HORSE HEAD THEATRE CO. PRESENTS THE REGIONAL PREMIERE OF
LIDLESS
BY FRANCES YA-CHU COWHIG
JUNE 2 - 18, 2016
THURSDAYS - SATURDAYS @ 8PM + INDUSTRY NIGHT MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016 @ 8PM
@ Fresh Arts Gallery, Winter Street Studios
LIDLESS boldly asks, what happens after war is over?
What do we remember?
What do we forget?
What do we fabricate?
It’s 2019. Alice, a former Guantanamo Bay interrogator wants to move on with her life. Bashir, her former detainee can’t let go of the past. And Rhiannon, Alice’s boldly imaginative daughter is determined to understand what happened between them.
Fifteen years after Alice served as an interrogator at Guantánamo Bay, she has successfully reinvented herself and suppressed all memories of her prior life -- mostly through the aid of pharmaceuticals. Now in 2019, Alice lives contentedly in Minnesota with her loving husband, Lucas, teenage daughter Rhiannon, and lifelong friend Riva -- that is until Bashir appears at her florist shop, confronting Alice with the horrifying reality of her long-forgotten time at Guantánamo. As compensation for the suffering he endured, Bashir asks Alice to donate part of her liver and save what remains of his life. Meanwhile, Alice’s daughter Rhiannon relentlessly begins to uncover her mother’s past, just as Bashir infiltrates their family’s present.
LIDLESS explores the conflicting eroticism and brutality of violence amid the domestic fallout of personal trauma.
With the support of community partners Amnesty International Houston Group 23, the Houston Peace and Justice Center, and Grace After Fire, Horse Head is proud to present a special event series running in tandem with LIDLESS. Following select performances, audiences will be invited to stay for an expert guest speaker presentation connected with the War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay, trauma studies, gender studies, Islamic culture, and more; and join the LIDLESS theatrical artists for an open-forum Q & A session.
LIDLESS performances are Thursday - Saturday June 2 - 18, 2016 @ 8PM and Monday June 13, 2016 @ 8PM at Fresh Arts Gallery located in Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St., Houston, TX 77007.
Tickets are $25, student and theatre industry discounts are available at the door.
The performance is approximately 80 minutes with NO intermission. The performance begins at 8PM, and there is NO late seating. We suggest you arrive a little early to check in, grab a drink, and enjoy the Horse Head pre-show experience. Box office and doors open at 7:30. All special events following theatrical performance are included in the ticket price.
What do we remember?
What do we forget?
What do we fabricate?
It’s 2019. Alice, a former Guantanamo Bay interrogator wants to move on with her life. Bashir, her former detainee can’t let go of the past. And Rhiannon, Alice’s boldly imaginative daughter is determined to understand what happened between them.
Fifteen years after Alice served as an interrogator at Guantánamo Bay, she has successfully reinvented herself and suppressed all memories of her prior life -- mostly through the aid of pharmaceuticals. Now in 2019, Alice lives contentedly in Minnesota with her loving husband, Lucas, teenage daughter Rhiannon, and lifelong friend Riva -- that is until Bashir appears at her florist shop, confronting Alice with the horrifying reality of her long-forgotten time at Guantánamo. As compensation for the suffering he endured, Bashir asks Alice to donate part of her liver and save what remains of his life. Meanwhile, Alice’s daughter Rhiannon relentlessly begins to uncover her mother’s past, just as Bashir infiltrates their family’s present.
LIDLESS explores the conflicting eroticism and brutality of violence amid the domestic fallout of personal trauma.
With the support of community partners Amnesty International Houston Group 23, the Houston Peace and Justice Center, and Grace After Fire, Horse Head is proud to present a special event series running in tandem with LIDLESS. Following select performances, audiences will be invited to stay for an expert guest speaker presentation connected with the War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay, trauma studies, gender studies, Islamic culture, and more; and join the LIDLESS theatrical artists for an open-forum Q & A session.
LIDLESS performances are Thursday - Saturday June 2 - 18, 2016 @ 8PM and Monday June 13, 2016 @ 8PM at Fresh Arts Gallery located in Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St., Houston, TX 77007.
Tickets are $25, student and theatre industry discounts are available at the door.
The performance is approximately 80 minutes with NO intermission. The performance begins at 8PM, and there is NO late seating. We suggest you arrive a little early to check in, grab a drink, and enjoy the Horse Head pre-show experience. Box office and doors open at 7:30. All special events following theatrical performance are included in the ticket price.
LIDLESS is harsh political theatre. Lidless doesn't want to be liked; it wants to change you. It is powerful enough to do just that."- Tucson Sentinel Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig ... considers the moral legacy of American foreign policy in the most emotionally devastating way .... Reframing global politics on a domestic scale, she turns headline news into a modern-day tragedy. - The Scotsman Because the action embodies the consequences of parents' invasive behaviour on their own children, [LIDLESS] makes a far more lasting impact than anything offered from politicians in this election on the subject of war or generational damage. - The Guardian |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's plays have received the Yale Drama Series Award, an Edinburgh Fringe First Award, the Keene Prize for Literature, the Wasserstein Prize, and the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize. She has been a finalist for the Blackburn Prize, received residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, Ragdale, and the Santa Fe Art Institute, and is under commission from South Coast Rep and Seattle Rep. Her plays have been produced by Trafalagar Studios 2 on the West End, Page 73 Productions in New York, Interact Theatre in Philadelphia, and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in West Virginia. They have been developed at the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival, Seattle Rep, PlayPenn, the Alley Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Playwrights Foundation and Yale Rep. Frances received an MFA in Writing from the James A. Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin, a BA in Sociology from Brown University, and a certificate in Ensemble Created Physical Theatre from the DellArte International School of Physical Theatre. Her work has been published by Glimmer Train, Methuen Drama, and Yale University Press. Frances was born in Philadelphia, and raised in Northern Virginia, Okinawa, Taipei and Beijing.
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's plays have received the Yale Drama Series Award, an Edinburgh Fringe First Award, the Keene Prize for Literature, the Wasserstein Prize, and the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize. She has been a finalist for the Blackburn Prize, received residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, Ragdale, and the Santa Fe Art Institute, and is under commission from South Coast Rep and Seattle Rep. Her plays have been produced by Trafalagar Studios 2 on the West End, Page 73 Productions in New York, Interact Theatre in Philadelphia, and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in West Virginia. They have been developed at the Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival, Seattle Rep, PlayPenn, the Alley Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Playwrights Foundation and Yale Rep. Frances received an MFA in Writing from the James A. Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin, a BA in Sociology from Brown University, and a certificate in Ensemble Created Physical Theatre from the DellArte International School of Physical Theatre. Her work has been published by Glimmer Train, Methuen Drama, and Yale University Press. Frances was born in Philadelphia, and raised in Northern Virginia, Okinawa, Taipei and Beijing.
This project is made possible in part due to our generous sponsors, Fresh Arts.
This project is made possible in part due to our generous sponsors, Fresh Arts.
LIDLESS is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
Performed at the High Tide Festival in Suffolk, England, in 2010. The New York premiere was produced by Page 73 Productions (Liz Jones & Asher Richelli, Executive Directors).
Special Thanks to our community partners, Amnesty International Houston Group 23, the Houston Peace and Justice Center and Grace After Fire.
Performed at the High Tide Festival in Suffolk, England, in 2010. The New York premiere was produced by Page 73 Productions (Liz Jones & Asher Richelli, Executive Directors).
Special Thanks to our community partners, Amnesty International Houston Group 23, the Houston Peace and Justice Center and Grace After Fire.