Photo Flash: In Rehearsal with BURN THIS

The passionate modern classic, "Burn This" by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lanford Wilson, has now begun rehearsals under the direction of Nicholas Martin. Previews for "Burn This" at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum are March 23 - May 1, 2011, with opening set for April 3.
The cast includes, in alphabetical order, Brooks Ashmanskas, Ken Barnett, Zabryna Guevara and Adam Rothenberg.

Set design is by Ralph Funicello, costumes by Gabriel Berry, lighting by Ben Stanton, sound by Cricket S. Myers, original music by Peter Golub and fight direction by Steve Rankin. The production stage manager is David Lober.

At the core of "Burn This" is Anna (Guevara), a dancer-choreographer who, up until the unexpected death of her roommate and dancing partner, Robbie, has been consumed by her career. Now in her grief, she meets Pale (Rothenberg), Robbie's older brother, who bursts into her apartment to retrieve Robbie's belongings, and ends up staying for a while. Pale is dangerous, sexy, raw and demanding, and he interrupts the course of Anna's existence bringing major changes in her life.

Nicholas Martin, who directed the recent Broadway revival of Noel Coward's "Present Laughter" with Victor Garber, also directed "Dead End" at the Ahmanson Theatre in 2005 and "The House of Blue Leaves" at the Taper in 2008. He has directed "Butley," "Match" and "Hedda Gabler" on Broadway, and "The New Century," "Fully Committed," "Full Gallop," "The Rehearsal" and "Betty's Summer Vacation," among others, off-Broadway. He has been the artistic director of both the Huntington Theatre Company and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Wilson's numerous plays include, among others, "Talley's Folly" (1980 Pulitzer Prize in Drama), "The Hot l Baltimore" (New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Obie Award), "Fifth of July," "Balm in Gilead," "The Rimers of Eldritch," "Lemon Sky," "Serenading Louie" and "Redwood Curtain." He was a founding member of The Circle Repertory Company.
"Burn This," which had its world premiere in CTG/Mark Taper Forum's 1986-87 season, moved to Broadway in 1987. Newsweek said of the play, "[It] has a voracious vitality and an almost manic determination to drive right into the highest voltage that life can register."

Tickets and information are available at CenterTheatreGroup.org or the Center Theatre Group box office located at the Ahmanson Theatre, or by calling 213-628-2772.

Photo Credit: Craig Schwartz