'The Wholehearted' World Premiere Production Opens December 3
PREVIEWS DECEMBER 2, OPENS DECEMBER 3
AT CENTER THEATRE GROUP’S KIRK DOUGLAS THEATRE
DouglasPlus Event Plays 12 Performances Only, Through December 11, 2016
and by Holum’s alternately brooding and explosive portrayal of Dee,”
—Don Aucoin, Boston Globe
Stein | Holum Projects’ engrossing one-woman show “The Wholehearted” previews this Friday, December 2 and opens Saturday, December 3 at 8 p.m. at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of DouglasPlus. Written and co-directed by Deborah Stein and performed and co-directed by Suli Holum, the world premiere production is produced in association with La Jolla Playhouse. “The Wholehearted” plays through December 11, 2016.
Set in a boxing gym where female boxing phenom Dee Crosby (Suli Holum) is preparing for a whole new fight, “The Wholehearted” looks past the neatly-packaged Cinderella stories of sports coverage into the real world of a woman grappling with lost love and an abusive husband. A tale of revenge and redemption, the violence of love, the sexuality of sports and the high cost of fame, this new play utilizes live projections, film and a thumping rockabilly score to explore the line between personal fantasy and hard reality—and what it takes to be a champion.
Scenic design for “The Wholehearted” is by Amy Rubin, costume design by Angela Harner, lighting design by Stephen Arnold, sound design by Matt Hubbs and James Sugg, video design by Katherine Freer and Dave Tennent, original music by Sugg and Heather Christian, and onstage camera work by Stivo Arnoczy. The dramaturg is P. Carl and the stage manager is Lisa McGinn.
Stein | Holum Projects (SHP) is the creative partnership of playwright/director Deborah Stein and performer/director Suli Holum. Drawing on over a decade of experience in both experimental and regional theatre, SHP works with a core group ofaccomplished designers to create a unique hybrid of the highly visual and dexterously verbal; interdisciplinary physical theatre with complex and nuanced characters. Their first play, “Chimera,” premiered at HERE as part of Under the Radar and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.
Suli Holum is a founder and former Co-Artistic Director of Pig Iron Theatre Company where she established herself as a collaborative playmaker. With diverse training that includes Lecoq, Viewpoints, puppetry and various dance forms, Holum creates work that is highly physical and transformative. Her off-Broadway acting credits include “Hot ‘n’ Throbbing,” “Courting Vampires,” “Live Girls,” “Lebensraum” (Drama Desk Award) and regionally she appeared in “Born Yesterday” (Helen Hayes nomination) at Arena Stage. She is a recipient of a 2010 TCG Fox Resident Actor Fellowship.
Deborah Stein has created collaborative original work with artists such as Joseph Chaikin, Dominique Serrand and Lear deBessonet. Since 2000 she has collaborated on six original works with Pig Iron Theatre Company, for which she received three Barrymore Award nominations. Stein’s other plays include “Heist!” (Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival commission), “God Save Gertrude” (Workhaus Collective, Theatre @ Boston Court), “Wallflower” (Stages Repertory Theatre) and “Bone Portraits” (Stillpoint Productions).
Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, programming seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.
Tickets for “The Wholehearted” are available by calling (213) 628-2772, online at CenterTheatreGroup.org, at the Center Theatre Group box office at the Ahmanson Theatre or at the Kirk Douglas Theatre box office two hours prior to performance. Tickets are $25 for the preview and $45 for regular performances (ticket prices are subject to change). The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Blvd. in Culver City, CA 90232. Ample free parking and restaurants are adjacent.
November 29, 2016