Sierra Stages and Sierra Theatre Company are thrilled to present Seminar, a wickedly funny and intellectually charged comedy by acclaimed playwright Theresa Rebeck. As part of the popular Theater by the Book play-reading series, Seminar runs one night only on Wednesday, May 28 at the Nevada Theatre in downtown Nevada City, CA.
Wordplay isn’t the only thing that turns vicious in Seminar, Rebeck’s rollicking play about four aspiring novelists and Leonard, an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon, and hearts are unmoored.
A well-known writer and teacher herself, director Sands Hall was drawn to Rebeck’s razor-sharp wit and unflinching examination of power dynamics attached to the teaching of art. “I’ve experienced some brutal workshop moments,” she says, “and the approach Rebeck sends up so hilariously in Seminar is spot on. Artists who’ve studied with a powerful mentor will recognize this kind of teaching and squirm, even as they laugh. But I also love the unexpected places this script goes, and the humanity at its heart.”
Hall adds that she’s thrilled with her cast. “In addition to audience favorites Danny McCammon and Heidi Grass,” she says, “I’m delighted to be working with Cosmo Merryweather and Holli Hiraoka-Hurst—and delighted that the inimitable John Deaderick is joining us to play Leonard.”
Know and Go
What: Seminar
When: 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
Date: Wednesday, May 28
Where: The Nevada Theatre
Tickets: $20 general seating, online or at the door
Seminar will be performed with script in hand as part of the long-running Theater by the Book series. Don’t miss the show the LA Times praised for having “sportive fun with the passive-aggressive and just plain aggressive dynamics of writing classes, in which souls are bared and egos are barbed.”
Tickets can be purchased online at the Sierra Stages or Sierra Theatre Company’s websites. For additional information on Seminar, visit Sierratheatrecompany.org or call us at 530.346.3210.