Footprint by Jennie Webb
LOCATION
The Road on Lankershim – GALLERY
5108 Lankershim Boulevard
North Hollywood, CA 91601
(Street parking or paid lot parking at 5125 Lankershim Blvd)
Footprint
By Jennie Webb
Directed by Michelle Gillette
CAST
ANNA – Arianna Ortiz*
ZENITH- Gabriela Ortega
RICK- Justin Okin*
BODY- Adam Duarte
STAGE DIRECTIONS- Emily Jerez
*Appears courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association
SYNOPSIS
Anna is suddenly having difficulties navigating her life in LA—is it being without a car or being stalled by a “Denver Boot of Sorrow?” And then there’s that body following her around. Footprint is a new play about loss, mystery and leaving one’s mark.
TICKETS
No reservations or advance tickets. Admission is by donation ($15 suggested).
MEET YOUR PLAYWRIGHT
JENNIE WEBB is an LA-based playwright in residence at Rogue Machine (where her dark retail comedy “Yard Sale Signs” premiered) & Theatricum Botanicum, with works produced and/or supported by theaters and programs including The Playwrights Center’s PlayLabs, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Theatre of NOTE, Road Theatre Summer Playwrights Festivals, Santa Monica Rep, Inkwell Theater, Blank Theatre, Little Black Dress INK, Virginia Avenue Project, National Winter Playwrights Retreat, PlayGround-LA & Moving Arts MADlab. She is currently a member of the Playwrights Union, EST/LA Playwrights Unit and the Dramatists Guild, and co-founder of the LA Female Playwrights Initiative (lafpi.com). jenniewebbsite.com + @jenniewebbsite
MEET YOUR DIRECTOR
MICHELLE GILLETTE has been a proud Roadie for the last 4 1/5 years. She has directed many shows including The Birthday Party, The Misanthrope, and Greater Tuna up and down the I-5 corridor. Michelle has written 9 children’s musicals which are a regular staple of theatres in the Northwest. As an actor, her favorite roles include Frannie Hawker in Stupid Kid, which was part of the last season here at The Road Theatre. Michelle has also particularly enjoyed playing Mother Superior in Mother Superior Explains It all, the mother in ‘Nt Mother and Petunia, the tap dancing pig. Michelle can be seen as a recurring guest on Blunt Talk with Patrick Stewart.
An Interview with Playwright Jennie Webb
1: What is the name of your play?
FOOTPRINT
2: What was your first job in the theatre?
I haven’t got the vaguest idea. I have the worst memory on the planet. I tend to just make things up.
3: Do you ever model characters after real life people?
Maybe bits and pieces? But I do find it funny that the more you DO model characters after people in your life, the less they recognize themselves. In any case, I’m lucky to have worked with so many fabulous LA actors, and when I write I’m able to have specific performers in mind. As models ????
4: As an artist, what subjects tend to draw your interest?
I write what I call “domestic absurdism,” so it’s stuff in everyday life that takes us by surprise and into the surreal. I write dark comedies; I hope they’re full of the kind of laughter that makes us a smidge uncomfortable. And women are always at the center of my plays.
5: Do you have other passions aside from playwriting?
I’m sure this sounds boring, but I guess other people and their stories—supporting them and helping to get them out there. Particularly stories we haven’t heard before, that catch us off guard—women playwrights, I’m talking to YOU!
6: Are you currently working on any new projects?
Yep yep yep I’ve a new play I wrote earlier in the year called INTO THE GOBPILE that I want to get back to. It’s set in 1992, just after the LA Riots, in part of the country that’s new theatrical territory for me: Southern Illinois Coal Country. So that’s kind of terrifying and exciting.
7: Here’s a fun question! What is your favorite dessert?
Maybe lemon meringue pie? Or shortbread. Or most any bread, which I’d much rather have than dessert, to be honest. I’m that kind of girl.
8: Any acknowledgements or words of encouragement?
Tons of both. How much room do I have? Seriously, though, all of the artists involved at the National Winter Playwrights Retreat, Playwrights Union, Moving Arts MADlab and of course SPF9 for their support in taking the first steps with FOOTPRINT and helping it move forward!
9: Describe your play in 3 words!
Future of Death