For Immediate Release: March 5, 2007
Media Contact: Kevin Glaccum, Azuka Theatre, 215.733.0255 x3

On Saturday, March 17th at 2:00 pm, Azuka Theatre and Blue Ridge Theater Festival will be performing a benefit performance of Two Rooms by Lee Blessing for Amnesty International. This benefit performance will include guest speaker, Mary Shaw, the Philadelphia Area Coordinator for Amnesty International. Tickets are $25.00 with $10 of each ticket going to Amnesty International. Performances will be held in The Playground at The Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA.

“Two Rooms is a play that deals with the moral and emotional toll that is extracted on the loved ones of political prisoners. Amnesty International is an organization that has consistently worked hard to shed the light on these troubling issues and we are both honored and pleased to be highlighting and supporting their profound work during this performance,” stated Kevin Glaccum, Producing Artistic Director of Azuka Theatre.

Two Rooms is a moving and powerful story of a woman’s tug-of-war with the government and the media and the life-or-death decisions she has to make when her husband, an American professor teaching in Beirut, is abducted by Shi’ite militiamen. The two rooms refer to the windowless room in Beirut where Michael Wells is being held by his kidnappers and the room in his home in the United States, which his wife Lainie has stripped to the bare walls so that she can be closer to him. In this room, she imagines she can speak with-and touch-her missing lover.

This production of Two Rooms will feature Blue Ridge Theater Festival Artistic Director Bev Appleton, Barrymore Award and F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist winner Catharine Slusar, Julie Czarnecki and Steven Wright.

Two Rooms has previously been produced by Blue Ridge Theater Festival and they’ve presented it in Hungary, Romania, Switzerland and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. “I’ve always been impressed with the vibrant theater scene here in Philadelphia and the level of talent I’ve seen” says Appleton. “I thought the time was right for a production of Two Rooms. It’s a piece that sadly is still relevant; as relevant today as it was when it was written in 1988. Lee Blessing’s unique way of focusing large political and social issues in a personal way is timeless.”

ABOUT GUEST SPEAKER
Mary Shaw is the Philadelphia Area Coordinator for Amnesty International. She has written numerous articles on issues related to politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a frequent contributor to Philadelphia Daily News, OpEdNews.com, and numerous other newspapers, magazines, and online forums.

ABOUT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign internationally for human rights to be respected and protected. Over 1.5 million members and supporters, in more than 150 countries and territories in every region of the world, share the vision of a world where every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. For more information about Amnesty International, please go to: www.amnesty.org

ABOUT CREATIVE STAFF
Bev Appleton is the Artistic Director of Blue Ridge Theater Festival. He has directed over 30 productions from Shaw to Shakespeare to Sondheim. As an actor he has appeared locally at The Walnut Street, (Of Mice and Men) and at the Arden Theater (Proof, Pacific Overtures, Twelfth Night, Sweeney Todd).

Deborah Seif has been acting and directing in the Philadelphia area for over ten years. Directing credits include Hearts and Soles (Theatre Exile), Perfectly Marvelous (1812), Trojan Wars and Hands Across Veronica (Eternal Spiral). As an actor she has worked at The Walnut Street Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Theatre Exile, and Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival. Two Room runs March 7 to March 24, 2007 Wednesday thru Friday at 8:00, Saturday at 2:00. Tickets are $15.00-$20.00. Group rates are available. Contact Azuka Theatre at (215) 733-0255, ext. 1. For more information visit www.azukatheatre.org.

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