Short Summary
PLOT:
Six years ago, a 10-year-old boy
accidentally shot and killed his 9-year-old brother after his mom left a
loaded gun in the couch cushion. Now,
six years later, the court appointed social worker has come over for a home
visit to determine if the now 16-year-old boy should be let off of parole
early. The social worker, Jennifer (30) interviews the family's children Kaylee (17), Adam (16) and Ruthie (7) and the parents Charles and Helen. The play echoes themes of Ordinary People and Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf.
SHOW INFORMATION:
The Lounge Theater, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038
July 12 - August 17th; Fridays & Saturdays @ 8pm; Sundays @ 7pm
PEOPLE INVOLVED:
Marja-Lewis Ryan (Writer/Producer/Director) eked out an honors degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She wrote and produced the feature, The Four-Faced Liar, and won some things
like the HBO Audience Award for Best First Feature (Los Angeles) and The Roger
Walker-Dack Award for Emerging Artist (Miami). The film was the centerpiece feature at over
50 festivals worldwide, it airs on LOGO way too often, and is available
anywhere movies get watched. Ryan's first play, Dysnomia (Lounge
Theater, LA) got a "GO!" from LA Weekly, was "PICKED!" by Backstage West and she nabbed
an Ovation Award Nomination for Best Playwriting. She
shares her at-home office with a litter box
and the two cats that poop in it.
She is repped by superheroes: Charles Ferraro (UTA) and Josh Goldenberg (Kaplan/Perrone).
Emily Peck (Producer/Actor) earned an honors BFA in Theater from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where she studied at the Atlantic Theater Company’s Acting School. She produced and starred in the feature, THE FOUR-FACED LIAR, which won the HBO Audience Award for Best First Feature. Select credits include: ModRock (LA), Ten by Twenty “On Story" (Atlantic Theater Company, off-Broadway), God I Hope I Get It, the Real Housewives of William Shakespeare (Second City, LA), Literally Dysfunctional,The After-Dinner Joke, and Twelfth Night (ATCAS). She lives in Los Angeles.
Heidi Sulzman (Producer/Actor) received her B.A. in Performance Studies from Arizona State University. Her television credits include guest starring roles on The Shield, Bones, Judging Amy, and American Dad as well as film roles in Laurel Canyon and Waitress. Recent theatre credits include Dear Harvey at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and The Laramie Project at Stella Adler, Los Angeles. Most recently, Ms. Sulzman was the lead in the play Dysnomia, written for her by Marja-Lewis Ryan. The play received an Ovation Award Nomination for Best Playwriting. Dysnomia has been optioned as a feature film and will be produced by One Zero Films and star Ms. Sulzman.
What We Need & Why We Need It
We need $15,000 total. We are raising $5,000 here. All money goes directly to production cost. The rental space alone is $5,400… So that should give you an idea...
The Impact
This play was inspired by the
September 28th article in the New York Times: Children and Guns, the
Hidden Toll, which explored the rates of gun related homicides versus
accidental shootings in America.
According to a study conducted in Atlanta and
cited by the NYT article, when 64 boys were let into a room with an inoperative
.38 caliber hand gun concealed in a drawer, 2/3 handled it, 1/3 pulled the
trigger and only 1 actually told an adult and he was later teased by his peers.
Additionally, everyday, 32 Americans are murdered with guns and 51 people kill
themselves with a firearm (Brady Campaign Website).
All of these numbers represent millions of families who have been impacted by gun deaths. This play is not political in nature, but rather is a fictionalized account of how one of these families managed after their loss.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can't contribute please feel free to pass this along to someone who can! Thank you so much!
