Filament Theatre Co. receives the “Resident at the Asylum” Award for THE WASTE LAND by T.S. Eliot

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(Free-Press-Release.com) July 12, 2010 -- “Forthright and funny, the clever staging avoids reverence while still applying depth to the weighty text, a testament to director Hilario Saavedra’s talent and grace... unique and sparsely beautiful..." - LA Theatre Review

“GO…a provocative performance piece… Themes of death, infirmity and impotence are common throughout, which Saavedra and his darkly clad actors capture with subtle force.” - LA Weekly

Filament Theatre Company’s critically acclaimed production of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land receives the “Resident at the Asylum” Award following a successful run in the inaugural Hollywood Fringe Festival. “Resident at the Asylum” awards are presented to the most outstanding productions of the Hollywood Fringe Festival and winners are invited for an extended run in the “Best of the Fringe” series at Theatre Asylum. The extended run awarded to FTC for The Waste Land will take place at the Theatre Asylum in the Performance Lab space on Saturdays July 17th at 2pm, July 24th at 10pm, July 31st at 7pm, and August 7th at 8pm.

FTC’s The Waste Land is revealed to the audience through the use of found objects, music, and spoken-word–creating a series of inventively hand-lit vignettes performed and engineered by Jason Bonduris, Celeste Den, Tane Kawasaki, Carla Nassy, and Hilario Saavedra . The ensemble speaks the entire text of T.S. Eliot’s seminal modernist poem, excluding the Latin/Greek prelude, including all the section titles. Running time is 30 minutes.

In his Los Angeles directorial debut, Hilario Saavedra , shapes a new low tech/high quality performance piece with fellow FTC members. Saavedra received his MFA in Acting from the CalArts Theatre School (’04), and his BFA in Theatre from West Virginia University (’01). Theatre credits include: World Premiere of Chen Shi-Zheng’s Peach Blossom Fan; Termen Vox Machina by Matt Deegan (dir. Max Truax); and 365 Plays/365 Days: July 16-22 by Suzan-Lori Parks (dir. Tane Kawasaki). Saavedra made his international debut with Michel Vinaver's 11 September 2001 (dir. Robert Canterella), which premiered at the REDCAT in Los Angeles (2005) and the Theatre Nationale de la Colline in Paris, France (2006). His solo performance, Adramelech's Monologue, written and directed by Valère Novarina, was first developed in Chicago (2004) as part of the Act French Festival by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and has since been performed in New York, Iowa, Boston and Los Angeles (dir. Joshua Moyse). Saavedra will reprise the solo performance in an upcoming tour in New England this Fall.

American by birth (b. 1888), T.S. Eliot became a British citizen in late 1927. The Waste Land was influenced and heavily edited by Ezra Pound, and Eliot dedicated the poem to Pound when it was published in 1922. "[My] poetry has obviously more in common with my distinguished contemporaries in America than with anything written in my generation in England" he said of his nationality and its role in his work. "It wouldn't be what it is, and I imagine it wouldn't be so good ... if I'd been born in England, and it wouldn't be what it is if I'd stayed in America. It's a combination of things. But in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America." Working by day as a banker, when The Waste Land was published with the help of Ezra Pound, the deal more than doubled his income for the year. Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.

Filament Theatre Co. is a Los Angeles based performance ensemble working to create fresh contact with classic texts, new works, and emerging ideas. Their 2004 inaugural production of Max Truax's Farewell Juliet premiered at the Other Space at Santa Monica Playhouse, followed by the 2005 recording of M. Deegan's radio-play Termen Ne Mret and its subsequent live production Termen Vox Machina at Sacred Fools Theater in 2006. FTC participated in the 2007 year long national theatre event 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks with performances of July 16-July 22 at the Son of Semele Theater, as well as the 2009 global festival "21 for 21" celebrating the work of Howard Barker with a staged reading of A Hard Heart. In May 2010, FTC received rave reviews for their West Coast premiere production of Neal Utterback’s second in a private residence in Echo Park. Founded and operated by California Institute of the Arts Theatre School alums, Filament Theatre Co. maintains concise aesthetics in fearless explorations of process.

WHERE: Theatre Asylum, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd, LA, CA 90038

WHEN: Saturdays July 17th at 2pm, July 24th at 10pm, July 31st at 7pm, and August 7th at 8pm.

ADMISSION: Tickets are $10 and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com (search: FILAMENT), or cash only at the door.

WEBSITE: www.filamenttheatreco.com

RUNNING TIME: 30 Minutes

More information can be found online at http://www.filamenttheatreco.com

fringe festival     T.S.Eliot     theatre