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Flashpoint's 5th Season Ramps Up With Another Exciting Philadelphia Premiere and a New Artistic Director

For Immediate Release: January 12, 2009
Media Contact: Sara Madden, Flashpoint Theatre Company, 215.370.2557

Flashpoint Theatre Company presents the Philadelphia premiere of Neena Beber's Jump/Cut, February 11-28, 2009. All performances will be held at Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street, in Philadelphia. Ticket prices range from $5 to $18 (depending on the performance). To order tickets or for more information, please call 215-665-9720 or visit Flashpoint's website at www.flashpointtheatre.org.

Paul wants to do more than make donut commercials. His girlfriend Karen wants to do more than write memoirs. So when the two join forces to make a documentary about Paul's bipolar friend Dave, it seems like the perfect project to get all of their creativity going. But as Dave's mind unravels, so does Karen and Paul's romance - and one devastating choice changes all their lives forever. The New York Times calls it ".an unforgettable power.[Neena Beber] has made a play about despair that does not leave an audience desperate. Instead it is left exhilarated by the fierce beauty of her writing."

Playwright Neena Beber has received commissions from Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival of New American Plays), Playwrights Horizons, and Otterbein College, among others. She holds a B.A. from Harvard and an M.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has received the A.S.K. Exchange to the Royal Court Theatre and the Distinguished Alumni Award from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has written extensively for film and television and has been nominated for several Emmy and Ace Awards. Her plays include Hard Feelings (Women's Project), Thirst (The Public), The Dew Point (SPF/Summer Play Festival), A Common Vision (Magic Theatre) and Tomorrowland (New Georges). Her play Jump/Cut has been produced by Woolly Mammoth Theatre and Theater J in Washington and by the Women's Project off-Broadway.

The cast features Flashpoint favorite Keith Conallen in his sixth production with the company (The Credeaux Canvas, Between Us, Feed the Hype, The Faculty Room, The Dead Guy). Conallen has also worked with Lantern Theater Company, Azuka Theatre, Brat Productions, Mauckingbird Theatre Company, and Madhouse Theater Company, among others. Kristy Chouiniere makes her Flashpoint debut, having recently appeared in The Hothouse at Lantern Theater Company and As You Like It with Shakespeare in Clark Park. Also making a Flashpoint debut is Philadelphia newcomer Christopher Bohan, who recently starred in Rock Doves with Amaryllis Theatre Company and Monster with Luna Theater Company.

Designers Joshua Schulman (lighting, Barrymore Award for Art at Delaware Theatre Company) and Regina Rizzo (costumes) return to Flashpoint after having worked on An Impending Rupture of the Belly earlier this season. They are joined by scenic designer Simon Harding, sound designer/composer Matthew Ricchini, props master Amanda Hatch, and stage manager Katie Pidgeon.

Flashpoint Board member Karen DiLossi will be the first non-founding member to direct a mainstage production for the company. Karen is the Co-Artistic Director of Madhouse Theatre Company, where she has directed Tartuffe, Squid and Fishy, and last season's hit Pounding Nails in the Floor With My Forehead. She served as the Assistant Director on 1812 Productions' Daughters of Genius, and she has also worked with the Wilma Theater, Amaryllis Theatre Company, and Theatre Exile, among others. Karen serves as the Director of Programs and Services for the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, and she teaches at Villanova and West Chester Universities.

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Flashpoint Theatre Company is also excited to announce the appointment of its new Producing Artistic Director - Michael Osinski. Osinski is one of Flashpoint's founding members and has served as the company's Managing Director since its first season. He has directed five of Flashpoint's productions - including the critically acclaimed production of Caryl Churchill's Far Away - and has worked with the the Wilma Theater, Allens Lane Theatre, and the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival, as well as Court Theatre, Next Theatre, CollaborAction, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Osinski replaces fellow Flashpoint founder Erin Lucas, who has left the company to pursue other interests in her home state of Colorado.

"We will miss Erin greatly," says Osinski. "I believe Flashpoint has become a leader among the smaller theatre companies in Philadelphia, and I think that has a lot to do with Erin's outstanding leadership over the past four and a half seasons. But I am thrilled to have this opportunity, and I look forward to shaking some things up and making Flashpoint an even more vital part of this theatre community."

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Flashpoint Theatre Company is dedicated to expanding cultural arts awareness in the Greater Philadelphia area through the production of socially provocative and emotionally resonant works of theatre, through the development of educational programming within the community, and through collaboration with new and emerging artists from all artistic disciplines. Founded in 2003 by five graduates of Drew University, Flashpoint's first four seasons have included ten Philadelphia premieres and one world premiere, several readings of new plays as part of the High Voltage Workshop Series, and numerous outreach events including artist talkbacks, benefit performances of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, and special matinees for local high school students. Flashpoint is also an active participant in the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia's SPARK program. Flashpoint's 2008-09 season is sponsored by Zipcar, Whole Foods Market, and Fergie's Pub.

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