KILL THE DEBBIE DOWNERS! trailer

KILL THE DEBBIE DOWNERS! KILL THEM! KILL THEM! KILL THEM OFF!
From Anton Chekhov's THREE SISTERS
Produced by The Shotgun Players
Directed by Mark Jackson & Beth Wilmurt

Set Mikiko Uesugi. Lights Ray Oppenheimer. Costumes Alice Ruiz. Sound Sara Witsch. Live Sound TD Anton Hedman. Properties Devon LaBelle.

Performed by Nathaniel Andalis, Gabby Battista, Amanda Farbstein, Sam Jackson, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, and Billy Raphael.

KILL THE DEBBIE DOWNERS! is playing at The Shotgun Players March 21 to May 4 2019

PRESS:

“Co-Directors Mark Jackson and Beth Wilmurt retain the framework of Chekhov’s original text but condense the action and eliminate all but six characters, yielding a taut story line… Aided by top-notch staging elements, the result provokes and entertains… Amplifying the thematic elements of the play and giving it a modern sensibility and relevance to the current political environment, lengthy video projections augment the live action and gain the audience’s undivided attention with their currency and gravity. They also suggest the prospective collapse of society if ignorance and apathy are allowed to reign… The play changes tone, direction, time, and place frequently, resulting in a sense of mental chaos. But for those who can appreciate leaving a performance with more questions than answers, this is a fulfilling experience.” — FOR ALL EVENTS

"A sort of thematic diving board that invites the audience into much loftier discussions… Not only does whittling the cast down to six make for a more in-depth character study, but it specifically lets the women in the play dominate the stage while the two men seem to wander in orbit around them. ‘Orbiting’ is an apt word here, as it soon becomes apparent that movement and physical space are some of the most important modes of expression in the play… Each member of the cast has a well of talents to show off, from operatic singing to beat poetry to the variety of instruments that were passed around during the production. This is ultimately one of the unique strengths of devised theater. It allows actors to show their skills in unconventional ways and to interact with an audience as boldly as they dare. And with a cast as talented as this one, that’s an experience worth seeing.” — THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN

“A fertile playground for the six-person cast to showcase virtuoso abilities… A too-rare opportunity to appreciate just how much directors and actors shape a show, how a good script is ultimately a prompt, a jumping-off point to infinite possibilities of interpretation… Jackson and Wilmurt let their cast be delirious, demented, galumphing their way through Irina’s birthday party in a manner that paints Chekhov’s characters as tingling, heaving bundles of impulses. They’re just like us, not the starched linens and ramrod posture of some hermetically sealed drawing room… It pays Chekhov’s characters the kind of honor that says, ‘I want to see who you really are.’ It’s a valentine.” — SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE