Sex and Education

Director Scenic Design Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design Properties Design & Set Dressing Production Stage Manager Public Relations Technical Director Set Construction Scenic Artist Production Crew Light Board Operator Sound Board Operator Stage Crew Key Art Production Photography

Andrew Barnicle Trefoni Michael Rizzi Dianne K. Graebner Jared A. Sayeg Drew Dalzell John McElveney Dale Alan Cooke David Elzer/Demand PR Robert T. Kyle Red Colegrove/Grove Scenery Orlando de la Paz Watson Bradshaw, Cuyler Perry, Christopher Rivera, Matthew Tsang, Genetra Tull Kathryn Horan Brian Cordoba Heather Waters BuddhaCowboy.com Michael Lamont

Hannah Joe Miss Edwards

Allison Lindsey William Reinbold Stephanie Zimbalist

Sex sells. Just the word made you start reading this paragraph. It may have been the tipping point in making you see this play. It is why sex education classes were universally popular in school. No matter the wholesome name your school gave it -- "Health," "Human Development," "Choices and Challenges," it was Sex Ed and it held your interest. Even the accompanying study of physiology was compelling because of its context. The cardiovascular system became far more interesting once you had a hint of what increased blood flow could do.

If only an English teacher could utilize this same provocative context to teach grammar, the very biology of our language. She could attract even a quintessential jock to the subject, and perhaps, younger audiences to a play about it. Hence, my comedy that cries for our educational system. I’m not talking about the empty calories in cafeteria corn dogs, but the poor nutrition in our classrooms. What has happened to the taste for literature and composition? No other diet offers such fiber. Which is apparently lacking in our national priorities.

Why aren’t our educators regarded and compensated as are our elite athletes? Where are the parades in their honor? Where are their perks? Why aren’t they ushered past velvet ropes? Why don’t they get to hang with Jay-Z?  Why aren’t they out signing autographs, instead of home, grading papers? Why doesn’t the red pen that graded its ten thousandth paper fetch two grand on EBay? A red pen that was perhaps prodded to inflate the grade of a promising student athlete, too busy playing to study, so that he might one day go on to play for the NBA with a reading ability challenged by the very print coverage of his own success. 

Don’t get me wrong -- I love pro basketball. I just wish you could fill the Staples Center with young people who find literature as dramatic, whose imaginations aren’t fired by thoughts of wealth and fame, but by intellectual discovery.  Here’s to the demanding, caring, underpaid souls who fire those imaginations.

Mrs. Monahan. Mr. Boyd. Miss Holodnick. Mr. Raleigh. You knew them by their last names; you probably weren’t aware they had first names, or families, and were stunned if you ran into them at the market or a movie theater, realizing they had lives. But if you were lucky, one of them changed yours. One of them woke you up to the world’s possibilities, or your own. One of them saw beyond your challenged social status to where you were headed, and spoke to you like an adult, regardless of the fact you played in marching band.

One of them was Miss Edwards. Who encouraged my brand of seriocomic writing, even when analyzing Shakespeare. Who taught me that great writers did not require suffering to be great, and that no word rhymes with "orange."
 
This play is for her, and because of her.

─ Lissa Levin




As you may know, through the wonderful support of our audiences, a generous loan, and a surprise grant, we have been able to stay alive, launch a comeback, and bring you our current season. But our long-term survival was still a bit of a question.

Then, in November, an anonymous donor stepped up with a very special offer: If we could raise $25,000 by the end of the year he would match it. We made that goal in two weeks. Our donor was so impressed by the support we received, he agreed to continue matching all donations received by December 31st.

It’s hard to believe what happened next. Hundreds of theatre-lovers eager to invest in our future opened their hearts and their wallets. Our final tally at midnight on the last day of 2013 was -- wait for it -- over $130,000!!!  And every dollar was matched by our extraordinarily generous benefactor.

Now that we’re firmly on our feet, we’re looking forward to strengthening our organization through expansion, advertising, and outreach. I have always believed that the best investment is in people. To that end, we have filled out our staff, and hired our first-ever Director of Development, Karan Kendrick. Her focus will be broadening our audience base and reaching out to the community, while building new relationships for sustainability. She is a delightful lady, and you will enjoy getting to know her.

What a difference a year makes! Needless to say, our gratitude is boundless.

Barbara Beckley
Artistic Director