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Scottish Playwright Joins Pepperdine Students for Edinburgh Fringe Project
Davey
Anderson welcomed to Malibu as university prepares for a world premiere
production at the world’s biggest arts festival
February 28,
2018 – Malibu,
CA – A
leading Scottish playwright has arrived in Malibu to work with Pepperdine
University theatre students on a hard-hitting production that will have its
world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Davey Anderson, known for his work with
the National Theatre of Scotland and many others, is spending a week with 18
students and key theatre department staff.
Their time will be spent developing the
script of The Abode, Anderson’s new
play focusing on the fate of a young American misfit seduced by the Alt-Right.
The university, through its Pepperdine
Scotland exchange program, has an outstanding track record of collaborating
with renowned Scottish theatre professionals to create award-winning
productions.
Students covet the chance to be involved
in the projects because they provide exceptional experience that can greatly
benefit their future careers.
Anderson said: “I have a long-held
fascination with American culture, so it’s a real pleasure to be part of Pepperdine’s
transatlantic collaboration for 2018.
“I have been very much looking forward
to this week as it is such an opportunity for us to explore and develop the
script, with creative input coming from everyone involved.
“Pepperdine Scotland has earned itself
an excellent reputation for tackling important contemporary social issues in a
compelling way. The Abode is a
hard-hitting story that we hope will build on this tradition.”
The play’s director is Cathy Thomas-Grant,
Divisional Dean of Fine Arts, who heads the Pepperdine Scotland exchange and
has served as director of Pepperdine's endeavors in Scotland since 2000.
In 2016 she directed Pepperdine
Scotland’s Fringe production The
Interference, which won a Scotsman Fringe First and Broadway Baby Bobby
Award and was later staged at the Hollywood Fringe.
Thomas-Grant
said: “The
Edinburgh Fringe is the world’s biggest arts festival and being part of it is a
remarkable experience for our students.
“We are privileged to have Davey
Anderson on board—it’s a tremendous opportunity for our students to work with a
much-admired Scottish playwright and to help create a cutting edge production
that addresses important themes about society in America and worldwide.”
The play, which has echoes of Orpheus and the Underworld, is an
attempt to understand how far-right political groups entice and recruit new
members, and how their influence on the global stage has come to the fore so
rapidly.
Christopher Jerabek, freshman, said: “I am so excited to be working with Davey Anderson on
such a significant piece of theatre. It is rare for undergraduate students to
receive such a great opportunity to tackle a global issue like the Alt-Right,
and present it to the demographics that need to hear it. I look forward to
seeing where this production goes, not just as a work of theatre but as a part
of the justice movement it embodies.”
This
year members of the university’s media production major will be involved as
well, creating a documentary about the project.
The theatre school students will travel
to Scotland in July where they will visit the Highlands learning about the
country’s history, languages, and culture. They will also spend time working on
the play in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The play will then be staged at the Fringe
during the first half of August.
###
Notes for
editors
About
Pepperdine Scotland and Pepperdine University
· Pepperdine
Scotland is the award-winning cultural and artistic exchange between Pepperdine
University's Department of Theatre and leading members of the Scottish Theatre
Community.
· In 2016
Pepperdine Scotland presented The
Interference, by Scottish playwright Linda Radley, at the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe, which later went on to be staged at the Hollywood Fringe.
· In 2012 Pepperdine
Scotland’s inaugural project was a collaboration with playwright Peter Arnott
and actor/musician John Kielty entitled Why
Do You Stand There In The Rain? which also won a Fringe First award.
· Pepperdine
has been performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 1985 and is proud to
have expanded its presence in Scotland through the Pepperdine Scotland
exchange.
· Pepperdine is
a Christian university committed to the highest standards of academic
excellence, where students are strengthened for lives of purpose, service, and
leadership. To learn more about Pepperdine's Department of Theatre or about the
University in general please visit www.pepperdine.edu
· To find out
more about Pepperdine Scotland please visit www.pepperdinedrama.com
About
Davey Anderson
· Anderson is a
writer, director and musician whose plays include Snuff, Wired, Rupture,
Liar, Blackout, Clutter Keeps Company, Playback,
Scavengers, and The Static. His work with the
National Theatre of Scotland includes To Begin, Enquirer, Peter Pan,
Architecting, Be Near Me, Mixter Maxter, Black
Watch, Home, and most recently (as writer and Associate Director),
Anything That Gives Off Light, which
was co-produced with the TEAM and premiered at the Edinburgh International
Festival 2016.
· Adaptations
include Dead Man Dying by Estebán Navajas Cortés, Thieves and Boy
by Hao Jingfang, and The War Hasn't Started Yet by Mikhail
Durnenkov. In 2014 he co-created and performed How to Choose with
Trigger and was co-writer of The Jean Jacques Rousseau Show, Demons and The
Deficit Show for A Play, a Pint and a Pint at Oran Mor, Glasgow.
· His short
plays for Theatre Uncut include True or False and Police
State, a co-production with Theatre Dot, Istanbul.
· He has worked
with many theatre companies across Scotland and the UK, including The Arches,
Traverse, Tron, Citizens, 7:84, Grey Coast, Ankur, Birds of Paradise, Visible
Fictions, ThickSkin, Donmar Warehouse, and the National Theatre of Great
Britain. Recent international collaborations have taken him to Limerick,
Lisbon, São Paulo, Beijing, and Montréal.
About
Cathy Thomas-Grant
· Thomas-Grant
heads the Pepperdine Scotland exchange and has served as director of
Pepperdine's endeavors in Scotland since 2000.
· Edinburgh
Festival Fringe directing credits include Mr. Happiness/The Water Engine by
David Mamet (2002), Eve Ensler's Necessary Targets (2006), Robert
Shenkkan's The Kentucky Cycle (2008), Karen Sunde's The Fastest Woman
Alive and Naomi Iizuka's Language of Angels (2010), Why Do You
Stand There In The Rain? (2012 Scotsman Fringe First Award winner), Forget
Fire (2014), The Interference
(2016 Scotsman Fringe First and Broadway Baby Bobby Award Winner), and Musical
Direction for The Grapes of Wrath (2004).
CONTACT: Tyler Flynn
Marketing and Publicity Manager
Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts,
Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA
90263
(310) 506-4055
tyler.flynn@pepperdine.edu
Matthew Shelley
Scottish Festivals PR
07786
704299
01887
840346
Matthew@ScottishFestivalsPR.org
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