Some People world premieres at Out of the Loop Festival

by PegNews wire

Project X: Theatre will present the world premiere of a new play by Dallas playwright and director Thomas Riccio. Some People is the third play in Riccio’s Simulations series of performances dealing with life in and around the Dallas Metoplex. Some People takes a surrealistic journey into the sub consciousness of the house next door.

It will premiere at WaterTower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Festival on March 11 where it will be performed three times (March 11,13, 14) and then transfer to the Green Zone for a three weekend run (March 27 - April 11).

In an ordinary Dallas suburb a husband, wife and child one day find that they live in a house that has come to life. It begins when Frank, the father and a software systems analyst with an anger management issue, begins to hear the voice of the Narrator. The Narrator has come to synchronize the house in order to make all the family’s dreams come true. In order to do so the world shifts into another dimension where time, space, and reality become negotiable.

Morgan, the lonely, disconnected shopaholic wife, becomes obsessed with survival and begins conversing with consumer products and household appliances. Taylor, the bored, cell phone addicted, Ritalin addled teenage daughter, one day discovers Uncle Bill in a closet where, during a game of “hide and seek”, he successfully hid for eighteen years.

Once the cosmic closet is opened nothing is ever the same. The house begins to transform, plants begin to speak, the Dog God appears, the Narrator departs, the plants and toaster begin to speak, and Taylor grows a tail and learns to fly.

If you give it time and listen every house is an alternate reality, a parallel universe revealing all that was and every will be. Everything you need to know you already know it is just a matter of opening the closet to the collective unconsciousness, navel of the world, or whatever you want to call it.

In addition to the voices of plants and objects, the play includes visits from Laura, Morgan’s lascivious alter-ego; Juan, meathead neighbor who lost his dog; Mrs. Willis, the paranoid church lady across the alley; David the schizophrenic neighbor fixated on pop culture; Doolie, Frank’s philosophizing hunting buddy; and of course, the Dog God, the keeper of the cosmic closet.

Some People is the third part of playwright-director Thomas Riccio’s Simulation series of plays. Orange Oranges and So There, the well-received first two plays of the series, were by presented by Project X at the 2008 Festival of Independent Theatres. Riccio, a Professor of Performance and Aesthetic Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, is an internationally acclaimed, award winning playwright and director.

The Some People cast includes, Bran Brad Hennigan as Frank the husband; Lori McCarty as Morgan the wife; Mardi Robinson as Taylor, the daughter; Mason York as The Narrator; Alex Nestor as Uncle Bill; Andrea Farnham as Laura, Mrs. Willis and the Dog God; Jogger, Luis Midence as Juan; and Wesley Ferguson as Doolie, and David. Lighting design will be by Jeff Stover; Patrick Murphy, sound design, Thomas Riccio, set design, with video design by Hernan Martinez and Mona Kasra.

2009 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival passes, which include one admission to each festival event, are currently available for $60 by calling the WaterTower Theatre Box Office at 972-450-6232. Single tickets can be purchased online or by calling 972-450-6232. For tickets to the run of Some People at Green Zone, call 214-421-2400.

Posted by Shawn