Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs to Present THESE SEVEN SICKNESSES

The Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs present Sean Graney's These Seven Sicknesses, an adaptation of Sophocles' seven remaining plays, directed by James D. Palmer ('16) beginning March 3, 2016.

Sophocles wrote over 100 plays, yet only seven survive today. Watch each of the seven unfold as 33 of the greatest characters of all time converge in the hope of saving us from ourselves. Along the way, experience human nature at its absolute best-biting wit, passion, kindness-and its worst-betrayal, war, and ridiculous violence. Complete with sweet treats, live music and epic battles, this is an immersive theatrical event for the binge-watchers among us.

Experiencing all seven plays back to back, "Provides the audience the time to be shocked, then to laugh at the absurdity, then to take a minute to realize that we are all in this together," says director James D. Palmer. "We live in a fractured community. Our nation is fractured. Our cities are fractured. Our political system is fractured. I needed to spend some time thinking about healing. In a lot of ways, trying to heal the world is a stupid idea. And yet we do it. We feed the homeless. We hug a stranger. We offer comfort. The play reminds us that sometimes a small act of kindness is best."

James D. Palmer is a Brown/Trinity MFA Directing student in the class of 2016. He hails from Chicago, IL where, for ten years, he was the Artistic Director of Red Tape Theatre Company. In Chicago, James directed dozens of shows including The Love of the Nightingale, for which he was awarded the Joseph Jefferson award for Best Direction in 2010. Other directing credits include the Chicago premieres of Pullman, WA; Elephant's Graveyard; and The Gingerbread House. He also produced dozens of exciting extant and new plays and has directed workshops for several new playwrights. James has worked as a director at The Goodman Theater, Victory Gardens, American Theater Company, and Chicago Dramatists, among others. For five years he was the assistant to the Artistic Director at Steppenwolf Theatre and served on the Board of Directors for the League of Chicago Theaters.

These Seven Sicknesses runs March 3-13, 2016 at the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire Street, Providence, RI. General admission is $15 with a discounted price of $10 for seniors at $7 for students. Tickets are on sale now at Trinity Rep's box office, by calling (401) 351-4242 or online at trinityrep.com. Audiences should note this production contains mature subject matter and violence.

The Brown University/Trinity Rep M.F.A. programs combine in-depth classroom work and an ongoing relationship to a working professional theatre. Brown University's Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation of real-world experience. Together, the two organizations have produced a model of theatre training that is rigorous and technically demanding, without intellectual or creative limitations.