AGES OF THE MOON by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Sam Shepard

 

at Presentation House Theatre from October 26 – November 6, 2016

 

Lonesome Moon Productions, with the support of Presentation House Theatre, is proud to present Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Sam Shepard’s affecting, darkly funny and gruffly poignant play, “Ages of the Moon”, from Wednesday, October 26th to Sunday, November 6th, 2016.

This moving, immersive meditation on aging and loss tells the story of Byron and Ames, two old friends reunited by mutual desperation on the eve of a lunar eclipse.  Over whiskey on a hot summer’s night, hostilities erupt, subside and flare again as each man’s loneliness and despair fights with his longing for connection.  Before the evening is out, fifty years of love, friendship and rivalry will be put to the test.  With the waxing and waning of the lunar cycle becoming a brilliant metaphor for the ebb and flow of life, Byron and Ames take an emotional journey as the Earth’s shadow falls across the surface of the moon.

Two highly regarded veteran actors of Canadian theatre, Alec Willows (as Byron) and Jon Bryden (as Ames), are joined by a talented team of award-winning designers and led by award-winning director, John Cooper, in presenting this powerful piece by one of America’s leading dramatists.

 

Don’t miss your chance to see this truly stellar production.  Tickets are on sale now!

 

Ages of the Moon – by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Sam Shepard

Produced by Lonesome Moon Productions

October 26 – November 6, 2016 at Presentation House Theatre, North Vancouver

http://www.phtheatre.org/show/ages-of-the-moon/

The Nylons – Farewell Show!

Presented by Famous Artists Limited

Thursday, November 3, 2016 at Centennial Theatre, North Vancouver

https://www.nvrc.ca/centennial-theatre/whats-on/nylons-farewell-tour

The Nylons – Farewell Show!

Presented by Famous Artists Limited

Friday, November 4, 2016 at the Port Theatre, Nanaimo

http://www.porttheatre.com/events/nov-2016/nylons-farewell-tour/

The SantaLand Diaries – by David Sedaris; adapted by Joe Mantello

Produced by GTI Theatrical Productions Society with the generous support of Famous Artists Limited

December 8 – December 17, 2016 at Presentation House Theatre, North Vancouver

http://www.phtheatre.org/show/the-santaland-diaries/

AGES OF THE MOON

By Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright, Sam Shepard

PRODUCTION COMPANY – LONESOME MOON PRODUCTIONS

Lonesome Moon Productions is a collaborative partnership of Canadian theatre veterans Jon Bryden, Alec Willows and John Cooper, who have joined forces to present Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Sam Shepard’s affecting, darkly funny and gruffly poignant play, Ages of the Moon, at Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver from October 26^th – November 6^th, 2016.  With its universal themes of loss, loneliness, the power of friendship and our ultimate quest for connection to others, Ages of the Moon is a compelling, immersive story that will stay with audiences long after the show is over.

PRESENTING PARTNER – PRESENTATION HOUSE THEATRE

Lonesome Moon Productions’ presenting partner on Ages of the Moon, Presentation House Theatre, is a professional performing arts centre offering diverse programming for a multi-generational and multi-cultural audience base.  In building bridges between professional artists, they strive to foster a life-long love of the arts for children and youth, adults young and old, the music aficionado and innovative and emerging dancers.  Committed to providing theatre experiences that will inspire, challenge and entertain, Presentation House Theatre partners with groups such as Lonesome Moon Productions to bring the talents of professional playwrights, directors, choreographers, performers and producers to the North Shore.  They invite you to visit them to Laugh, Cry, Think and Learn.

 

LONESOME MOON PRODUCTIONS – COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS

John Cooper – Director

Over the past 35 years, John has directed over 130 productions at theatres across Canada, with numerous shows for The Arts Club Theatre and The Vancouver Playhouse, winning several Jessie Richardson Awards for Outstanding Direction.  Recent productions include Tomson Highway’s, The (Post)Mistress (Arts Club Theatre), Tamara Micner’s, What You’re Missing (Chutzpah Festival), Brian Clarke’s, Whose Life Is It Anyways? (Realwheels Theatre), and Audrei Kairen’s, Big Mama: The Willie Mae Thornton Story (Belfry Theatre and National Arts Centre).  John also has the privilege of spending creative time with some of our directors of the future as he teaches directing for UBC’s Department of Theatre and Film.

Jon Bryden – Producer; the role of Ames

For the first 20 years of his career, Jon appeared in over 100 productions from coast to coast.  A graduate of Studio 58 in the 1970’s, he first appeared in Vancouver with The Arts Club and Playhouse Theatre Companies, The New Play Centre, City Stage and Carousel Theatre.  In the early 1980’s, Jon was a member of the National Arts Centre English Theatre Company for 3 seasons before returning to Vancouver.  He received a Jessie Award as “Best Supporting Actor in a Musical” for the 1987 Arts Club Production of Angry Housewives.  Jon then spent 3 seasons as a member of the Shaw Festival Theatre Company before heading back out on the road again.  For the last 20 years, he has been attempting to earn an honest living doing other things.  Having got that out of his system, he now returns to the arena he enjoys the most and which pays the least – the stage.  Getting this project up and running has been a challenging, yet wonderfully mad, journey.  Which only serves to reinforce the adage: “If you don’t do it, no one else will” – ain’t that the truth.   Jon dedicates this production to Mike S. Terry D. Bruce, Johnny, Earl, Antony, the Ottawa Boys, Louis Bournival and Ted Webber – Heroes, all.

Alec Willows – the role of Byron

Alec started as a Shaw Festival apprentice in the 1970’s, and through osmosis and happenstance, is still pursuing something even he can’t put into words.  The facts are clear – the career has taken him onto stages across Canada, Europe, and America.  Most fun – John Gray’s Rock and Roll (original production and national tour).  Craziest – Comedy of Errors with the Flying Karamazov Brothers in Chicago and New York.  Most recent – Dead Metaphor for Vancouver’s Firehall Theatre, Rivulets for Marie Farsi, Concessions for Touchstone, Odd Couple for the Arts Club (Stanley Theatre), Ghosts in Baghdad  for Michele Dienes, It’s a Wonderful Life for the Arts Club (Granville Island), and Of Mice and Men for Hardlines (for which Alec received a Jessie for Best Supporting Actor 2014-2015).  Additionally, Alec has appeared in over 90 films or TV episodes, including Max Glick and Airwaves.  His movie appearances include Harmony Cats and Tokyo Cowboy, and he has done a wide range of voice work, including the voice of Tarantulas in Beast Wars: Transmetals.  When he’s not acting or voicing, Alec is the drummer for the indie band, China Repair.

CRITICS RAVE ABOUT AGES OF THE MOON:

“A poignant and honest continuation of themes that have always been present in the work of one of this country’s most important dramatists…”

-Ben Brantley, NY Times

“Playwright Sam Shepard masterfully taps into one of man’s deepest fears, that of growing old alone, in his two-person dramedy Ages of the Moon.”

-Judd Hollander, The Epoch Times

“The play is softly melancholic, with a streak of bleakness and despair, and a countervailing seam of hope and humanity…lead(ing) to the payoff of a closing sequence of simple, stark beauty and emotional clarity.”

-Colin Murphy, The Independent

“Ages of the Moon is one of those theatrical endeavours that comes along every so often.  How often have we reflected on our lives, wishing we were young again, and so recreate situations that seek to alter the timeline of our existence?”

-James McMahon, RTE Entertainment

… “Ages of the Moon gracefully considers mortality, regret, friendship and eternal fascination with the opposite sex.  Shepard writes of these serious matters with folksy ease so the conversation naturally rambles and eddies like a country stream.”

-Michael Sommers, Newjerseynewsroom

SAM SHEPARD – PLAYWRIGHT, AGES OF THE MOON

Sam Shepard had his first New York plays, Cowboys and The Rock Garden, produced by Theatre Genesis in 1963.  For several seasons, he worked with Off-Off-Broadway theatre groups, including La MaMa and Caffe Cino.  Eleven of his plays have won Obie Awards including Chicago and Icarus’s Mother (1965); Red Cross and La Turista (1966); Forensic and the Navigators and Melodrama Play (1967); The Tooth of Crime (1972); Action (1974); and Curse of the Starving Class (1976).  Shepard was awarded a Pulitzer Prize as well as an Obie Award for his play Buried Child (1979).  Fool For Love (1982) received the Obie for Best Play as well as for Direction.  A Lie of the Mind (1985) won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award in 1986 and the 1986 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play.  A revived Buried Child under the direction of Gary Sinise opened on Broadway in April 1996 and was nominated for a Tony Award.  Kicking A Dead Horse (2007) and Ages of the Moon (2009) both received their world premieres at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.  Kicking A Dead Horse transferred to The Public Theater in New York and to the Almeida Theatre in London, and Ages of the Moon received its US premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in 2010.  Shepard’s latest play, Heartless, premiered in 2012 at Signature.  Shepard wrote the screenplays for Zabriskie Point; Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas; and Robert Altman’s Fool for Love, a film version of his play of the same title.  As a writer/director, he filmed Far North and Silent Tongue in 1988 and 1992 respectively.  As an actor, he has appeared in the films Days of Heaven, Resurrection, Raggedy Man, The Right Stuff, Frances, Country, Fool for Love, Crimes of the Heart, Baby Boom, Steel Magnolias, Bright Angel, Defenseless, Voyager, Thunderheart, The Pelican Brief, Safe Passage, Hamlet and, most recently, Don’t Come Knocking, also co-written with Wim Wenders.  In 1986, Shepard was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  In 1992, he received the Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy, and in 1994, he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.