LAFPI

The Echo Theater Company presents the world premiere of Poor Clare, a play by Chiara Atik about what happens when your eyes are opened to the injustice of the world around you — and you can’t look away. Alana Dietze (Dry Land, The Wolves) directs.

Set in 13th Century Italy and based on the real story of St. Clare of Assisi, Atik’s powerful and very funny modern spin on the Middle Ages couldn’t feel more timely. Clare and her sister Beatrice (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson and Donna Zadeh, both seen in last season’s The Wolves) are ordinary teens from an affluent family — they could just as well be living in 21st Century Calabasas or Beverly Hills. They worry about the latest styles, and gossip about boys with their live-in help (Kari Lee Cartwright and Martica De Cardenas). Together with their mother, Ortolana (Ann Noble), they do their best to be socially conscious and “give back,” donating leftover food to the poor (Robert Stoccardo) and organizing clothing drives. But Clare is intrigued when she hears that a local boy, Francis (Michael Sturgis, last seen at the Echo in Gloria), recently stripped naked in the market square — ostensibly as a protest against poverty. “That’s so dumb,” Clare says at first. “Like, who is pro poverty? It’s just a thing. Like just a fact. Of life.”

Chiara Atik’s other plays include Five Times in One Night, Bump and Women, a mashup of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” and HBO’s Girls. Her work has been developed at New York Theater Workshop, Clubbed Thumb/Playwrights Horizons Superlab, Williamstown, Northern Stage and Colt Coeur. Chiara’s writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Glamour magazine, Cosmopolitan magazine and at NYMag.com. Other writing credits include “Paris is Lovely/Lonely When You’re Alone” (Amazon Kindle) and “Modern Dating: A Field Guide,” (Harlequin, 2013). Her feature film script, Fairy Godmother, was on the 2016 Black List. Chiara is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theater and an alum of EST’s Youngblood.

Poor Clare opens on Saturday, March 14, with performances continuing on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. through April 20. Three preview performances are set for Wednesday, March 11; Thursday, March 12; and Friday, March 13, each at 8 p.m

Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. On-site parking is free. For reservations and information, call (310) 307-3753 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.

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