Vicuña

World Premiere -- See It First

A tailor to the wealthy, powerful, and famous struggles to serve a very unusual client: a blustering real estate tycoon and reality TV star who—to everyone’s surprise—becomes a major party’s nominee for President. As the election spins out of control, the tailor and his apprentice are forced to examine their roles as confidants and image-makers for the candidate…and whether the right suit has the power to clinch the presidency. The World premiere of this hot-off-the-presses satire from Jon Robin Baitz (Other Desert Cities) offers a unique opportunity for a play to participate in our nation’s political discourse as it unfolds. 

A World Premiere Ripped from the Headlines 

‘Other Desert Cities’ Playwright Jon Robin Baitz Brings the Election to the Douglas with ‘Vicuña’  

“I wanted to write a play in which someone’s presentation—the thing they are pitching and selling—becomes as important, if not more important than the fabric of their character,” explained Baitz, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Other Desert Cities, which appeared at the Mark Taper Forum in 2012. Our current election “seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore such a story.” 

In a world of 24-hour news cycles, Twitter meltdowns, and political discourse that resembles a schoolyard brawl more often than it resembles serious debate, Baitz feels that artists have a responsibility to respond. “I believe that, right now, art can do something that is harder for the media to do,” he said. “It can examine and explore—not simply report on—it can perhaps locate and explore the level of sanity in our culture.”

Still, it’s tricky to make art when the truth often seems stranger than fiction. “At a certain point, your job as a writer of drama—of craft—has to take precedence over current events, especially when this election is so preposterous and defies credulity in so many ways,” said Playwright Jon Robin Baitz. 

OFF SALE

DATES/TIMES:

Previews Begin October 23, 2016. Opens October 30. Through November 20.

Previews: Sunday through Saturday at 8 p.m. No Monday performance.

Regular Performances (November 1 through 20):

Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. No Monday performances.

TICKET INFO:

Ticket Prices: $25-$70 (Ticket prices are subject to change.)

Tickets are available online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, by calling CTG Audience Services at (213) 628-2772, in person at the Center Theatre Group box office (at the Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles), or at the Kirk Douglas Theatre box office two hours prior to performances. Groups: (213) 972-7231. Deaf community: information and charge, visit CenterTheatreGroup.org/ACCESS.

LOCATION:

Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.