Press Release: PRIME PRODUCTIONS brings the future to the stage.

PRIME PRODUCTIONS BRINGS THE FUTURE TO THE STAGE WITH MARJORIE PRIME AT PARK SQUARE THEATRE

MEDIA CONTACT:  Connie Shaver
651-767-8492 | shaver@parksquaretheatre.org
Tickets: 651-291-7005 or parksquaretheatre.org

 

St Paul, Minn. (February 19, 2019) – Continuing their mission to tell more stories about women in their second act, PRIME Productions opens Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime directed by Elena Giannetti, April 26, 2019 on the Andy Boss Thrust Stage at Park Square Theatre.

“Science fiction is here…Every day is science fiction. We buy these things that already know our moods and what we want for lunch even though we don’t know ourselves…”
– Tess in Marjorie Prime

It’s the age of artificial intelligence, and 85-year-old Marjorie – a jumble of disparate, fading memories – is living with her adult daughter and son-in-law, but also has a handsome new companion who’s programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance? In this richly spare, wondrous new play Harrison explores the mysteries of human identity and the limits – if any – of what technology can replace.

“Jordan Harrison’s elegant, thoughtful and quietly unsettling drama that keeps developing in your head, like a photographic negative, long after you have seen it…At some point, you realize that its been landing skillfully targeted punch after punch, right where it hurts.”
Ben Brantley, NY Times

Director Elena Giannetti says: “Although this play is set in the not-too-distant future, the themes of memory, loss and grief and how we confront them is very much in the now. By using artificial intelligence as a backdrop for a conversation around relationships and memory, Jordan gives us a smart and unsettlingly current setting to debate the issue of how much we need to remember, and who decides the value of those memories and the role of technology is used to preserve them. I’m so excited to tell a story that helps PRIME put mature actors on stage, while also giving voice to the struggle people face when dealing with their own mortality.”

“You don’t really believe that living is a distraction from death.”
– Jon in Marjorie Prime

The cast features Candace Barrett Birk* (Marjorie), Laura Stearns (Tess), Andre Shoals* (Jon), and James Rodriguez (Walter). The production design team includes Costume Designer Amy Kaufman, Sound Designer Katie Korpi, Lighting Designer Mike Kittel, Set Designer Joseph Stanley and Stage Manager Jamie Kranz.   * Member, Actors’ Equity Association

Marjorie Prime is made possible by the Saint Paul Cultural Star Grant Program and is being produced by PRIME Productions as a part of Park Square’s “Theatres in Residence” Series.

 

EVENT: MARJORIE PRIME
Written by: Jordan Harrison
Directed by: Elena Giannetti
Dates: April 19 – May 19, 2019

Previews: April 19 – 25, 2019

Opening Night/Media Night: Friday, April 26, 2019

Thursday – Sunday performances

Venue:            Park Square Theatre

Andy Boss Thrust Stage

Historic Hamm Building

20 West Seventh Place

St Paul, MN 55102

Tickets: Priced from $20 – $60

Discounts available for seniors, patrons under 30, veterans/military personnel, and groups.

All tickets available through the Park Square Theatre Ticket Office

651-291-7005  || parksquaretheatre.org

Website: primeprods.org
Facebook: @PrimeProds
Twitter: @PRIMEbroads
Summary: Set in the not-too-distant future, Marjorie is 85-years-old and lives with her adult daughter Tess and son-in-law Jon. Her new “companion” Walter, is programmed to keep her company and help her retain the memories of her past. Tess and Jon struggle to decide what memories should be kept and which ones are better off forgotten, as the smart technology of their time takes them further into the unknown. As time goes on, they must all confront the dilemma of how to reconcile the past with the urgency of the present and decide how much of the future is worth living for.

Editors: All high res photos are available for download at primeprods.org/media

Performance Schedule: 20 performances 

Friday, April 19 7:30 PM Preview
Saturday, April 20 7:30 PM Preview
     
Tuesday, April 23 7:30 PM Preview
Wednesday, April 24 7:30 PM Preview – post show discussion with cast
Thursday, April 25 7:30 PM Preview
Friday, April 26 7:30 PM Opening Night/Media Night with Reception
Saturday, April 27 7:30 PM  
Sunday, April 28 2:00 PM Matinee – ASL Access Services provided
     
Thursday, May 2 7:30 PM  
Friday, May 3 7:30 PM Audio Description Access Services provided
Saturday, May 4 7:30 PM  
Sunday, May 5 2:00 PM Matinee – post show discussion with cast
     
Thursday, May 9 7:30 PM  
Friday, May 10 7:30 PM  
Saturday, May 11 7:30 PM  
Sunday, May 12 2:00 PM Matinee
   
Thursday, May 16 7:30 PM  
Friday, May 17 7:30 PM Open Captioning Access Services provided
Saturday, May 18 7:30 PM Open Captioning Access Services provided
Sunday, May 19 2:00 PM Matinee – Open Captioning Access Services provided

About the Playwright
Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist, as well as winning the 2016 Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play. The play had its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons and its Chicago premiere at Writers Theatre after premiering at the Mark Taper Forum/CTG in Los Angeles. His play Maple and Vine premiered in the 2011 Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville and went on to productions at American Conservatory Theatre and Playwrights Horizons, among others.

Harrison’s other plays include The Grown-Up (2014 Humana Festival), Doris to Darlene (Playwrights Horizons), Amazons and their Men (Clubbed Thumb), Act A Lady (2006 Humana Festival), Finn in the Underworld (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Futura (Portland Center Stage, NAATCO), Kid-Simple (2004 Humana Festival), Standing on Ceremony (Minetta Lane), The Museum Play (Washington Ensemble Theatre), and a musical, Suprema (O’Neill Music Theatre Conference). His children’s musical, The Flea and the Professor, won the Barrymore Award for Best Production after premiering at the Arden Theatre.  Harrison is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Hodder Fellowship, the Kesselring Prize, the Roe Green Award from Cleveland Play House, the Heideman Award, a Theater Masters Innovative Playwright Award, the Loewe Award for Musical Theater, Jerome and McKnight Fellowships, a NYSCA grant, and a NEA/TCG Residency with The Empty Space Theater. A graduate of Stanford University and the Brown MFA program, Harrison is an alumnus of New Dramatists. He is an Affiliated Artist with Clubbed Thumb, The Civilians, and The Playwrights’ Center. Harrison writes for the Netflix original series “Orange is the New Black.”

About the Director

Elena Giannetti is a Twin Cities director, with credits including Park Square Theatre (Midsummer Nights Dream), Artistry (The Last Five Years), and Lyric Arts (If/Then, Coney Island Christmas). In addition to being a co-founder of PRIME Productions, Elena has acted on stages from the Guthrie, Children’s Theater, Park Square Theatre, History Theater and Mixed Blood, as well as on film and television. She is a graduate of Macalester College with a BA in Dramatic Arts.

About PRIME Productions

PRIME Productions was founded in 2016 as a professional Equity theater in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota region. With a focus on celebrating women in their second act, their mission is to explore, illuminate and support women over 50 and their stories through the creative voice of performance. The company co-founders are Alison Edwards, Elena Giannetti and Shelli Place.

PRIME Productions launched their first production in May 2017 with LITTLE WARS by Stephen Carl McCasland at Mixed Blood Theatre. In the fall of 2017, they created PRIME Voices: A Series of Staged Readings which offered free public staged readings of three different plays by female playwrights, all presented at local venues (Jungle Theater, History Theatre and Park Square Theatre). For their second season, PRIME Productions presented TWO DEGREES by Tira Palmquist at the Guthrie Theater Dowling Studio in October 2018.

To date, 19 female actors over the age of 50 have been cast in roles with PRIME Productions.

PRIME Productions grew out of the realization that there was a scarcity of opportunities within theater for women in their prime: older female characters are often stereotyped, marginalized or altogether eliminated from the narrative. “The Twin Cities is rich in experienced female talent, “ says co-founder Shelli Place, “but there’s a gap in the plays and roles to fully utilize that resource.” PRIME Productions fills this gap by producing plays that employ more female theater artists and addresses issues relevant to an aging population. The plays are selected to encourage and include the participation of all genders, races, sexual orientations, abilities and ages – snapshots of real lives in our times, with mature women center stage addressing issues relevant to a vibrant aging population.

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