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Veteran playwright and performer Ann Noble clowns around
in ‘A Bella Incarceration’ at The Echo Theater Company

 

LOS ANGELES (June 20, 2023) — Stuck in jail, a clown conjures her favorite female radicals from history in order to make sense of her civil disobedience, which led directly to her current incarceration. The Echo Theater Company presents the world premiere of A Bella Incarceration, a new solo play by veteran Los Angeles playwright and performer Ann Noble. Performances take place Tuesdays at 8 p.m. from July 25 through August 22.

Bella Ventricle is a lady. She is also a clown. And while she has always had very strong opinions, she has never done anything about them… until now. Until she felt she had no choice but to engage in an act of civil disobedience in order to stand up for those who could not stand up for themselves. But, being arrested is a bit more than she can handle; so, to comfort herself — and, perhaps, to understand a bit more about why she did what she did — she calls upon the beings of her favorite female radicals from history. Women who, Bella feels, would do, and indeed did, the most courageous things for love.

Production design is by Ann Loud. Chris Fields and Kelly Beech produce for the Echo Theater Company.

Ann Noble is a writer, actor, director, solo performer, acting teacher/coach, arts educator — and a jail chaplain. A proud member of the Echo Theater Company, she was seen on the Echo stage last season in both Poor Clare, for which she received Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for best featured performance and for best ensemble, and in her previous solo show, Little Parts Hunts A Baby-Daddy, which went on to screen digitally at the Edinburgh and Sydney Fringe Festivals. She is also a member of Antaeus Theatre Company, Rogue Machine and Warriors for Peace, and has performed at theaters across Southern California and throughout Chicago. Her award-winning plays have been produced both nationally and internationally, as have both her new media series. Her directing credits include work with several theaters and production companies in Los Angeles, as well as for the Museum of Tolerance, L.A.’s Holocaust Museum, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the YWCA and Homeboy Industries. She currently teaches for Moving Arts Theatre and Hussian College–In Studio L.A. She is also the program coordinator for Prism Restorative Justice/CFLC which brings chaplaincy to those incarcerated in the L.A. County jails. She dedicates this solo piece to the women in CRDF.  IG: @sparksjacks

Founded in 1997, the Echo Theater Company has gained a reputation for producing and developing exciting new work. Under the artistic leadership of Chris Fields, the company has championed playwrights for a quarter century, producing and commissioning numerous world premieres and introducing Los Angeles to playwrights David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp and Sarah Ruhl among others. The Echo has won countless Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Ovation, LA Weekly and Stage Raw awards, and is frequently cited on end-of-the-year “Best of Lists” including by the Los Angeles Times, LA Observed and NPR affiliate KCRW 89.9 FM, among others. The company was anointed “Best Bet for Ballsy Original Plays” by the LA Weekly and was a recipient of a “Kilroy Cake Drop” to honor its efforts to produce women and trans writers. KCRW declared that “Echo Theater Company is on a fierce journey,” and Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote, “Artistic directors of theaters of all sizes would be wise to follow the [lead] of the Echo’s Chris Fields, who [is] building audience communities eager for the challenge of path-breaking plays.”

A Bella Incarceration opens on Tuesday, July 25, with performances continuing every Tuesday through August 22. All tickets are $10. Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039.

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 307-3753 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.

 

Details for Calendar Listings
‘A Bella Incarceration’

WHAT:
The Echo Theater Company presents the world premiere of A Bella Incarceration, a new solo show by veteran Los Angeles playwright and actor Ann Noble. Stuck in jail, a clown conjures her favorite female radicals from history in order to make sense of her civil disobedience, which led directly to her current incarceration.

WHO:
• Conceived, Written and Performed by Ann Noble
• Production Design bv Ann Loud
• Presented by The Echo Theater Company, Chris Fields artistic director

WHEN:
Performances: July 25 – Aug. 22:
• Tuesdays at 8 p.m.: July 25, Aug. 1, Aug. 8, Aug. 15, Aug. 22

WHERE:
Echo Theater Company
Atwater Village Theatre
3269 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039

PARKING:
FREE in the Atwater Crossing (AXT) lot one block south of the theater

TICKET PRICE:
$10

HOW:
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com
(310) 307-3753

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