THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE PLAYERS 2

For Immediate Release

 October 24, 2015

Revised November 2, 2015

Publicist: Emily Morrison

emilylovemorrison@me.com

323-363-4404

 

The Edge of the Universe Players 2 present Joe Orton’s comic masterpiece

 Entertaining Mr Sloane

by Joe Orton

(Washington, DC) – The Edge of the Universe Players 2 will present Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton, directed by Stephen Jarrett, from November 21 to December 13 at The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda, MD 20815. Tickets can be purchased online at www.universeplayers2.org or by phone at 202-355-6330.

British playwright Joe Orton tells a darkly comic tale of people searching desperately for love, but weaving an outrageous tangle of lust, deceit and violence in its place. It’s the Swinging Sixties in London’s West End, but Kath and her elderly father, Kemp, live in a house on the outskirts of a rubbish dump. Their drab existence is interrupted by the arrival of a new lodger, the handsome and enigmatic young Mr Sloane. Provocative and sexually ambiguous, Sloane soon has both Kath and her brother Ed competing for his sexual favors.

The first major production by the taboo-breaking British playwright Joe Orton, Sloane premiered in London in 1964. It won the 1982 Drama Desk Award for Best Revival and the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Revival in 1996. Orton died in 1967. University of Leicester professor and Orton scholar Emma Parker writes in her 50th anniversary edition of the play, “This new edition… seeks to reanimate interest in the first major play of one of the most radical, significant and influential playwrights of the post-war years.”

Director Stephen Jarrett returns to The Edge of the Universe Players, having directed the late 15th century The Summoning of Everyman for the company in November 2013. Jarrett says of his attraction to Sloane, “This scathing send-up of middle-class propriety is an astounding kaleidoscope: comedy and tragedy, melodrama and farce, rage, sentimentality, closeted lust and violence; all held together by Orton’s sparkling wit and his rock-steady sense of dramatic construction. It’s a marvelous theatrical playground. Who wouldn’t want to go play in it?”

The cast includes David Bryan Jackson* as the father, Kemp; Jim Jorgensen* in the role of Ed; Matthew Aldwin McGee as Sloane; and Claire Schoonover as Kath.

The Entertaining Mr Sloane design team includes Giorgos Tsappas (Set), Marianne Meadows (Lights), Ed Moser (Production Manager and Sound Designer), Erik Teague (Costumes) and Kevin Laughon (Properties). Dean Leong is Chief Set Builder, Laurel VanLandingham is Stage Manager, and Lynda Bruce-Lewis is Assistant Stage Manager. The Edge of the Universe Players 2 is led by Artistic Director and Executive Producer William Goodman.

*Actors appear courtesy of Actors Equity Association

“Entertaining Mr Sloane” is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

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Entertaining Mr Sloane, by Joe Orton

Location: The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda, MD 20815

Run Dates: November 21, 2015December 13, 2015

Schedule: Thursday/Friday/Saturday at 8 pm; Saturday/Sunday at 2 pm. No performance on Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving)

Blurb: British playwright Joe Orton’s darkly comic tale of people searching desperately for love, but weaving an outrageous tangle of lust, deceit and violence in its place

Tickets: 

http://universeplayers2.tix.com

(http://universeplayers2.tix.com/

Schedule.aspx?OrgNum=4175)

Price:  $22.00-25.00

Website: universeplayers2.org

Production and Box Office Contact Number: 202-355-6330

Press Contact: Emily Morrison, emilylovemorrison@me.com, M: 323-363-4404

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The Edge of the Universe Players 2 Mission:

Our mission is to produce plays with big meanings that transcend particular ages and cultures.  We believe that theatre can change some part of the human family toward a more bearable, insightful, hopeful, or self-determining state.

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