FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Erica McLaughlin
Managing Director,
Unmentionable Theatre
http://www.ericamclaughlin.com/loveandwood/
240-593-0778
worth mentioning: Baltimore’s Unmentionable Theatre makes something Out of nothing in Capital Fringe Fest
Baltimore, MD- July 11, 2006— A young theatre company with decidedly humble roots, Baltimore's Unmentionable Theatre is one of 100 performing arts groups that will present their work as part of the first annual Capital Fringe Festival, July 20-30 in Washington, DC. The company's show is called Love and Wood, a new play by University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) alum Erica McLaughlin, a 22 year old African-American playwright whose material and writing style are both one of a kind. Love and Wood is directed by Brigitte Pribnow, and features Dave Baston, James Macon Grant, and Kelly Sinnott. The play will be presented at the Goethe Institute, 812 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001. Tickets are available at www.theatermania.com.
“When we inherited Unmentionable,
we had seven dollars and change in our bank account,” you will always hear
Artistic Director Brigitte Pribnow say about the company’s meager beginnings.
How does one “inherit” a theatre company one might ask, especially a theatre
company of such vast wealth? When the original founders of the Unmentionable
Theatre, all alumni of the UMBC Theatre department, moved on to pursue their own
professional careers, they wanted to keep the theatre company "in the family".
So the future of Unmentionable Theatre (all seven dollars of it) fell into the
hands of UMBC's next generation of alumni.
The non-profit theatre company was
founded in 2002 by classmates at UMBC, a group of UMBC theatre students with a
desire to use what they learned in the classroom
to produce plays with social and artistic value that resonated with real world
audiences. Staging their first low-budget, sold-out productions in a loft
apartment, the Unmentionable Theatre Company has grown to be a recognizable name
in the Baltimore/Washington area, well known for providing quality, affordable
theatre to local audiences. Their productions have earned acclaim in the
Baltimore Sun, East County Times, and the Baltimore City Paper. This season, the
young company has already presented two full-length productions by burgeoning
new playwrights, and is currently gearing up to bring Love and Wood to
DC's inaugural Fringe Festival. As the Unmentionable Theatre gains momentum, it
is striking to note that all of the members of this successful new company are
under the age of 30.
“We believe this is what a Fringe Festival is all about,” says McLaughlin, “it gives young people like me, full of ideas, a legitimate venue to display our original work. It’s a way in, therefore giving us the opportunity to impact significant change in theater.” When McLaughlin and Pribnow attended the festival’s interest meeting in summer 2005, they knew they were going to participate, despite not having the money to pay the entry fees. They chose McLaughlin’s play, Love and Wood, a comedic and unsettling tale of a young woman torn between two imperfect men.
Love and Wood invites an audience to follow three characters on their self-absorbed journeys to achieve definition and control over one of life's most uncontrollable experiences. Patrick, Morgan and Antonio are caught in an impossible love triangle: Morgan loves Patrick, but he will not have sex with her. Morgan has sex with Antonio, but she will not love him. Patrick needs Morgan, but not in the way she desires. These frustrating obstacles lead the three characters to stumble over all sorts of weighty, life-important questions- What and why is love? What is the relationship between creation and survival? As the characters' quest for definition and control becomes increasingly more desperate, the precarious balance between order and chaos, creation and destruction, is torn asunder, and the line between what (and who!) is real becomes impossibly blurred.
“I just feel proud,” McLaughlin beams. “We raised the money ourselves, we built the set, and we all had a stake in it. We started quite literally, from scratch. It is time for DC audiences to see what we are all about.”
Love and Wood will be presented at the Goethe Institute in Washington, DC, July 25th and 27th at 6:00 pm, July 26th and 29th at 8:00 pm, and July 30th at 5:00 pm. For more details about the play, you can visit the production's website at www.ericamclaughlin.com/loveandwood. Further information about the Capital Fringe Festival is available at www.capfringe.org.
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