Theatre Artists Studio Opens MAPLE AND VINE, 3/1

Imagine waking up to find Dwight D. Eisenhower in the White House, Disneyland first opening its gates, and Elvis Presley making his television debut! That's what happens to super-achieving urbanites Katha and Ryu after they meet a charismatic man from a 1950s re-enactment community and abandon their stressful modern lives for a simpler world of TV dinners, Lawrence Welk and transistor radios.

Authenticity reigns supreme in this Norman Rockwell world that trades cell phones and Internet for neighborly get-togethers and Tupperware parties. Katha and Ryu, a busy, professional couple harried by their modern lifestyle, struggle to adapt to their new lives in a time where women seldom worked outside the home and high-tech jobs were mostly non-existent. Cautiously optimistic, they hope the change will give them a safe haven in which to raise a family and restore happiness to their marriage. Instead, they discover a world rife with secrets, repression and hypocrisy. Will they overcome these strange, new challenges and find the world they seek?

The New York Times called Maple and Vine "Piquantly funny, cleverly executed and darkly playful," and Variety stated that Harrison's new play is a "Clever...darkly appealing fairy tale."

"The play challenges the director and the ensemble to create a believable world that contains layer on layer of separate realities," says guest director Richard Hardt, who directed last season's ariZoni Award-nominated production of All Through the Night for Theater Works in Peoria. "It's a very Outer Limits, Twilight Zone kind of story, a self-imposed psychological exile to another world of fantasy."

The cast includes Studio members Maureen Dias, Dale Nakagawa and Debra Rich, and guest artists Radford Mallon and Brad Bond.

Theatre Artists Studio presents Maple and Vine, an edgy dark comedy, from March 1 - 17. Performances run Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets are $20 General Admission, $10 for students age 25 and under and $15 for groups of 10 or more, seniors age 65 and over and members of the military (both active and retired).

To obtain tickets, call 602-765-0120 or visit www.thestudiophx.org.

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