Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center Presents THE SONNETEER

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center proudly announces the world premiere of The Sonneteer, the new play by award-winning playwright Nick Salamone. One of L.A.'s most sought-after playwrights, Salamone is teaming for the fifth time with acclaimed director Jon Lawrence Rivera.

Opening on February 11, The Sonneteer will play at the Center's Davidson/Valentini Theatre through March 6 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at www.lagaycenter.org/boxoffice or by calling 323-860-7300. Net proceeds from all ticket sales support the free and low-cost programs of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

In The Sonneteer, a young professor is presented with the secret sonnets of his estranged dead mother. They illuminate the hidden life of this woman he thought he knew, the father who died before he was born, the uncle who accidentally killed his father, and the aunt who helped to raise him. The play traverses five decades, as it explores fratricide, homophobia, thwarted love and the restorative nature of art in the lives of a first generation Italian-American family.

The gifted ensemble of actors has extensive stage and television experience: Cynthia Gravinese (The Manor), Victoria Hoffman (Dragon Age: Origins), Ed Martin (The Laramie Project), Ray Oriel (Dogeaters), ERIK PALLADINO (ER), and Sandra Purpuro (Days of Our Lives).

Salamone is the recipient of the LA Weekly Award and the Entertainment Today TicketHolder Award for his musical play Gulls, The Edinburgh International Fringe Festival Fringe First Award and Audience Favorite Award for his musical Moscow, the Maddy Award twice for his All Soul's Day Trilogy and Sea Change, as well as three BackStage West Garland Awards in addition to other LA Ovation, Garland, Entertainment Today and LA Weekly nominations. His Hillary Agonistes sold out its run at the New York Fringe Festival and has been recently published by Broadway Plays, which will also publish Moscow this winter after its runs in New York, D.C.,

Key West, San Diego, Chicago and Los Angeles. His first play, Another House on Mercy Street, was made into the award-winning indie feature Mercy Street. In 2007 Salmone received the Playwrights' Arena Award for Outstanding

Contribution to the Los Angeles Theatre Community.

Jon Lawrence Rivera is the founding artistic director of Playwrights' Arena, and his productions have garnered more than 80 local and international awards. He has directed four other Salamone plays: Hillary Agonistes (2007 NY International Fringe Festival Award, Outstanding Direction), All Soul's Day, Red Hat & Tales and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's production of Sea Change (LA Weekly Award-Best Director). His recent directing projects include: The Dying Gaul by Craig Lucas (Elephant Theater), Oedipus El Rey (Getty Villa Theater Lab) and Hero (Studio/Stage), both by Luis Alfaro; Havana Bourgeois by Carlos Lacamara (Hayworth Theater, 2008 GLAAD nomination); Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn (Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre) and the Sondheim/Lapine musical Into the Woods (Actors Co-op). He is the recipient of two 2005 Ovation Award nominations for directing the musical Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown at Ventura's Rubicon Theatre (Santa Barbara Independent Award, best director) and for directing the Los Angeles premiere of Dogeaters at SIPA (Maddy Award, best director).

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