SPARK November 11, 2012

Caridad Svich’s new play SPARK will honor US war veterans on November 11 with a FREE script-in-hand reading at Caltech University in Pasadena, Sunday, November 11, 7pm, at the Beckman Institute Auditorium, 400 S. Wilson Ave., Pasadena (between Del Mar and California).

The theater department at Caltech (TACIT) will present 2012 OBIE Award-winning playwright Caridad Svich’s new play Spark. This work, which is about a family of sisters who live in North Carolina, one of whom is a returning veteran from a recent war, is being made available for local presentations during the month of November in time for Veteran’s Day and around the national US elections. The national script reading scheme has been developed to honor US war veterans, shed light on the plight of female veterans in particular, and to raise increased awareness for their stories, by NoPassport theatre alliance & press, an unincorporated collective dedicated to the advocacy, production and publication of works expressive of cross-cultural and aesthetic diversity in the arts.

A special Veterans Day reading of the play, followed by a panel, will be held at the Beckman Institute Auditorium at Caltech on Sunday November 11, 2012 produced by TACIT, in collaboration with NoPassport, under direction by Arden Thomas, from the theater department at Stanford University. Over 100 theaters and universities from across the United States and the world, from New York to Western Australia, will also be producing readings of the play.

We are pleased to announce that the cast and crew include talented members of the Caltech community: Peggy Allen, playing Ali (Caltech alum 2011, mechanical engineer in Orange); Hui Ying Wen, playing Lexie (JPL aerospace engineer); Calliope Porter, playing Evelyn (professional actor, married to a Caltech postdoctoral fellow); Amit Lakhanpal, playing Hector (MD/PhD student UCLA/Caltech); Peter Jones, playing Vaughan (Caltech alum, JPL); Nancy Wen, Assistant Director (sophomore at Caltech), Ella Dodd, Stage Manager (senior at Caltech); Arden Thomas, director (recent PhD from Stanford University Department of Theater and Performance Studies).

Spark is a two-act play with five characters that focuses on poverty in America, what happens when soldiers come home, and the strength, ultimately, of family. It is the third play in Caridad Svich’s American quartet of plays addressing national issues and global concerns that include Guapa and The Way of Water. The play’s premiere has not yet been announced.

For more information about Caridad Svich’s Spark, visit http://www.nopassport.org/spark

Caltech Theater Department (TACIT) and press, email Cindy De Mesa, [email protected].

Website: www.tacit.caltech.edu/

Official Website: http://tacit.caltech.edu