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Two brothers--one a
progressive novelist, the other a convicted murderer and
high-ranking member of a white supremacist prison gang–are united
through their traumatic childhood. Now adults, these men navigate
the edges of their brotherly bond. Are they truly so different?
Is it possible to love someone whose beliefs you hate? RIFT is a
story of estrangement, ideological divide, and the fight to
change one another.
A work of fiction, RIFT or White Lies is inspired by playwright
Dean’s relationship with his brother, a currently-incarcerated
high-level member of the alt-right. The two had been estranged
since Dean’s discovery of his brother’s affiliation in 2010. In
creating the piece, Dean reconnected with his brother to explore
the roots of their ideological differences and try to find common
ground.
The play is the live
culmination of a two-part project commissioned by Luna. Part 1, #RIFT: A Play Over Text Message, an
eight-week interactive virtual experience blending text message
conversations, audio files, and images, was delivered to
subscribers’’ cell phones across the country during the height of
the pandemic. The project was awarded grants from the Venturous
Theatre Foundation’s Plays For Now program and the New Jersey
Theatre Alliance STAGES Festival, and was featured as part of the
National Day of Racial Healing.
This is Dean’s second
in-person production at Luna Stage. His play Heartland, also directed by Kreith, explored
familial estrangement across geographic and cultural boundaries,
and was selected as one of NJArts Top 12 NJ Theater productions
of 2019.
For tickets and more info
visit www.lunastage.org
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GABRIEL JASON DEAN (playwright): Dubbed “feisty as hell” by the New Yorker and “a
great modern American playwright” by Broadway World, Gabriel
Jason Dean is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter whose
critically-acclaimed plays for children and adults include
HEARTLAND (Austin Critic’s Table David Mark Cohen New Play
Award), IN BLOOM (International Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy
Prize, Kennedy Center Paula Vogel Award); QUALITIES OF STARLIGHT
(Broadway Blacklist); TERMINUS (B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding
Drama & Best Original Script), ENTANGLED (New York Innovative
Theatre Award Nomination), THE TRANSITION OF DOODLE PEQUEÑO
(American Alliance forTheatre & Education Distinguished Play
Award, Kennedy Center TYA Award); and others. He has written book
and lyrics for the musicals MARIO & THE COMET (NYU Plays for
Young Audiences) and OUR NEW TOWN (Civilians R&D Group). His
plays have been produced Off-Broadway and regionally at places
such as New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, 59E59,
The Cherry Lane Theatre, The Flea, McCarter Theatre, Oregon
Shakespeare, The Kennedy Center, Geva Theatre Center, Interact,
Seattle Children's Theatre, Dallas Children’s Theatre, People’s
Light and Theatre and many others. Gabriel is the recipient of
the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University and the
Dramatist’s Guild Fellowship, is currently Writer-in-Residence at
Muhlenberg College and on faculty for Spalding University’s
Brief-Residency MFA Program. He is an Affiliated Writer at The
Playwrights’ Center and a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre
Workshop. MFA: UT-Austin Michener Center for Writers.
ARI LAURA KREITH (director) is the Artistic Director of Luna Stage, where her
directing credits include MRS. STERN WANDERS THE PRUSSIAN STATE
LIBRARY (World Premiere), HEARTLAND (NJ Star Ledger Top 10
Productions of 2019), PIRIRA, and the pandemic
play-via-text-message #RIFT. She conceived and directed the
site-specific THE GROUND ON WHICH WE STAND, centering the first
home owned by a formerly enslaved person in Montclair; conceived
and co-created the interdisciplinary VOTING WRITES PROJECT; and
launched SECRET CITIES, commissioning history-based,
community-inspired plays. Under her leadership, Luna launched a
Teen Conservatory, received two National Endowment for the Arts
grants, and has been voted Favorite Small Theatre in New Jersey.
Ari is also the founder of Theatre 167, where she conceived and
directed THE JACKSON HEIGHTS TRILOGY (167 TONGUES, YOU ARE NOW
THE OWNER OF THIS SUITCASE, and JACKSON HEIGHTS 3AM)— three
full-length plays collaboratively written by 18 playwrights
featuring 37 actors in 93 roles in 14 languages, inspired by the
world's most diverse neighborhood, which premiered in Queens as
individual productions, transferred in rotating rep as a 6-hour
epic in Manhattan, and then adapted as I LIKE TO BE HERE: JACKSON
HEIGHTS REVISITED, OR, THIS IS A MANGO at the New Ohio. Other
directing highlights include MOURNING SUN (World Premiere,
Theatre 167 @ West End Theatre/Kampala International Theatre
Festival, Uganda); Tina Howe's SINGING BEACH (World Premiere,
HERE Arts Center) and immersive commissions for Queens Museum and
NY Transit Museum. A recipient of the League of Professional
Theatre Women Lucille Lortel Visionary Award, Ari received her BA
from Yale and her MFA from UC Davis. She grew up in 27 countries.
ABOUT LUNA STAGE
LUNA STAGE is a professional
regional theatre dedicated to developing and producing vibrant
plays about local and global experiences. Firmly rooted in New
Jersey's Valley Arts District – a crossroads of cultures – Luna
brings its communities together for artistic events that spark
conversations and create understanding and change.
Luna received the JerseyArts
People's Choice Award for Favorite Small Theatre in New Jersey
and has contributed to the development of over 100 new works for
the stage, many of which premiered at Luna and have gone on to be
produced in New York, regionally, and internationally.
As producer, innovator, and
educator, Luna is dedicated to eliminating barriers to
participation and allowing all community members to nurture their
own creativity and vision. Luna offers classes for children and
adults, as well as opportunities for early-career and established
theatre artists to develop and incubate new work.
All programs and productions
at Luna are pay-what-you-choose to support equity and access to
professional arts experiences in our region.
For more information, visit lunastage.org or email info@lunastage.org.
Luna Stage | 555 Valley Road, West Orange, NJ 07052
http://www.facebook.com/LunaStage
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