UC San Diego Theatre And Dance Presents SHAME SPIRAL

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents Shame Spiral, written by Ali Viterbi and directed by Natalie Griffith Robichaux, as part of the 2019 Wagner New Play Festival.

About the play: When contestant Lauren S joins The Bachelor in its 23rd season, she's prepared for all the drama if it means finding her one true love. What she's not prepared for is the internet's response to the revelation of her virginity and the subsequent fallout. SHAME SPIRAL engulfs us in the alternate reality of reality TV complete with false eyelashes, red roses, antiquated gender roles, and this persistent sense of shame that seems to lurk beneath every single moment. What's the price we're willing to pay to find true love? And why do the things that give us pleasure make us feel so guilty?

Shame Spiral runs May 4, 9, 10, 14 and 17 at 7:30pm, as well as May 11 at 2 pm. Performances are at the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theatre District on UC San Diego's campus: 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA. For information about parking, please see the website.

Tickets are $20 for regular performances. Subscriptions and group rates are available. Student tickets are $10 for regular performances. Faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens discounts available as well. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the box office at (858) 534-4574.

The cast features Savanna Padilla (Ali/Playwright), Mary Rose Branick (Lauren S/Crying Virgin), Cody Sloan (Knight in Shining Armor/Boyfriend/Father), Lee Vignes (Asshole/Chad), Erin Lee (Slut), Micaela Martinez (The Wifey), Juliana Schuldt (Desperate MILF), and Roberto Perez Kempton (BigShot HotShot).

The creative team includes Natalie Robichaux (Director), Samuel Keamy-Minor (Scenic Designer), Raven Winter (Costume Design), Lindsay Stevens (Lighting Designer), MaeAnn Ross (Sound Designer), Kristin Leadbetter (Dramaturg), Rebekah Fegan (Production Stage Manager), Sami Squires (Assistant Stage Manager), and Teagan Rutkowski (Assistant Stage Manager).

The 2019 Wagner New Play Festival at UC San Diego features world premiere productions written by our talented MFA playwrights, and directed, acted, stage-managed and designed by our nationally-acclaimed MFA companies. The plays produced in the Wagner New Plays Festival represent some of the most original and groundbreaking new voices in American theatre. The plays in this year's festival are Monster by Ava Geyer, The Gradient by Steph Del Rosso, Shame Spiral by Ali Viterbi, a reading of Incendiary by Dave Harris, The Jefferson Middle School Monthly by Mara Nelson-Greenberg, and Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! by Vivian Barnes.

About the playwright: Ali Viterbi is a second-year MFA Playwriting student. She graduated from Yale in 2014, receiving Yale's top playwriting prize. Her plays include Deadheads (Owl and Cat Theatre, Australia; Lyra Theatre Company; Last Frontier Theatre Conference); Period Sisters (developed at Roundhouse Theater, Drama League); Quick, Change (LFTC, 13th Street Rep, Yale Playwrights Festival); Woman of Valor (San Diego REP); Shtetl Stories (Miller Theatre; commissioned by Centropa); Promised Land (Horizon Theater Company); How He Learned to Love the Bomb (TinyRhino). Ali completed a graduate certificate in TV Writing from UCLA, and this past summer she wrote in residency at Wildacres.

About the director: Natalie Griffith Robichaux received her BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Evansville and her M.F.A in Acting from the University of California, San Diego. She has performed in theaters in New York, California, and regional theaters across the country including Lincoln Center Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Indiana Repertory, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the La Jolla Playhouse. Her study at the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles under Pam Dunne and with MICHA (Michael Chekhov Association) in the psycho-physical approach to acting under master teachers Joanna Merlin, Fern Sloan, Ted Pugh, Ragnar Freidank, as well as Lenard Petit of the Michael Chekhov Acting Studio New York has deeply influenced her work as an artist and instructor. Natalie's areas of study include acting, movement for the actor, development of the imagination through the body and the creation and support of original solo and group theatre pieces. Recent examples are works for Cultural Conversations for Global Health and the Every 28 Hours Project at Penn State University, and her solo piece Bicycle Face which explores the pathologizing of the feminine. Most recently Natalie taught Acting and Movement for the Actor in the MFA and BFA Theatre Programs at Pennsylvania State University. Natalie's experiences as an actor, dancer, artist, educator, and mother fill her passion for championing the imagination and creative spirit in others. At UCSD, she will teach undergraduate courses in acting, public speaking, and movement for actors as well as mentor students.

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