easily—and then there’s the Internet.”
Graf’s first full-length play, Hermetically Sealed, garnered extensive critical praise and award nominations in its recent four-month run at The Skylight Theatre. She began writing when she penned and performed Surviving David, a one-woman play chronicling her first year as a young widow (2100 Square Feet in L.A.; Outstanding Solo Show, NYC Fringe Festival). She is also the author of the award-winning children’s book Always My Dad (Mom’s Choice Award, gold medal). As an actress, Kathy has guest-starred in dozens of television shows including ER, Courthouse, Presidio Med and in a recurring role on the soap, Passions.
Indie Chi Productions is an independent company focused on producing new and original material for the stage and screen. Previous theater productions in Los Angeles include the world premiere of von Lutz, directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera; the West Coast premiere of Win/Lose/Draw, directed by Dorothy Lyman; and a revival of Love and Whispers directed by Anthony Caldarelli. Indie Chi has produced two festival short films, Good and Grounded, as well as the soon-to-be released feature Kantemir.
The Snake Can opens 8 p.m. Saturday, January 19 and performs 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through February 24. Tickets are $25 on Thursdays and Fridays and $30 on Saturdays and Sundays; full time students with ID and seniors are $20. Call (310) 477-2055 ext. 2 or go to www.OdysseyTheatre.com.
The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025.
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