Revival of 1978 Hit EXTREMITIES Gains New Relevance in the Wake of #MeToo Movement
Updated: Aug 25, 2018
Los Angeles, CA - DYNAMO STUDIO’s production of EXTREMITIES by William Mastrosimone, takes a bold and unflinching look at the realities of sexual violence. The play, published in 1978, poses timely questions about the social forces that enable gender-based violence and perpetuate a culture of misogyny.
SYNOPSIS: Marjorie's roommates are away when a charismatic stranger, Raul, enters her home and attempts to rape her. After Marjorie is able to gain the upper hand, Patricia and Terry arrive home to find Raul bound and gagged in their fireplace, at the hands of their friend turned vigilante. The three women are forced to negotiate his fate as the moral narrative is warped and twisted throughout this one act drama.
Co-producer and Artios Award-winning casting director DONNA MORONG (GONE BABY GONE, TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU) was inspired to revive the play in light of social and political events around gender-based violence. Morong with her fellow co-producers WHITNEY ANDERSON, LAURA CAMPBELL, and LAURA COOVER aim to catalyze conversation around the boundaries between justice and revenge, and human capacity for empathy and compassion.
Select performances will be followed by special guest speakers (including HOPE HALL: President OBAMA’s former Principal Videographer; BEFRANK Founders and creators of the viral PORN OR #METOO docu-series), talkbacks with the cast and our director, and panel discussions regarding the themes of Extremities.
A portion of box office proceeds will benefit A WINDOW BETWEEN WORLDS, a locally founded non-profit that promotes and supports recovery from trauma through art programs.
DIRECTOR TINA ALEXIS ALLEN (Author, HIDING OUT: A Memoir of Drugs, Deception, and Double Lives; Actress, OUTSIDERS, GLAAD Award Nominee; co-founder Gina Raphaela Jewelry’s NO MORE VIOLENCE collection, chose to take on the project because of its potential to awaken and transform an audience:
“Transformational stories are what I’m most interested in. Stories where we as artists have the opportunity to take something ugly, dark, uncomfortable and shameful and turn it upside down, examine it from many angles and then share with an audience. Extremities is all that - challenging, timely and containing the potential to transform anyone who experiences it."
A powerhouse ensemble of actors are thrilled to return to their theatre roots: Whitney Anderson (MASTERS OF SEX, NCIS:LA), Laura Campbell (QUANTICO, THE GOOD WIFE), Laura Coover (MIKE & MOLLY, CASTLE), and CURTIS BECHDHOLT (ANNIE O, HIGHLANDER).
FIGHT DIRECTOR KENNETH MERCKX brings his years of experience as resident fight director at A NOISE WITHIN to the notoriously violent action of the play.
PERFORMANCES: August 3rd - 19th | dynamo-studio.com/box-office
VENUE: The New Collective: 6440 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038
CONTACT: Laura Coover | hello@dynamo-studio.com