THEATRE NEWS: Mo`olelo Announces 2013 Season

MO`OLELO ANNOUNCES 2013 SEASON

Award-winning theater company announces ninth season featuring A MOXIE co-production of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye adapted by Lydia Diamond, Extraordinary Chambers by David Wiener, The Amish Project by Jessica Dickey

SAN DIEGO, CA (September 25, 2012)– Award Winning Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company is pleased to announce its 2013 season of three plays: The Bluest Eye adapted by Lydia Diamond, playwright of Stick Fly, from the novel by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison in co-production with MOXIE Theatre; Extraordinary Chambers by David Wiener, winner of the LA drama critics circle Ted Schmitt Award and Seattle’s A Contemporary Theatre’s 2010 New Play Award, and The Amish Project by Jessica Dickey said by the New York Times to be “a remarkable piece of writing”.

This season marks Mo`olelo’s second three-play season and the beginning of Executive Artistic Director Seema Sueko’s 16 month in-depth mentorship with Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington DC, thanks to her receiving the Theatre Communications Group’s (TCG) prestigious inaugural “Leadership U(niversity) One-On-One Grant, a $75,000 award. Jessica Bird, former San Diego REP Casting Director & Artistic Associate and local director, will serve as Interim General and Producing Manager during Sueko’s working sabbatical.

Mo`olelo’s 2013 Season will open with a Mo`olelo-MOXIE Theatre co-production of Lydia Diamond’s adaption of Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye (February 2-March 3, 2013), marking the first collaboration of two of San Diego’s top women-led theaters. The Bluest Eye tells the story of one year in the life of a young black girl in 1940s Ohio. Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove wants nothing more than to be loved by her family and schoolmates. Left to fend for herself, she blames her dark skin and prays for blue eyes, sure that love will follow. From the playwright of Mo`olelo's 2011 production of Stick Fly, The Bluest Eye paints a portrait of the legacy of racism on a young girl’s psyche.

The summer months will bring Executive Artistic Director Seema Sueko back to the west coast to direct David Weiner’s award-winning Extraordinary Chambers (June 6-30, 2013) starring Greg Watanabe from Mo`olelo’s Yellow Face and How I Got that Story casts. Extraordinary Chambers is the story of an American couple who travel to Cambodia for an innocent business trip, but become personally entangled with Khmer Rouge victims and survivors. The genocide, complicity, survival, and greed collide in this play that shines a light on the Cambodian experience and asks how far are we willing to go to survive?

The season will end with Jessica Dickey’s tale of forgiveness, The Amish Project (September 26- October 20, 2013), with the directorial debut of Jessica Bird, Mo`olelo’s Interim General & Producing Manager. The Amish Project is an extraordinary, fictional, one-woman play inspired by the 2006 Nickel Mines shooting in Pennsylvania. In the wake of a mass shooting in an Amish schoolhouse, the Amish community immediately reached out to the shooter’s family with compassion when others did not. The play explores the tightrope intersection of grief, rage, and forgiveness, and asks which path do you take?

“This is an exciting time at Mo`olelo,” shared Ms. Sueko. “As we step into the ninth year at Mo`olelo, we’re embarking on an exciting journey of growth, national recognition and anticipation for our 10th anniversary in 2014.”  “The plays selected for 2013 all possess a beautiful poetic quality, drawing us close as they expose the danger and beauty of humanity,” added Ms. Bird.

Tickets to Mo`olelo’s 2013 Season are currently available by subscription only. Subscription prices range from $45 - $90 and may be purchased online by visiting http://moolelo.net/2013-season/ or by calling 619-342-7395.
 

THEATRE NEWS: MO`OLELO ANNOUNCES INTERIM GENERAL AND PRODUCING MANAGER

Jessica Bird, Seema Sueko, and Samantha Howell.  Photo courtesy of Samantha Howell.

SAN DIEGO, CA (September 6, 2012) – Award winning Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company announces the appointment of Jessica Bird to serve as Interim General and Producing Manager during Executive Artistic Director Seema Sueko’s upcoming working sabbatical. Bird, who will begin at Mo`olelo on September 10, served as Casting Director and Artistic Associate at San Diego Repertory Theatre and brings a wealth of experience including production, directing, administration, teaching and stage management at many local theaters. She recently co-wrote and directed the one woman show Women in the Mirror, A Dancer’s Journey.  Bird holds a B.A. in Theater and Music from Point Loma Nazarene University and is beginning her Master’s in Non-Profit Leadership and Management at the University of San Diego.

Sueko’s sabbatical is thanks to her receiving the Theatre Communications Group’s (TCG) prestigious inaugural “Leadership U(niversity) One-On-One  Grant, a $75,000 award that will provide her with a 16 month in-depth mentorship with Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington DC beginning in December 2012.

During the next four months, Sueko will train Bird on Mo`olelo operations. Though Bird will be responsible for the overall day to day management of Mo`olelo while Sueko is in DC, they will continue to stay in contact throughout Sueko’s sabbatical, working together as a team to ensure smooth continuity of theater operations. The grant program will be completed in 2014 which is the 10th anniversary of Mo`olelo.

Mo`olelo began a three play series starting this year and will continue three productions each year, with Sueko returning to San Diego for a period in 2013 to direct the second play of the season.  The company's final production of 2012 will be Tanya Saracho's "Kita y Fernanda" directed by Robert Castro and Seema Sueko, which begins performances on September 27.