Blue Door


November 26, 2007
Press Release #1224

For more information call:
Melodie Bahan 612.225.6140
melodieb@guthrietheater.org
Lee Henderson 612.225.6142
leeh@guthrietheater.org

TANYA BARFIELD'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED
BLUE DOOR
GETS REGIONAL PREMIERE BY EMIGRANT THEATER

Preview performance January 17; Opening January 18;
Playing through January 27

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) The Guthrie is pleased to announce that David Wiles and Eric Avery will star in Emigrant Theater's upcoming production of Blue Door by Tanya Barfield. The regional premiere, directed by Emigrant Theater Producing Director Jessica Finney, runs January 17 - 27 in the Dowling Studio. Tickets are priced from $18 to $34 and are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE and online at http://www.guthrietheater.org/.

A successful African-American mathematics professor has tried to ignore racism and its implications for his life. After being left by his wife for refusing to join the Million Man March, Lewis (Wiles) is visited by his ancestors during a sleepless night, shattering the silence of his insomnia, drawing him into a spiral of history, a crisis of identity and culture, and fueling the exploration of what it means to be black. Described by Barfield as "a theatrical mediation on ‘blackness," Blue Door is a dialogue between then and now, between cultural amnesia and memory. From slavery to the Black Power movement, men of the past force Lewis to confront a man of the present - himself.

Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, Blue Door premiered Off-Broadway in 2006, followed by productions at the Mark Taper Forum and South Coast Repertory. Barfield's other work includes Dent, The Quick, The Houdini Act, 121º West, Pecan Tan and Wanting North, a commission for the 2003 Guthrie Experience for Actors in Training. A 2003 recipient of the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, she also received a 2005 Honorable Mention for the Kesselring Prize for Drama, a 2006 Lark Play Development/NYSCA grant, and has twice been named a Finalist for the Princess Grace Award.

The artistic staff for Blue Door includes Erica Zaffarano (Scenery) and Geoff Wold (Lighting).

For more information on Blue Door, visit http://www.emigranttheater.org/.  

Emigrant Theater was founded in 2004 to explore perspectives of the American identity, foster the ingenuity of the American voice and champion living playwrights.

About the Guthrie

The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened their new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit http://www.guthrietheater.org/.

THE GUTHRIE PRESENTS
THE EMIGRANT THEATER PRODUCTION OF
BLUE DOOR
BY TANYA BARFIELD
DIRECTED BY JESSICA FINNEY

First preview:  January 17, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.

Opening Night: January 18, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.

Closing: January 27, 2008 at 1 p.m.

Location:                                 
Guthrie Theater
818 South 2nd Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415

TICKETS: 
Priced at $18.00 - $34.00
Guthrie Box Office: 612.377.2224
Greater Minnesota: TOLL FREE 877.44.STAGE
Box Office hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily
Tickets may be purchased online at http://www.guthrietheater.org/.

Performance Schedule:
Thursday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m. (preview)
Friday, January 18 at 7:30 p.m. (opening)
Saturday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 20 at 1 p.m.
Wednesday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 26 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 27 at 1 p.m. (final)

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