'Good Grief' Opens at the Douglas
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF “GOOD GRIEF” OPENS AT CENTER THEATRE GROUP’S KIRK DOUGLAS THEATRE SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2017, AT 6:30 P.M.
Ngozi Anyanwu’s Debut Production Will Play Through March 26
Currently in previews, the world premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu’s new play “Good Grief” will open at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre on Sunday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m. Directed by Patricia McGregor, Anyanwu also performs in “Good Grief,” which runs through March 26, 2017. This is the first of Anyanwu’s plays to receive a full professional production.
The cast features, in alphabetical order, Dayo Ade, Wade Allain-Marcus, Ngozi Anyanwu, Marcus Henderson, Omozé Idehenre, Carla Renata and Mark Jude Sullivan. Scenic design is by Stephanie Kerley Schwartz, costume design is by Karen Perry, lighting design is by Pablo Santiago, sound design is by Adam Phalen and Kathryn Bostic is composer. Casting is by Meg Fister, Joy Meads is the dramaturg and Anne L. Hitt is the production stage manager.
“Good Grief” follows Nkechi (played by Anyanwu), a good Nigerian-American girl frozen in her own coming-of-age story. When tragedy strikes on an unplanned break from college, she retreats into her childhood home and reexamines the many steps she’s taken on the way to adulthood, from first crush, to missed connections, to the struggles of being a first-generation girl blending in to her suburban Pennsylvania reality.
The recipient of the 2016 Humanitas/Center Theatre Group Playwriting Prize, Anyanwu is an actress, writer, producer and director. She is a graduate of the University of California San Diego's MFA acting program and also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre from Point Park University. She has performed at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Barrington Stage, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and the Mark Taper Forum. Anyanwu is the founder and one of the original members of the 1st Generation Nigerian Project where she served as Artistic Director and wrote and performed along with several other Nigerian American female artists under the direction of John Gould Rubin (Bank Street Theatre, Women Center Stage Festival). She now serves as Co-Artistic Director of NOW AFRICA Playwrights Festival. She has directed “She Gon Learn,” by Lisa Strum for the Emerging Arts Festival and for the United Solo Festival. She has also served as assistant director at Intar (Unit 52) and under Eve Best with Old Vic New Voices.
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 “Good Grief” are available by calling (213) 628-2772, online at www.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 range from $25 – $70 (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.
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March 1, 2017