Bootleg Theater Presents
Death of a Salesgirl
An Absurdist New Play with Integrated Media
Written by Patricia Scanlon
Starring Patricia Scanlon and Paul Dillon

Directed by Matthew McCray

At Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles

Saturday, October 13, 2012 – Saturday, November 17, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CA – September 18, 2012 – Bootleg Theater announces the world premiere of Death of a Salesgirl, an absurdist tragicomedy with integrated media, about one woman’s struggle to free herself from her past, opening in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 13, 2012 and running through Saturday, November 17, 2012.  Written by Patricia Scanlon, Death of a Salesgirl is a dark and humorous parable of a salesgirl breaking in new territory.  This intensely creative interdisciplinary performance piece, directed by Matthew McCray, incorporates video projections, animation and a uniquely crafted set by the award-winning Francois-Pierre Couture.  Death of a Salesgirl stars Patricia Scanlon and Paul Dillon.  Show times are at 7:30pm, Thursdays through Saturdays.  Preview performances will be on Thursday, October 11th and Friday, October 12th.  General admission tickets cost $25; students and seniors are $18; preview tickets are $15.  Tickets will be available online and at the door.  Bootleg Theater is located at 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057.  For venue and ticket information, please call 213-389-3856 or visit http://www.bootlegtheater.org.

The production is a serendipitous collaboration by a team of long-time Los Angeles theater artists who are working together to create an experience that will amuse, touch, startle and inspire the audience.  The play will be directed by Matthew McCray, who has recently received rave reviews for the writing and direction of his play, Eternal Thou, as well as Son of Semele’s most recent production, The City.  Award-winning video designer Adam Flemming will be projecting his ethereal and haunting visuals, enhanced by the animation of Dan Lund, who was recently nominated for an Annie Award (animation’s highest honor) for his work on Disney’s Winnie The Pooh.  The Backstage Garland Award-winning scenic designer Francois-Pierre Couture will be crafting the magical world of the play, designing both the lighting and the set, and multi-award-winning sound designer John Zalewski will provide the aural soundscape.

Synopsis –
Death of a Salesgirl follows Cat (Patricia Scanlon), a struggling salesgirl on her mission to break in new territory.  Sales aren’t what they used to be and Cat longs for the satisfaction she once found in “a mutually beneficial, yet heartfelt, exchange between two consenting human beings.”  As Cat prepares to stake out new territory, alone, in a seedy Hopperesque motel, she succumbs to a strange and disorienting nostalgia that invites a mysterious visitor, Frank (Paul Dillon).  Gin, magic and mayhem ensue… and Cat soon finds herself caught between two worlds.  As the real and surreal collide, Cat is forced to decide between the two or remain forever stuck between them… in the cramped motel, in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.

Death of a Salesgirl Crew –
Writer – Patricia Scanlon
Director – Matthew McCray
Set/Lights – Francois-Pierre Couture
Video – Adam Flemming
Animation – Dan Lund
Sound – John Zalewski
Costumes – Ariel Boroff
Props – Heather Ho
Production Manager – Jessica Hanna
Technical Director – Roger Nakasone

Death of a Salesgirl Cast –
Cat – Patricia Scanlon
Frank – Paul Dillon
Management/Michael – Jeremy Mascia

Patricia Scanlon, Playwright/Actor (Cat) –
Patricia Scanlon is a 2012 recipient of an ARC grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation.  She was most recently seen in a singing cameo in HBO’s Cinema Verite’ and on stage at the Odyssey Theater in Los Angeles in Justin Tanner’s Procreation, along with appearing in Tanner’s acclaimed web series Ave 43.  Scanlon has garnered rave reviews and a following in New York and Los Angeles, for her character Hildy Hildy and her episodic play of the same name.  The theater serial and Hildy Hildy plays have not only attracted a huge number of fans, but also a number of talented co-stars including John C. Reilly, Laurie Metcalf, Jane Lynch, Kevin Corrigan, Elizabeth Berridge, Joanna Cassidy, Blue Man Group, and many others.  Hildy Hildy has also received the support of fans Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner, who presented a full length play about Hildy Hildy and her dysfunctional family, Three Feet Under, written by Hugh Palmer, directed by Taylor Negron and staged at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles.  Scanlon’s play, What Is This Everything?, originally starring James Gandolfini, is published in Best Women Playwrights Edited by Smith and Kraus, as well as being excerpted in their anthology of Best Monologues For Men.  Scanlon has performed her solo work, most notably Another Cup of Coffee and The Age of Doom, at numerous venues, including New York’s Public Theater, Lincoln Center and Dixon Place, Los Angeles’ Theatre/Theater and the inaugural Lucille Ball Festival.  Scanlon has worked frequently with the Watermark Theater in New York, collaborating on three pieces with the uniquely talented director Nela Wagman.  New York Times Theater Critic Ben Brantley raved, “Patricia Scanlon, as a cripplingly high-strung femme fatale, provides one of the season’s comic high points…” in David Edlestein’s Blaming Mom, directed by Nela Wagman.  She also had two other acclaimed collaborations with Wagman and Watermark, both directed by Wagman, Waiting At The Water’s Edge, by Lucinda Coxon and for Scanlon’s solo play, Just Beneath.  Her film credits include Cinema Verite’, Haiku Tunnel, Magnolia, Man On The Moon, Dead Broke (for which she received critical acclaim for her “breakout performance” with co-stars Paul Sorvino, John Glover, Justin Theroux, Jill Hennessy and Tony Roberts), Hal Hartely’s Flirt and Amateur, Dead Funny, and others.  Scanlon is also a member of the esteemed Ensemble Studio Theatre.  Hildy Hildy: The Animated Series appears on http://www.strike.tv/search/hildy+hildy.

Matthew McCray, Director –
Matthew McCray has directed productions and workshops at Circle X, REDCAT, Center Theatre Group, Son of Semele, Moving Arts, Rogue Machine, Chapman University, and CalArts, among others.  Earlier this year, his original play Eternal Thou garnered critical acclaim.  KCRW’s Anthony Byrnes said, “[McCray] distinguishes himself as one of the most plugged-in theatre makers in LA.”  He received an LA Weekly Award in 2007 for Multi-Media/Projections for his production of Iphigenia… A Rave Fable by Caridad Svich (which garnered six nominations).  In 2008, he was in residence with Center Theatre Group, developing his original play about agriculture, Fencerow to Fencerow.  McCray has produced over 25 plays in Los Angeles for Son of Semele Ensemble (SOSE), a theater company which he founded in 2000 and which was profiled by American Theatre in 2004 as one of the country’s top up-and-coming ensembles.  In 2003, he accepted the Ovation Award for the SOSE production of Animal Farm, which he produced.  As an actor, he has performed on the stages of Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), Disney, REPRISE!, Overtone Industries, The Theatre @ Boston Court, Musical Theatre West, Shakespeare Orange County, SOSE, as well as on the television shows Will & Grace, Boston Legal, The Cure (pilot), and the feature film The Commission (starring Martin Sheen, Edward Asner and Martin Landau).  He has served on panels at CalArts, the Los Angeles Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, and LA Stage Alliance, among others.  He holds a BFA from Chapman University and is a member of both AEA & SAG.  www.matthewmccray.com

Francois-Pierre Couture, Lighting and Scenic Designer –
Francois-Pierre Couture moved from Montreal to Los Angeles to complete his Master’s degree in scenic and lighting design at UCLA in 2006.  He was nominated for an Ovation Award for his scenic design for A Picasso at the Geffen Playhouse, received the 2010 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for Sustained Achievement in Set Design, received a Garland Award for the scenery of The Quality of Life at the Geffen Playhouse, was nominated for Best Scenic Design for Stranger at the 2010 LA Weekly Awards.  Other designs include scenery for Medea, Chicago Opera Theatre; scenery/lighting/projections for Maestro; scenery for Beethoven as I Knew Him at San Diego Old Globe (also at the Geffen Playhouse, Chicago Water Tower, and Phoenix HTC); and scenery for The Dinosaur Within at The Theatre @ Boston Court, along with his recent scenic design for The Children at The Theatre @ Boston Court as well.  www.fpcouture.com

Adam Flemming, Video Designer –
Adam Flemming is a video and scenic designer based in Los Angeles.  He has collaborated with South Coast Repertory, Long Beach Opera, Pasadena Playhouse, East/West Players, Deaf West, The Theatre @ Boston Court, Noise Within, Laguna Playhouse, Odyssey Theater, and Santa Barbara Theater amongst others and has had productions in New York City, San Francisco, Miami, Austin, Edinburgh, and Guadalajara.  He is an artistic associate with Son of Semele and holds an MFA in design from CalArts.  www.adamflemmingdesign.com

Dan Lund, Animation Artist –
Dan Lund was recently nominated for an Annie Award for his animation on Disney’s Winnie The Pooh.  He has been an animator at Disney since 1989 and has worked on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tarzan and The Princess and the Frog.  He has also contributed to “outside Disney” films such as The Simpsons’ Movie and The Peanuts.  Lund keeps very active in the independent live-action world most notably with his documentary work.  Through his directing, he has introduced us to Mama D, who throws a party for the homeless, Wannabe, Just A Boy And Her Dream taking us on a wild ride with L.A.’s leading drag queen traffic instructor, and then into the world of the singing dancing dead with Death Becomes Them…The Musical with which he won Best Director at the New York International Film Festival.  His latest documentary work garnered him the certificate of merit from ASIFA-Hollywood at the Annie Awards for his live-action/animation documentary Dream On Silly Dreamer.  The film chronicled the decision that Disney made to close down its traditional animation division and stop the art of drawing.  He continues melding live theater pieces that inspire him with animation in order to get these gems out to larger audiences.

John Zalewski, Sound Designer –
John Zalewski is a sound designer, electronic musician and visual artist who has been active in live performance since his experience with the work of the late Reza Abdoh in the early 1990s.  In U.S. regional theater, he has worked with South Coast Rep, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, Portland Center Stage, and ATL/Humana Festival.  In Los Angeles, he collaborated on projects with La Mirada Theater, Lewis Family Playhouse, Theater @ Boston Court, Bootleg Theater, East West Players, LA Philharmonic, Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), Los Angeles Theatre Center, 24th Street Theater, Actors’ Gang, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Padua Hills Theater, Antaeus Company, and Evidence Room.  He was also involved in projects at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, chashama, La MaMa Experimental Theatre and Theatre Delicatessen/Bush Bazaar.  Awards include one LA Stage Alliance Ovation and 15 nominations, five LA Weekly Awards, one LA Drama Critics Circle Award, 10 Backstage Garlands, one TicketHolder Award, and various Stage Scene LA Scenies.  He is also an NEA/TCG 2001 Designer Development alum.

Paul Dillon, Actor (Frank) –  
Paul Dillon recently appeared in Bootleg Theater’s 9 Circles, which earned an Ovation Award nomination for Best Acting Ensemble.  Other recent productions include Geffen Playhouse’s Superior Donuts, Needtheater’s The Event, and Center Theater Group’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.  Past seasons’ performances include Rantoul and Die, Heart of a Dog, Threepenny Opera, American Dead, the Ovation-winning Lost Angels production of Killer Joe, and the LA Weekly Award-winning production of Hellcab at the Tamarind Theatre.  Dillon originated the roles of Joe Cooper and the Cabbie in the world premieres of Killer Joe and Hellcab, respectively, in Chicago.  He went on to reappear in the Off Broadway production of Killer Joe and produce/appear in the indie film version of Hellcab.  Other camera work includes recurring roles in The Shield and The Pretender.  He was also in Natural Born Killers, Austin Powers, Fight Club, and the soon to be released On the Road.

Bootleg Theater –
Bootleg is a space for art.  Bootleg is a 1930s warehouse and a home for Los Angeles artists who work in theater, music, dance, and film.  Bootleg provides artistic support and production resources to help these artists create original and daring interdisciplinary work.  Combining art forms creates work that is surprising, unexpected, exciting and reflective of life in Los Angeles, a city where the boundaries are elastic, and not bound by tradition.  Bootleg offers Los Angeles a celebration of itself.

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

“To whomever said,
‘The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.’
I beg to differ.  It’s the only country I know.” – Cat

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