Event

Atlas of Longing

ABOUT THE PLAY:

Nathalie, a Belgian food writer and aspiring TV chef, becomes the unwitting focus of a religious and cultural crisis when a close colleague is discovered abducted by Islamic terrorists and her son's skateboarding antics earn the ire of the local mosque. Making things even worse, she is beset by the forward, disarming Dominika, who arrives unexpectedly at her doorstep, a penniless immigrant from Poland who trades on her family's role in saving Nathalie's mother during WWII. Managing the sexy young guest along with her teenage son's dangerous standoff at the local mosque and the rebuke of their quickly changing neighborhood overwhelms Nathalie's desire to be accepting and tolerant, and the family is drawn further into a complex drama that takes them to the edge of catastrophe. A charged dramatic play that meets head-on Europe's xenophobic fears of its changing demographic.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT:

Jeanne Drennan is inordinately happy to be in the Bay Area working on Atlas of Longing. Other full-length plays include Asparagus, Limoges, Medea at Athens, Wrong Side Out, 12 Dogs, and Waxworks, mostly produced and/or developed on the east coast. Besides Atlas, current projects include a chamber musical with composer David Berlin called Dear Boy, and the more embryonic Left Luggage, which she recently spent time researching in central Europe. She has been the grateful recipient of seven fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in support of her writing and also has a sideline in teaching and dramaturgy for young playwrights through City Theatre in Pittsburgh, her adopted hometown.