Networking for Performance Network
Sarab Kamoo, left, who stars in "9 Parts of Desire" opening Sept. 18 at Performance Network, talks with Ginny Archer at the theater group's open house.
With its first show of the season opening Sept. 18, Performance Network Theatre threw itself a party Sunday evening to highlight this year’s upcoming productions.
The set was an after-hours Downtown Home & Garden, and amid the tools and hay bales, performers, playwrights and directors were on hand to give brief talks about their shows.
Sarab Kamoo will kick off the season in “9 Parts of Desire,” a one-woman play about the lives of several Iraqi women. Noting that she is of Iraqi descent, Kamoo said the play is especially meaningful for her to give voice to the struggles of women in that country.
Dom Kenney plays bass as part of the student jazz combo from the Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts. Not pictured (but key to the evening's musical entertainment) are Milan Griffes on keyboard and Josh Fendrick on drums.
Playwright Kim Carney spoke of how her comedy “Geoffrey & Jeffrey” was inspired by an Ann Arbor couple, Charlie Sutherland and Jim Posante. This will be the world premiere for the play, which runs from Nov. 6 through Dec. 28.
“I hope it comes to fruition like it is in my mind,” Carney said. “It’s a first production, so we’ll see!”
Husband-and-wife actors John Seibert and Terry Heck will star in “A Feminine Ending,” which runs from March 5 through April 12. “You learn a lot about each other when you share the stage…and soap,” Seibert said.
Other shows during the season are Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” ( “We think I’m playing Guildenstern,” joked actor Malcolm Tulip); the Tony Award-winning “Fences”; “A Picasso” by Jeffrey Hatcher; and Robert Hewitt’s “The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead.”
This was the first season-opening reception that Performance Network has held in its 27-year history. Also new this season is the Community Collaboration Project, which pairs shows with local nonprofits. For one performance of each show, proceeds will benefit a nonprofit doing work that relates in some way to the theme of the play. “9 Parts of Desire,” for example, is paired with the Arab American and Chaldean Council on its Oct. 23 performance. Artist Director David Wolber said that Performance Network has done this kind of thing in the past, but not in a formalized way for each play.
Actor Malcolm Tulip, left, talks with Performance Network board member Steven Klein at Sunday's open house.
Left to right: Michele Carroll-Pearce, Rose Mary Nehra and Ellen Woodman enjoy the outdoor area at Downtown Home & Garden during Performance Network's open house.