SCINTILLA

[NoHo Arts District, CA] –The Road Theatre Company and Taylor Gilbert, founder/artistic director together with Sam Anderson, artistic director, announce the second show of its 2022-2023 Season, the world premiere of SCINTILLA, written by Alessandro Camon and directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky April 14-June 4.  

In SCINTILLA, Michael and Nora travel to visit his mother Marianne, a reclusive artist who lives at the edge of the woods in California’s Wine Country. As a raging wildfire approaches, Michael must deal with Marianne’s stubborn refusal to leave, and the arrival of two unexpected visitors. The rising tension exposes a complicated family history erupting into a larger question about our very survival on this planet. 

About the Creative Team and Cast

ALESSANDRO CAMON (Playwright) is a writer and producer born in Italy and currently living in Los Angeles. He is best known for “The Messenger,” for which he and co-writer Oren Moverman received Academy Award and Spirit Award nominations, and won the Berlin Film Festival Best Screenplay Award.  The film, starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, deals with Army officers on ‘casualty notification’ duty during the Iraq war. Camon’s producing credits include Owning Mahowny, Thank You For Smoking, The Cooler, Bad Lieutenant: New Orleans, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Camon’s 2017 play Time Alone, about a man in solitary confinement and a woman grieving over her murdered son, received multiple awards and nominations, including the Stage Raw Award for Best Play and the Outstanding New Play Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics. A film adaptation is currently in the works, with Camon slated to direct and Taraji P. Henson starring.  Camon’s recent screenplay The Listener, starring Tessa Thompson, received its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. The film follows the night shift of a helpline operator, as she talks with several people in crisis, and ultimately reveals her own story. Camon started his career in Italy, as a television programmer and film critic.  He holds a Degree in Philosophy from the University of Padua, Italy, and an MA in Film from UCLA.  He has published several books and articles on film and popular culture, both in English and Italian.

ANN HEARN TOBOLOWSKY (Director) Directing credits for The Road, Reykjavík by Steve Yockey, a filmed live play, produced in 2021 in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic.  The film has recently won the award for Best Stage Play at the Swedish International Film Festival and Ediplay International Film Festival.  Also at The Road, Jami Brandli’s Through the Eye of a Needle and roughly twenty readings for The Road’s Word series, Summer Playwrights Festivals, and Under Construction.  For Theatre 40:  Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Silent Sky, Good People, As Good As Gold, Bus Stop, Holy Days, Driving Miss Daisy, and Another Part of the Forest.  For Skylight Theatre, play readings of works by Shem Bitterman and Wendy Kout, and two short charming plays by Anna Mathias inspired by the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby (Streamyard).  

Plays elsewhere include world premieres of The Favorite by Joe Correll at Avery Schreiber Playhouse, and Forever Bound by Steve Apostolina at Atwater Theatre.  Ann also participated as a director in Center Theatre Group’s 2022 LA Writers’ Workshop at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, directing the reading of Jami Brandli’s newest play, The Magician’s Sister.

Cast

The cast of SCINTILLA will feature Taylor Gilbert as “Marianne,” Kris Frost as “Michael,” Krishna Smitha as “Nora,” David Gianopoulos as “Stanley” and Carlos Lacamara as “Roberto.”

Team

The design team for SCINTILLA is as follows: Scenic Design by Stephen Gifford; Lighting Design by Derrick McDaniel; Sound Design by Christopher Moscatiello; Projection Design by  Ly Eisenstein; Costume Design by Jenna Bergstraesser. The Production Stage Manager is Maurie Gonzalez. SCINTILLA is produced by Danna Hyams.