Transgress by Alan Olejniczak
LOCATION
The Road on Lankershim – GALLERY
5108 Lankershim Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91601
(Street parking or paid lot parking at 5125 Lankershim Blvd)
Trangress
By Alan Olejniczak
Directed by Laura Stribling
CAST
DORA RATJEN- Lucia Towers
MRS. RATJEN- Kathy Bell Denton
HANS VON TSCHAMMER- Chet Grissom*
DR. KARL- Eddie Kehler*
*Appears courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association
SYNOPSIS
In 1939, Dora Ratjen, a Nazi Olympic athlete and gold medal winner in the woman’s high jump is arrested for impersonating a man. She is detained by party officials and given a medical examination. The results are inconclusive and Dora is anatomically neither male nor female. Everyone seems to have a stake in Dora’s gender, but her.
TICKETS
No reservations or advance tickets. Admission is by donation ($15 suggested).
MEET YOUR PLAYWRIGHT
ALAN OLEJNIZAL is a San Francisco playwright and opera librettist. Alan is on the board of Theatre Bay Area Board, a member of the Dramatist Guild and Opera America. Alan is also an Associate Artist with FaultLine Theater and co-founder of bicoastal At Last Theatre, which produced House/HOME last October for the O+ Festival in Kingston, New York. Alan produced and wrote Dominion at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, Five Honorable Mention Plays in 2016 and Present Tense at The A.C.T. Costume Shop in 2015. His one-act play Transgress was presented in April 2017 at the 36th Annual William Inge Festival in Independence, Kansas and The Bechdel Group in New York City. This summer, Alan was in residency with The Arctic Circle, sailing around the International The Territory of Svalbard in the high arctic. There he completed the first draft of helt texas, a new play about climate change This November, Alan is invited to participate in Katmandu, Nepal for another artist’s residency with Micro-Galleries. Alan currently has three full-length chamber operas in development. He is working with Daniel Brown on their opera on the French mathematician, Évariste Galois and with John Young on the adaption of Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” Alan is also working with Chris Pratorius-Gómez on El Sueño Americano (The American Dream) loosely based on Cyrano de Bergerac.
MEET YOUR DIRECTOR
LAURA STRIBLING has directed more than 75 workshops and ratings. She is has also written plays including “Imitation of Falling,” “Primary Language” and “If I Fell.” She has a Master’s of Fine Arts in Directing from the Yale School of Drama.
An Interview with Playwright Alan Olejniczak
1: What is the name of your play?
Transgress
2: What was your first job in the theatre?
I helped backstage at a third-grade theatre performance.
3: Do you ever model characters after real life people?
Of course!
4: As an artist, what subjects tend to draw your interest?
While I am drawn to more historical subjects, my work has become more activist in nature.
5: Do you have other passions aside from playwriting?
I love opera and wine
6: Are you currently working on any new projects?
I just finished a play about climate disruption called “Helt Texas” while on a three-week residency in Svalbard. I also have another upcoming residency with Micro-Galleries in November in Katmandu, Nepal, which also focuses on environmental issues.
7: Here’s a fun question! What is your favorite dessert?
Coconut macaroons
8: Any acknowledgements or words of encouragement?
I like to thank my dramaturge, Amanda Clup, for encouraging me to write this play and for helping me to develop it.
9: Describe your play in 3 words!
Who we are.