GOLDEN BUDDHA BEACH

World premiere of a new play written by Fred Curchack
Created and Performed by Laura Jorgensen and Fred Curchack

February 11, 12, 18, 19 at 8:00 p.m.

Laura and Fred go on a dream vacation/yoga retreat in Thailand. Hoping to get away from it all, instead they find themselves on a surreal journey through calm seas and tsunamis, where they encounter tourists and terrorists, Buddhist monks and soldiers, gods, demons, and nobodies, each other and themselves. Combining dazzling visuals, live action, video, shadow magic and outrageous stories and songs, Laura and Fred invite you on a once-in-a-lifetime theatrical adventure on Golden Buddha Beach. This production is Laura and Fred's first artistic collaboration since they premiered The Mental Traveler at Cinnabar Theater twenty-five years ago.

Tickets: $18 general admission; $15 senior/students

Laura Jorgensen is an audience favorite at Cinnabar Theater. Her association with the 31 year-old theater began as an original member of Western Union Theater Company, which was in residence at Cinnabar for ten years. Her numerous appearances on the Cinnabar stage include Blue Window, Reckless, A Lie of the Mind and Mad Forest. In addition to her work with Cinnabar, Laura has also performed at Actors’ Theatre in Santa Rosa and with the First Stage Company in Petaluma. While living in Budapest, Hungary, she had the opportunity to work with The English Theater Company, directing their production of Our Country's Good. Recently, Laura appeared in Cinnabar productions of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women, Terrence McNalley’s A Perfect Ganesh, George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House, Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads and Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca. She created roles in two world premieres by nationally acclaimed playwright, John O'Keefe: that of Kit Jackson in Glamour and Anne Ingersol in Queer Theory, both introduced at Cinnabar Theater.

Fred Curchack has created over seventy original theatre works, twenty-five of them solos. His performances have been featured at dozens of international theatre festivals. He has received the Gold Medal at the International Festival of Solo Theatre in Belgrade, the American Theatre Wing Award, Critics’ Awards in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas and Austin, and his work has been in the “Top Ten” of The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times. This year, his solo, Gauguin's Shadow was cited as "Best New Play" by the Dallas Critics' Forum. He has received funding from Creative Capital, the Jim Henson Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts International, and is a Guggenheim Fellow. After receiving a drama degree from the High School of Performing Arts in N.Y. and a B.A. and M.A. in Theater from Queens College, Curchack studied Indian Kathakali, Japanese Noh, Balinese Topeng, choreography with Alwyn Nikolais, and trained with Grotowski’s Polish Theater Lab. He has taught theatre at the United Nations International School, N.Y.; Sonoma State University, California; and is currently Professor of Art and Performance at The University of Texas at Dallas.

Reviews
* “When Mr. Curchack is on stage, imagination knows no limitations ... theatrical virtuoso.” -- Gussow, The New York Times

* “Fred Curchack -- writer, editor, director, musician, mask-maker, lighting technician and solo performer extraordinaire -- delivers a don’t‑miss tour‑de‑force performance.” -- Collins, Los Angeles Times

* “theatrical genius...supremely talented artist.” -- Taitte, The Dallas Morning News