- WAKE -: 2008-03-09

NEWS RELEASE

March 13, 2008

Press Contact: Stephanie Coen, 206.283.4940
E-mail: sacoen@hotmail.com

SONYA SCHNEIDER’S PLAY WAKE, DIRECTED BY LAUREL PILAR GARCIA, OPENS ON FRIDAY, APRIL 4; WORLD PREMIERE RUNS APRIL 3-13 AT THE LITTLE THEATRE ON CAPITOL HILL

SEATTLE— Onward Ho! Productions presents Wake, a world premiere by Sonya Schneider, directed by Laurel Pilar Garcia. Performances are Thursday to Sunday nights at the Little Theatre, 608 19^th Ave East on Capitol Hill, from April 3 to April 13, 2008. Tickets for Wake are $15 and can be purchased from www.brownpapertickets.com.

Thirteen years ago, the Harlow family suffered a tragedy that cast a shadow over all their lives. When two outsiders join a special family gathering, relationships are changed, assumptions are challenged, and a world where the truth has been too painful to accept is forever altered. This new play is a sharply observed, beautifully rendered story of parents and children, friends and lovers, and the complex and surprising relationships that bind them together.

Wake is the latest collaboration between Sonya Schneider and Laurel Pilar Garcia, who wrote and directed Intiman Theatre’s 35^th Anniversary Gala production in 2007. The cast and design team includes Seattle artists who have worked at Washington Ensemble Theatre, Intiman, Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT and other companies locally and nationally.

The ensemble includes Zaki Abdelhamid (Delby Khan), Nik Doner (Tom Harlow), Kate Godman (Helen Harlow), Samara Lerman (Claire Harlow), Chelsey Rives (Miriam Friedman), Derek Schreck (Max Harlow) and Andrew Zavada (Joe Harlow).

The creative team includes scenic designer Jennifer Zeyl (winner of a Stranger Genius Award), costume designer Harmony J. K. Arnold, lighting designer Dante Olivia Smith and sound designer Joseph Swartz. The stage manager is Sarah Kleehammer.

Playwright Sonya Schneider is the author of plays including Beggars Description and Bald Eagle, Chimpanzee. She worked at Intiman for four seasons, providing support for casting, the literary department and dramaturgical research. Prior to moving to Seattle, she worked at the Manhattan Theatre Company and the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, both in New York. She graduated with an English degree from Stanford University where she also studied playwriting. Her other training includes courses at Seattle Dramatists, the University of Washington and the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York.

Director Laurel Pilar Garcia most recently directed The Diary of Anne Frank for the Driftwood Players and Zapatista for Teatro Milagro in Portland, Ore. Her directing credits also include Short Stories Live! A Collection of Stories by George Bernard Shaw at Town Hall Seattle, Two Rooms by Lee Blessing at the Freehold Studio Series, Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies and A Christmas Carol, both at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts. Her assistant directing credits include several productions with Intiman Artistic Director Bartlett Sher, including Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, Shakespeare’s Richard III and Chekhov’s Three Sisters. She received her B.A. in Theatre Arts from Lewis & Clark College.