WTF Presents Experimental Theater Piece about Divorce

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.)You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents’ divorce, an original work written, directed, and performed by members of the New York investigative theatre company The Civilians, is playing on the Nikos Stage at Williamstown Theatre Festival through Sunday, August 21, 2011. Crafted from interviews between the cast and their own parents, You Better Sit Down is an alternately heartbreaking and hilarious look at the stories behind the statistics of one of the most prominent social phenomena of our time.  Shockingly candid, these delicate parent-child conversations, with the actors playing their own parents, yield unique insights into falling in love, falling out of love, and rebuilding a life after the complex experience of dividing a family.

Conceived by Jennifer R. Morris and directed by Anne Kauffman, You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents divorce features writing by Anne Kauffman, Matthew Maher, Caitlin Miller, Jennifer R. Morris, Janice Paran, and Robbie Collier Sublett, based on interviews with their own parents. The cast at WTF will include The Civilians members Matthew Maher, Caitlin Miller, Jennifer R. Morris, and Robbie Collier Sublett. There will be an interactive talkback with the cast following every performance, not only to discuss The Civilians’’ unique way of making theater, but to provide an opportunity for WTF’s audience members to share their own tales.

The creative team includes Mimi Lien (Scenic Design), Sarah Beers (Costume Design), Ben Stanton (Lighting Design), and Leah Geipe (Sound Design). Megan Schwartz Dickert is the Production Stage Manager.

In a very special collaboration with WTF’s training program, The Civilians are in residence at WTF, with members Robbie Collier Sublett and Jennifer R. Morris offering a workshop for apprentices to engage in their theater-making approach.  These emerging artists will then join The Civilians in the post-show talkback series in a unique opportunity to take the stage.

The Civilians will also be working with The Huffington Post online to create a “Museum of Contested Objects”, an online forum where readers and patrons of WTF can post their own stories, pictures, and videos associated with their personal experience with divorce. An interactive component will be introduced via the “Museum of Contested Objects” for participants visiting WTF to see You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents’ divorce to further involve them in the piece.

Tickets for the 2011 Williamstown Theatre Festival season are on sale now and can be purchased online, by phone at 413.597.3400 or in person at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, 1000 Main St. (Route 2), Williamstown, Mass.   New curtain times for all Main Stage and Nikos Stage shows are as follows: Tuesday – Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Saturday & Sunday at 2:00 p.m.  For more schedule details, visit www.wtfestival.org.

 

 

 

 

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