For Immediate Release:                                             

 

 

LOS ANGELES, CA – September 18, 2019 – Saudade Theatre, the first Portuguese theatre company in the United States, presents the World Premiere of My Favorite Suicide, written and directed by acclaimed Portuguese playwright Mickaël de Oliveira, in a co-production with Lisbon-based theatre company Colectivo 84. My Favorite Suicide is an apocalyptic play that pits society and nature against each other, in which one extreme situation is debated in the context of another, even more, extreme circumstance. Performances of My Favorite Suicide will run from Friday, October 18 through Sunday, November 3, 2019, at 905 Cole Theatre at Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop in Hollywood, CA. For more information and tickets please visit https://www.saudadetheatre.org/my-favorite-suicide.

 

 

With nine performances for over the span of three weekends, the 80-minute play will run on two-out-of-three Fridays and all three Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 7:30 pm. There will also be a matinee on Saturday, October 26^th at 3:00 pm in lieu of performance the evening of Friday, October 25th. There is no intermission. The tickets cost $20. 905 Cole Theatre at Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop is located at 905 Cole Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038. Recommended ages for audience members is 16 years and older.

 

On the verge of apocalypse, four friends grapple with the strangest of all human acts. What deaths do we give ourselves and what countless tales do we tell about them? My Favorite Suicide was written by Mickaël de Oliveira exclusively for Saudade Theatre and translated by dramaturg Maria Inês Marques for this World Premiere production. The highly acclaimed Portuguese playwright blends classical philosophy and contemporary cynicism, placing importance on social and political analysis, and also experimenting with form. 

 

Saudade Theatre is committed to telling stories that affect social change. My Favorite Suicide inspires innovative dialogue by breaking the silence and taboo around this heart-wrenching subject while providing audiences with helpful suicide intervention and prevention resources. The company has partnered with the Pasadena Mental Health Advisory Committee to invite local nonprofit organizations to be present at each performance.

 

Saudade Theatre’s production team includes Vanessa Varela (Producer), Filipe Valle Costa(Assistant Director), Garrett Crouch (Stage Manager, Lighting Design) and Drum & Lace (Original Music and Sound Design). Saudade’s co-producing partners, Colectivo 84, are represented by Mickaël de Oliveira (Playwright, Director) and Maria Inês Marques (Translator, Dramaturg). The ensemble of Oliveira’s My Favorite Suicide includes Saudade Theatre Founder and Co-Artistic Director Filipe Valle Costa (Snowfall, FX; Chicago Med, NBC), Co-Artistic Director Diogo Martins(José Saramago’s Skylight), Liliana de Castro (Psi, HBO) and Joy Brunson (This Is Us, NBC; Snowfall, FX).

 

SPECIAL SHOW EVENTS:

 

• The Opening Night performance on October 18 will be followed by a Q&A moderated by the Chair of the Pasadena Mental Health Advisory Committee, Salina Corral, Psy.D. She and the playwright, Mickaël de Oliveira, will discuss mental health and suicide as well as his inspiration and approach to writing this new work. 

 

• In the second weekend of shows, audiences will get to hear from the ensemble in a cast talkback on Sunday, October 27. Valle Costa, Martins, de Castro and Brunson will share their personal experiences with mental health and suicide, their preparation process for My Favorite Suicide and their performances in the play. 

 

• In the final weekend of shows, the performance on Saturday, November 2 will be followed by a talk from guest speaker and fitness entrepreneur PJ Stahl, MA, CSCS, who will explore the spaces of mental and physical health in a talk titled, “Courage to Talk and Strength to Listen.”

 

 

ABOUT:

 

Founded in 2014, Saudade Theatre is the first theatre company in the United States devoted to celebrating the Portuguese voice and experience. Its mission is to explore the politics of love, compassion and revolution through the lens of the Portuguese consciousness.

 

MICKAËL DE OLIVEIRA AND COLECTIVO 84 – 

Mickaël de Oliveira holds a Ph.D. degree in contemporary Portuguese and European dramaturgy from the School of Humanities – University of Lisbon, where he is also a postdoctoral fellow. Oliveira started writing for the theatre in 2004, and in 2009, along with John Romão, cofounded Colectivo 84, where he develops his writing and directing projects. His work was distinguished with the Maria Matos New Playwriting Award (Maria Matos Municipal Theatre, 2007) and an Honorable Mention – António José da Silva Prize (D. Maria II National Theatre, Lisbon / FUNARTE, Brazil, 2012), as well as nominations for Best Play in 2011 and 2016 (Portuguese Society of Authors/RTP). Oliveira has written more than 20 plays, which have been produced internationally and translated into several languages, including French, English, Spanish and Slovak. Oliveira also serves as the artistic director of END – New Dramaturgy Encounters, a project that aims to foster new Portuguese and international playwriting. He was an Assistant Professor of Arts Administration and Artistic Studies at the School of Education and Humanities (Leiria) and Guest Lecturer at the School of Theatre and Film Studies (Lisbon). From September 2011 to August 2015, Oliveira was Assistant Artistic Director of the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre (Coimbra). https://colectivo84.blogspot.com

 

Drum & Lace, aka Sofia Hultquist, is an Italian composer, sound artist and performer who writes and creates music for film and media. Raised in Florence, Italy, she received her undergraduate degree from Berklee College of Music (Film Scoring and Composition) and a master’s degree (Music Technology and Composition) from New York University. Her composition work includes writing for fashion, dance, theatre and commercials for NARS, Always, Squarespace, Saudade Theatre, Tanya Taylor and Girls Who Code. Her feature-length film credits include The First Monday in May (dir. Andrew Rossi), The Gospel According to André (dir. Kate Novack), Invisible Hands (dir. Shraysi Tandon), the upcoming HBO documentary At The Heart of Gold (dir. Erin Lee Carr, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2019 and AppleTV+ series Dickinson (created by Alena Smith). Drum & Lace’s performances often include elements of sound installation and spatial audio, most recently with events such as The Echo Society VI: Family, an installation/performance at Pulse Art Fair Miami 2018, a Quadraphonic Soundbath alongside Suzanne Ciani’s Quad LP and an ambient reinterpretation of a Debussy opera titled Debussy e la Natura at Festa Dell’Opera 2018. She was part of Ableton Loop 2018 and held workshops/panels and performed at Moogfest 2019. http://www.drumandlacemusic.com

 

Established in 2008, Pasadena Mental Health Advisory Committee (PMHAC) believes that mental health applies to everyone and aims to make a collective impact in changing/shifting the way we think about mental health among ourselves and in our community. Its mission is to increase community engagement and awareness of mental health and well-being, including knowledge about suicide prevention, mental health facts, resources and services – among Pasadena community members and local organizations through partnership and advocacy, with compassion and empathy. With leadership from Chair of the Pasadena Mental Health Advisory Committee, Salina Corral, Psy.D., PMHAC is a grassroots organization seeking to engage those who may be facing mental health challenges or struggles, those who may know someone in need, and/or those seeking an opportunity to advocate and help.

 

20 years ago, Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop (AMAW) opened in Los Angeles, California. Anthony Meindl’s acting studio was created from the desire to teach actors in a new way. At that time, most L.A. acting classes still relied on very traditional approaches to the work that had been established over the last 100 years. Although important and meaningful, those methodologies were a throwback to an era that today’s actors are no longer living in. Meindl started integrating science, philosophy, consciousness, meditation, and very simple, refined approaches to the work that got actors out of their heads very quickly, into their bodies, and allowed them to have a much more visceral, dynamic, truthful experience. It essentially became spiritual. Since then, AMAW acting philosophy has spread all over the world. AMAW Los Angeles acting school does more than just create bad-ass actors. It has fundamentally changed the way people view acting, approach the work, understand creativity and ultimately live their lives.

 

PJ STAHL–

PJ Stahl, MA, CSCS, is a fitness entrepreneur at heart and is always looking for new innovative ways to progress the fitness industry. He utilizes more than 20 years of experience, an extensive education in kinesiology and numerous national certifications to provide elite level ventures and services, including: Project Steel Fitness (Creator, Co-Owner and Head Coach), RFE Fitness (Master Trainer, Educator and Ambassador), Power Systems (Master Coach, Educator and Ambassador) and Reebok (Reebok Trainer and Ambassador). His knowledge and understanding of exercise physiology and creating results-oriented programs has made his services in demand from professional athletes (MLS, AVP, NFL, NHL and MLB) such as David Beckham, to models, actors, performers and musicians such as Britney Spears. Stahl has appeared as a Fitness Expert numerous times on The Doctors television show and has been a Fitness Consultant for Universal Pictures, RFE Fitness, Reebok, Power Systems, Men’s Fitness, LIVESTRONG and Athletes’ Performance (renamed EXOS), just to name a few clients. http://www.pjstahl.com

 

LINKS:

• Saudade Theatre – https://www.saudadetheatre.org

• My Favorite Suicide Event Page – https://www.saudadetheatre.org/my-favorite-suicide

• My Favorite Suicide Tickets – https://www.artful.ly/store/events/18923

• Facebook Event Page – https://www.facebook.com/events/510752416423236

• Saudade Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/saudadetheatre

• Saudade Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/saudadetheatre

• Saudade Twitter – https://twitter.com/saudade_theatre

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For more information, photos, to schedule an interview or request press passes, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.