The Blue Slipper presents Northwest premiere of
“Alice Invents a Little Game and Alice Always Wins”
Alice Invents a Little Game and Alice Always Wins, by award-winning memoirist and poet Nick Flynn, will kick off the 2023-24 season at Livingston’s Blue Slipper Theatre, 113 E. Callender St. The play, directed by Marc Beaudin, will run Sept. 29 through Oct. 8, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students and seniors), and are available at blueslipper.org, or by calling 222-7720. Season Tickets are still available at BlueSlipper.org: five plays for $90 ($70 for students and seniors).
The seriocomic play features four strangers who meet on a New York City sidewalk during a blackout. “Gideon,” played by Cornelius Murphy, finds himself locked out of his apartment, stranded on the street with nothing but a television and the company of three others: the specter-like “Alice” (Quenby Iandiorio), ringleader of the neighborhood; “Esra” (Emilee Frase), a young girl whose mother is M.I.A.—again; and “Ivan” (Hugh Kinslow), a marooned businessman with stories to tell. A mysterious “Voice” from an intercom (Clem Lighthall) seems to have control of the four, but who or what is it, and what game is it playing?
“Once again exploring the tenuous membrane that separates comfortable everyday existence from the desperate margins of society, Flynn portrays an urban dystopia unnervingly similar to our own world while poignantly tapping into the loneliness and peril of city life.”
This production will be the first ever for the northwestern region of the U.S., and Flynn and Beaudin are working together to bring this special event to the stage.
Flynn, has published twelve books, most recently This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire and Stay: Threads, Collaborations, and Conversations. He is also the author of five collections of poetry, including I Will Destroy You (2019), and has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Library of Congress. His acclaimed memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City was made into a film starring Robert DeNiro, and has been translated into fifteen languages.
The New York Times Book Review notes that “Flynn’s talents are considerable—he has a compelling voice and a wry sense of humor.”
Beaudin, has worked in theatre for 25 years as a director, scenic designer and educator at venues ranging from unheated warehouses and art galleries to a 1000-seat, state-of-the-art theatre. At the Blue Slipper, he last directed Talk To Me Like the Rain: Short Plays of Tennessee Williams. Other favorite productions around the country include Macbeth, Amadeus, The Exonerated, No Exit, Proof, and The Women of Lockerbie.
Contact: Marc Beaudin at 224-5171
Lisa Snow, (Co-Chair Blue Slipper Programming) 224-3895