What The Moon Saw,
or 'I Only Appear To Be Dead'

Directed by Matthew McCray

September 9 - October 9, 2011

Friday & Saturday @ 8 p.m.
Sunday @ 4 p.m.
Some Mondays @ 7 p.m. (check calendar)

NO LATE SEATING

An interlocking collection of gritty urban riffs on five classic tales by Hans Christian Andersen, set in a post–9/11 world: A bucket brigade of firemen, a fickle mermaid on dry land, a tin soldier and his dancing girl, matchstick visions, a frozen heart, and a moon longing to be seen. And one very disoriented Hans Christian Andersen making his way through a changed world.

9/11 ten years later, via an idiosyncratic mix of the impossible and the everyday, the mythic and the mundane.

Originally from Los Angeles, Stephanie Fleischmann is an award-winning playwright and librettist/lyricist based in New York whose work has been produced and developed internationally and at venues across the U.S. She is a co-founder of Latitude 14 (Red Fly/Blue Bottle), and an alumna of New Dramatists.

LA WEEKLY -- "GO!"
Inspired is Stephanie Fleischmann's decision to intersect the paths of one of the most famous fairy-tale authors, Hans Christian Andersen, and New York City, circa 9/11, in her world-premiere play.... [the production has the] delightful feel of a children's pop-up book... As a member of the NYFD (a terrifically restrained Alex Smith) digs through the aftermath of 9/11, he says he thinks about the "molecular composition of the firemen's indestructible rubber boots." The contrast between that image and time, 10 years of which have blown away like ash, is a reminder far more indelible than the phrase "Never forget."
Rebecca Haithcoat, LA WEEKLY

Matthew McCray's direction - coupled with Sarah Krainin's set design, John Burton's prop design, and Daniel Corral's music and sound - often nears the poetic, mythical quality of Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre.
Sarah Taylor Ellis, LA THEATRE REVIEW

It's an idea full of pretty terrific theatrical possibilities: the magical, bittersweet tales of Hans Christian Andersen interwoven with the surreal, raw fabric we now know as 9/11.... The picture-framed world of silhouettes and projections and illumination and detritus is stunning... and the ensemble is solid.
Jennie Webb, BACK STAGE WEST

THE PLAYWRIGHT ON "THE TITLE"

Interview with Stephanie Fleischmann: "The Title" from Son of Semele Ensemble on Vimeo.