GUERRILLA REP AND MAMA CALIZO’S VOICE FACTORY
PRESENT THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
“THIRD EYE; THE B-SIDE MONOLOGUES”
SEPTEMBER 4 – 27, 2008

DOCUMENTARY PLAY EXPLORES, EXPLODES
TRADITIONAL VIEWS OF LOVE AND MARRIAGE

SAN FRANCISCO (August 1, 2008)- San Francisco's Guerrilla Rep and Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory present the world premiere of Third Eye; the b-side monologues, a documentary play written by John Caldon that explores – and often explodes – traditional views of love and marriage. Third Eye; the b-side monologues performs Thursdays – Saturdays, September 4 – 27 at 8 pm at Mama Calizo's Voice Factory at 1519 Mission Street in San Francisco. (Press opening is Thursday September 4 at 8pm).

Caldon, who directed Terrence Beswick’s tragicomedy hotshot for Guerrilla Rep earlier this year, crafted Third Eye; the b-side monologues from taped conversations with five racially, culturally and sexually diverse people who share their poignant and often humorous stories about longing, love, family and marriage.

“I’ve spent the last three years developing this play through a process of synthesizing interviews into dramatic text,” says Caldon, who co-directs with Thu Tran. “I found five of the most diverse people one could ever hope to meet, held an open conversation with them, and found that for all our differences we are bound by a common desire for love and connection. ‘We the people’ are delicately nuanced, but for some reason ‘we the society’ force each other into boxes, into easily identifiable shapes that would divide us.”

Among the cast is Melenie Eleneke, a human rights, HIV/AIDS and transgender activist who was one of Caldon’s five interview subjects and will be playing herself in Third Eye; the b-side monologues. Greg Gutting (Christian in hotshot, Guerrilla Rep’s inaugural production) will portray the heterosexual Rick in Third Eye; the b-side monologues, which also features performances by Lucas Biasch, Kat Evasco, Rachel Garcia, and live music by Ryan Fuimaono. Designers include Ian Caldon (projection), Mark Koss (costumes), Luke Neu (makeup),Tanya Orellana (sets), Krista Smith (lights) and Matt Stines (sound).

A portion of the ticket sales from all performances of Third Eye; the b-side monologues will benefit the Equality California Institute's public education campaign, "Let California Ring", which aims to open hearts and minds about the freedom to marry and the respect, support, protections, and responsibilities that come with marriage. (www.letcaliforniaring.org).

“It’s easy to decide that a person has the right to say ‘I do’ or ‘I don’t’ based on some perception that they’re good or bad or right or wrong,” Caldon says. “But in the end we all bleed the same.”

For tickets ($15 general; $12.50 students, seniors and TBA; $10 groups of 10+), call 800-838-3006 or visit www.guerrillarep.org.

THE COMPANIES
Guerrilla Rep (www.guerrillarep.org), a resident theatre company at Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory, was co-founded earlier this year by Terrence Beswick and John Caldon to develop and present provocative, timely and socially relevant new work from Bay Area playwrights. Third Eye; the b-side monologues is Guerrilla Rep’s second production. Guerrilla Rep’s inaugural production, hotshot, was praised by audiences and critics:

The mission of Mama Calizo's Voice Factory (www.voicefactorysf.org) is to nurture the development of queer performers, educators and activists by providing them with artist-in-residence programs and arts programming. Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory believes that the process and product of creative activity have equal value, that all talent is worthy of development, and that artistic expression is essential to our community's health. MCVF places special emphasis on supporting the work of queer people of color, trans people and artists living with HIV/ AIDS.

THE ARTISTS
John Caldon (Playwright/Co-Director): Most recently, Caldon directed the world premiere of Guerrilla Rep’s hotshot at Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory. In 2007, He co-directed the SFSU One-Act Fringe with preeminent Chicano playwright and director Roy Conboy. He also staged Tony Kushner’s Homebody monologue and To Tame a Shrew, his own conceptual adaptation of Shakespeare’s work, for the SFSU Brown Bag Theatre Company’s 2007 season. Previously, he assistant-directed the SFSU Main Stage production of The Karamazovs, Bill Peter’s adaptation of the Dostoevsky novel, and directed the staged reading of his own first full-length play, Third Eye; the b-side monologues. Caldon comes from a background in theater and film production, working with The Western Stage in Salinas, with Royal Caribbean International, and as Executive Producer for Amedias Motion Pictures. He is a recent graduate of the SFSU Creative Writing program.

Thu Tran (Co-Director): Tran is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a degree in Theatre Arts Performance. Most recently, he played the title role in the world premiere of Mark Jackson's adaptation of Don Juan. Other credits include The Forest War at the Ashby Stage, Lovers and Other Strangers, Danton's Death, and Les Liaisons Dangerouses. In 2007 he adapted and directed Andrew Lam's Perfume Dreams for SF State's Brown Bag Theatre Fall Season, as well as wrote and staged a reading of a new original musical, A Concordance of One's Life. His theatre training includes Suzuki Method Training, Biomechanics, Corporeal Mime, and Nohgaku Theatre.

Lucas BIasch (Armando): Lucas Baisch will be entering his third year at San Francisco's School of the Arts' Theatre Program where he recently appeared in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Biasch training includes Shakespeare, Commedia dell'arte, Noh and Kyogen Theatre, Afro-Haitian Dance and Playwriting.

Rachel Garcia (Shannon): Most recently, Garcia graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Theatre Arts. She has performed in a staged reading of the play-in-progress The Devil Beatin’ His Wife by John Caldon, the 2007 SFSU One-Act Fringe, Tony Kushner’s Homebody monologue for the SFSU Brown Bag Theatre Company’s 2007 season, and a SFSU main stage production of The Karamazovs, Bill Peter’s adaptation of the Dostoevsky novel.

Melenie Eleneke (Melenie): Eleneke is a Native Hawaiian mahuwahine, hula dancer, Polynesian costume/fashion & Chihuahua fashion designer under her own “Mahinamalamalama” couture label. Aside from being an improvisational performance artist, Eleneke has garnered international attention for her work as a human rights advocate. She is an “HIV Stops With Me” spokesmodel, a health educator, an HIV/AIDS prevention advocate, a transgender human rights activist, and a social justice activist in the LGBTQQI, Asian & Pacific Islander, and In-Prison communities. While pursuing her social work and social justice education, Eleneke is focusing on LGBTQQI Pacific Islander cultural competency and the proactive maintenance of health and wellness in those communities.

Kat Evasco (Jovee): Evasco was fortunate to find sanity in the performing arts. Three years and some odd months ago, she joined Bindlestiff Studio, the only permanent community-based performing arts venue in the nation dedicated to showcasing emerging Filipin@ American and Pilipin@ artists. Cultivated as an artist by crazy Filipin@s, Evasco discovered a passion and a path in theater arts. Besides theater, Evasco also started making her life public through stand up comedy and she may be found performing stand up on Thursdays at Brainwash.

Ryan Fuimaono (Music): Fuimaono is a Pacific Islander community activist and a recipient of the Rickey Williams Leaders Fellowship granted by the Horizons Foundation and Castro For All to emerging LGBT leaders in communities of color. A former member of the LGBT Advisory Committee to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, Fuimaono currently volunteers as an HIV Test Counselor at Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center. He is also a hula dancer with the San Francisco-based hālau, Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu.

Greg Gutting (Rick): Most recently, Gutting appeared as Christian in Guerrilla Rep’s hotshot and he is thrilled to continue working with the company as Rick in Third Eye; the b-side monologues. Other favorite credits include Butch Manley in Real/Not Real (Custom Made Theatre Company 2007), the Pet Dog in The Pet Dog and the Lady (Unidentified Theatre Company 2007), The Referee in The Sentimental Boxer (Three Wise Monkeys 2006), and Nathan in Strange Bedfellows (2006).


ATTENTION CALENDAR EDITORS: Please list under Stage / Theatre

WHAT: Guerrilla Rep and Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory present the world premiere of Third Eye; the b-side monologues, a documentary play by John Caldon that explores - and often explodes - traditional views of love, family and marriage. Co-directed by John Caldon and Thu Tran.

WHEN: Opens Thursday, Sept 4 at 8PM. Closes Saturday, Sept 27 at 8PM

SHOWTIMES: Sept 4-27; Thurs-Sat 8PM

WHERE: Mama Calizo's Voice Factory, 1519 Mission St (at South Van Ness Ave.) in San Francisco

TICKETS: $10-15. TBA/student/senior/group discounts. Call 800-838-3006 or visit www.guerrillarep.org

INFO: www.guerrillarep.org