Shotgun Theatre Lab presents
The Pawn

A mimed play with music
by Stephanie Abrams

June 21 - July 6
Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8PM
Tickets: $10

Be Forewarned: This play contains sexual content!

Reviews: Berkeley Daily Planet

A lost and isolated lunatic reflects on his shattered life, a shadow of the man he once was. A hostage to fate, the pawn experiences the world as a series of chess moves, each step requiring calculated thought. Flanked by a romantic street musician and an uninhibited sociopath, this is the journey of a broken man. Creating a story through mime and movement, The Pawn is an existential black comedy brought to life by three performers and one live musician. The Pawn opens Tuesday June 21st, and runs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8PM, June 22, 28, 29, July 5 & 6 at the Ashby Stage.

The Pawn is created by members of Kinetic Theory Experimental Theatre, a San Francisco based performance ensemble dedicated to expanding and experimenting with the boundaries of mime and movement theatre. Artistic Director Stephanie Abrams founded the ensemble in 2000, with a mission to tell stories and express ideas to audiences through the use of a movement based language comprised of mime, physical comedy, acrobatics and dance. Kinetic Theory strives to expose audiences to an innovative form of mime, a mime without white face paint, without imaginary boxes, without limits. By introducing an entirely new form of movement theater, the ensemble hopes to change peoples’ perception of mime by continuing to create shows that are original, provocative and entertaining.

Since its inception in 2000, the Shotgun Theatre Lab Program has been dedicated to supporting collaborative ventures between local artists who create new work. In the spirit of a "lab", emerging artists are mentored by Shotgun company members and encouraged to make bold choices and experiment with process and form. Because making theatre can be an expensive and risky enterprise the lab underwrites all costs, and gives these artists the opportunity to make the play they wouldn’t dare to make if they had to pay for it themselves. Each Theatre Lab project culminates in six one-act workshop performances with talkbacks following each show.

Stephanie Abrams (Director)
Stephanie Abrams has been creating and performing original mime pieces for more than a decade. She spent five years training in acrobatic contortion and went on to perform with circus troupes including: Make-A-Circus, Fern St. Circus, and Velocity Circus. Her theatrical and circus work has received public and critical acclaim and has been featured at many Bay Area venues including: Exit Theater, Venue 9, ODC Theatre, the Zeum Theater, Project Artaud and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco; Alice Arts Center in Oakland, and the Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley.

Juliet Huntington (Collaborating Artist) has grown up in the circus. A native San Franciscan, she has been doing circus at AcroSports since it's inception in 1993. She has performed in numerous productions with AcroSports City Circus Troupe showcasing her acrobatic, aerial and comedic talents. She began her mime training in 2004 and has since been dedicated to exploring movement theatre. A recent graduate of Lowell High School in San Francisco, Juliet is now embarking on her professional performing career.

Eric Klein (Collaborating Artist/Musician)
Although he is most often spotted with an accordion in hand, Mr. Klein’s primary instrument is the guitar. In addition to creating and performing the music for Kinetic Theory’s Gruesome Tales of Death and Destruction, he has played for shows with Tenement Butoh, artAngels, Ramone and Jessica’s Universal Bus System. His duet work with fellow musician Jesse Olsen culminated in the creation of Deconstruct My House, Public Works Vol. I, a book/ album documenting public music performances they organized in the streets of San Francisco and Oakland.

Alex Present (Collaborating Artist) grew up in the theatre in Brooklyn, New York with his mother, a playwright and theatre owner. He furthered his theatre studies in Chicago under Sheldon Potankin at Columbia College, and went on to perform with many well- known Chicago theatre companies including: Freestreet Theatre, Pegasus Players, Defiant Theatre and Trapdoor Theatre, where he worked as a company member. Trained extensively in Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, Mr. Present is also working to perfect his fighting and acrobatic techniques.

Sean Michael Williford (Collaborating Artist) was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He graduated from Harvard with a BA in Linguistics and Chemistry and went on to achieve his MA in theoretical linguistics at Stanford University. While at Harvard, Sean performed with the Immediate Gratification Players, a theatre improvisation group. Trained in acting and physical theater at Studio A.C.T., Sean has appeared in advanced studio project productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. Sean has been experimenting with mime since he joined Kinetic Theory in 2001.

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