November 2018

Cleo, Theo & Wu

By Kirsten Vangsness
Directed by Lisa Dring

Lucy is a modern Angeleno gal just trying to be her best self—the Cool Girl, Lady Boss and all-around getting sh*t done Boss Bitch. But, suddenly, the fate of the universe is in her hands and she’s gonna need to do better than self-help books and inspirational Insta Quotes. Never fear! Space creatures from the future and the forgotten women of ancient history are teaming up to get Lucy on the right track.
Careening through time and place, CLEO, THEO & WU takes Lucy on a heroine’s journey with the remarkable women who were so much more than the power-hungry, sex-obsessed obstacles that history books would have you believe.

November 1 – December 8

Creative Team

Writer: Kirsten Vangsness

KIRSTEN VANGSNESS (Playwright) started writing in 5th grade because she read Harriet the Spy, developed a huge crush on Harriet, and thought the only way to win her heart would be by learning to write.

After college, she began writing her own monologues for casting director workshops which then bloomed into writing plays. The 2012 production of Vangsness’ Potential Space earned her a nomination for the LA Weekly Award Best Playwright of the Year. Author Neil Gaiman decreed her solo play Mess, which she developed at NOTE, as his “favorite one-person show.”

She has co-written four episodes of the CBS drama Criminal Minds and is currently finishing her third pilot for ABC with her writing partner, Phinny Kiyomura.

She has been awarded the Open Fist Excellence in the Arts Award and the Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award. Vangsness has been published in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and in the book AIRMAIL: Taking Women of Letters To The World.

Director: Lisa Dring

LISA DRING (Director) has worked with Asolo Repertory Theatre, Humana Festival, One Year Lease, Bread and Puppet Theater, East West Players, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Playpenn, Bootleg Theater, The Blank, Sacred Fools, SCF at Son of Semele and Circle X Theatre Co.

Last fall she co-wrote Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin, produced by Rogue Artists and East West Players. This summer she directed Ray Yamanouchi’s Tha Chink-Mart at Playpenn and co-founded Rogue Artists Ensemble’s Rogue Lab, a nine-month writers’ residency culminating in a festival of new hyper-theatrical plays.

Lisa earned a BA from USC, apprenticed at Actors Theatre of Louisville and sprinkled in some learning in CalArts’ Critical Studies MFA program.