LAFPI

Los Angeles, CA

Rogue Machine’s West Coast Premiere of Bacon, by Sophie Swithinbank, takes an unflinching and unexpectedly humorous look at power and sexuality, through the dizzying lens of youth. Directed by Michael Matthews, and running February 8 – March 30 upstairs on the Henry Murray Stage, the play stars Jack Lancaster (Darren) and Wesley Guimarães (Mark).

Mark is new at school and too scared to make friends. Darren is out of control and too scary to make friends. Worlds apart, but more similar than they realize, the pair form a complex and manipulative relationship. Before they know it, they’re embarking on a dangerous experiment that will alter the course of their lives.

“Utterly compelling. Beautiful and devastating to watch.” – The Stage

“Bacon is about what happens when teenagers learn to bully and humiliate each other before they learn to love and accept themselves, says playwright Sophie Swithinbank. “The two central characters, Mark and Darren, were born from an act of bullying I witnessed, which led me to explore the idea of learned negative behaviors. I began to connect the bullying incident to an intense and semi-toxic relationship I had experienced growing up. It was a confusing, dangerously exciting time. The play also explores the binaries of class in relation to sexuality, and how confidence and acceptance can be closely related to social standing, from family to family. Bacon is a relationship drama for the modern age.”

Sophie Swithinbank (Playwright) is a multi-award-winning playwright and screenwriter, based in London. She is the 2023 winner of the Peggy Ramsay/Film4 Award. Her play Beans won the 2024 Sonia Friedman Prize for Best Play, and her play Bacon (Tony Craze Award Winner 2018) ran at Finborough Theatre in 2022, winning four Off West End Awards. Bacon has toured the UK, Australia, Canada and USA. Sophie has recently completed an attachment at the National Theatre, with whom she is developing an NT Connections play. Sophie has two new plays and a musical in development. For Theatre: Even in Arcadia (longlisted for Verity Bargate Award 2020), Circle Game (SouthwarkTheatre, shortlisted for Phil Fox Award 2020), Where There Is Smoke (National Theatre Learning), Come Inside (Bush Theatre) and The Superhero (Lyric Hammersmith). For TV: BACON (development with NBC Universal), L/OVER (MTV Finland), Sting (development with The Lighthouse film and TV). For film: Body Brokers (development with Eleven/No Ordinary).

Michael Matthews (Director) recently directed the World Premiere of June Carryl’s Blue at Rogue Machine before remounting the play at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the 7 Dials Playhouse in London’s West End. Selected credits include: Matilda, Billy & Ray, and End of the Rainbow at La Mirada, Failure: A Love Story at CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre. At Laguna Playhouse, The Seafarer, 12 Angry Men, The Graduate (w/ Melanie Griffith), Funny Girl at 3D Theatricals, Sons of the Prophet (LA Premiere), Psyche: A Modern Rock Opera (World Premiere) Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers (LA Premiere), Very Still & Hard To See (World Premiere). Celebration Theatre: Cabaret, Dream Boy (LA Premiere), Bootycandy (LA Premiere), The Color Purple, What’s Wrong With Angry? (LA Premiere), Take Me Out!, The Women of Brewster Place, The Musical (West Coast Premiere), Stupid Kids (LA Premiere), Beautiful Thing, The Bacchae. Broadway: Butley (Assistant Director). International: Sleeping Giant and The Bacchae (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Michael is the recipient of 2 Ovation Awards and 9 nominations, 1 LA Weekly Award and 2 nominations, 2 NAACP Theatre Awards, 1 Stage Raw Award, 3 Joseph Jefferson Award Nominations, and is the recipient of the 2015 LADCC Award for Career Achievement in Direction.

Justin Okin (Producer) serves as the executive director of Rogue Machine Theatre, where he has produced On the Other Hand, We’re Happy (LADCC award for Outstanding Production) and Heroes of the Fourth Turning (LA Times’ “Best Theater of 2023”). At Rogue Machine, Justin has appeared in Stop Kiss, MilkMilkLemonade, Monkey Adored and Pocatello. He has served on the Board of Directors at Theatre of NOTE, where he performed in Entropy and Eat the Runt. At The Road Theatre Company, Justin co-produced four seasons of the Summer Playwrights Festival and performed in At the Table. Additionally, he associate-produced Tiny Little Town and performed in Hot Cat with Theatre Movement. Other acting credits include appearances at Center Theatre Group, Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and The Public. He is the founder of Rogue Machine’s Playwright’s Roundtable which focuses on developing new works by some of theatre’s most creative new voices.

CAST: Jack Lancaster and Wesley Guimarães.

PRODUCTION TEAM: Stephen Gifford (Production Design), Chris Moscatiello (Sound Design), Christine Cover Ferro (Costume Design), Jen Albert (Fight Choreographer), Joy DeMichelle (Intimacy Director), Tuffet Schmelzle (Dialect Coach), Victoria Hoffman (Casting), Rich Wong (Stage Manager).

Rogue Machine is the only company to receive the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Polly Warfield Award for “Best Season” three times (2023, 2016, 2011). Additionally, they won the Ovation Award for “Best Season” (2017). Rogue Machine produces new plays and important contemporary plays not yet seen in Los Angeles. Nine of their productions have been published by Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service or Broadway Play Publishing, and six of the productions have had subsequent staging’s at significant theatres, including Off Broadway, major regional houses and the Donmar Warehouse in London. Four world premieres, Razorback, Small Engine Repair, Lone-Anon, and One Night in Miami… were made into feature films, and playwright Kemp Powers was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of “Best Adapted Screenplay.” In recognition of its artistic achievement, administrative strength, development of new work and other significant contributions to the field of professional theatre in the United States, Rogue Machine is supported by the Perenchio Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, David Lee Foundation, the City and County of Los Angeles, The Ahmanson Foundation, and the Richenthal Foundation. Rogue Machine is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s National Theatre Company Grant.

“Bacon” opens at 5pm on Saturday, February 8 and runs at 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays through March 9, 2025 (No performance on February 10). Rogue Machine, in the Matrix Theatre (upstairs on the Henry Murray Stage) located at 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tickets are $45; Seniors: $35; Students with ID: $25. Shows4Less: Fridays, February 14th ($15+), 21st, 28th ($20+), March 7 ($25+). Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ or for more information 855-585-5185.

Four after show gatherings, “Bacon Bites,” are planned for February 9 (Meet the Playwright & Director), February 23 (LGBTQ), March 9 (Fringe Friends), and March 23 (LGBTQ).