Los Angeles, CA (Special to The Hollywood Times) 2/4/24 – IAMA Theatre Company continues its “Sweet 16” season of world premieres by Los Angeles-based playwrights with “Arrowhead,” a new comedy by Queer playwright Catya McMullen.
“Arrowhead” opens February 8 at Atwater Village Theatre with director Jenna Worsham at the helm. Performances continue through March 4; low-priced previews begin February 3.
Photo by Jeff Lorch.jpg
Gen (Amielynn Abellera) is unexpectedly pregnant. Gen is also a lesbian. Yeah, it’s confusing. So Gen does what any unexpectedly pregnant lesbian with a doe-eyed, (potential) arsonist of a girlfriend (Kathleen Littlefield) must: she throws a secret abortion party at a lake house with her straight friends from college (IAMA artistic director Stefanie Black and ensemble member Kacie Rogers).
With the arrival of Gen’s lesbian best friend (Lindsay Coryne) and a few other unexpected visitors (ensemble member Adrián González and Nate Smith}, what could possible go wrong?
McMullen said “Arrowhead” delves into the question, “What happens when what you want sexually conflicts with your feminism, your identity and your community.” A vacation-home stay at Lake Arrowhead in the mountains of the San Bernardino National Forest, east of Los Angeles, served as the inspiration foer the play’s title anmd location.
“While this play is in many ways a love letter to queerness, it is not a singularly queer story, McMullen said. “My hope is that it will resonate with people of all sexual orientations — that almost everyone can walk into the theater and find at least some small part of themselves reflected in the characters and perspectives. Oh, and laugh. We hope you laugh, too.”
“This is a play of landmines around gender and gender roles,” said Worsham. “But, above all, it’s a comedy. The audience is going to laugh its way into a deeper conversation.”
“Arrowhead” was commissioned by IAMA and workshopped in 2022 as part of the company’s annual New Works Festival. This marks the company’s second full production of an IAMA-commissioned play, following the critically acclaimed November world premiere of “RADICAL or, are you gonna miss me?” by Isaac Gómez.
“From the moment I first read Catya’s work, I knew this was a voice IAMA needed to produce — and
as an actor, what a gift,” said Black. “I couldn’t be more excited to bring this play to life.
Black said McMullen’s character development is strong in Arrowhead.
“Her female characters are powerful and beautifully three dimensional, a reflection this female-led company celebrates,” she said. “We’re so lucky to be premiering this bold and hilarious new play by a writer we’re proud to call family.”
The creative team includes scenic designer Carolyn Mraz; sound designer Eliza Vedar; costume designer Danae Iris McQueen; properties designer Nicole Bernardini; intimacy director Celina Surniak; and casting director Jordan Bass.
Rosalind Bevan is associate director; Daniel Cyzpinski is the technical director; and Zaira Paredes–Villegas is the production stage manager alongside assistant stage manager Isabella Gomez and wardrobe supervisor Athena Saxon.
Quinn O’Connor produces and Katharine Means co-produces for IAMA Theatre Company.
McMullen is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include “Georgia Mertching Is Dead,” an Ensemble Studio Theatre, Time Out NY “Critic’s Pick” for which she was awarded the Outer Circle Critics John Gassner Award for best new play by a new playwright.
She also penned “AGNES,” a Lesser America, New York Times “Critics Pick;” the comedic hip-hop musical “Locked Up Bitches” at the Flea Theater; and “Rubber Ducks and Sunsets” for Ground UP Productions.
McMullen is an alum of the Obie award-winning EST’s Youngblood playwright collective, and was the co-creator with Worsham of “The Homebound Project,” a fundraising theater initiative for No Kid Hungry, which raised more than $150,000 to help feed hungry children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
She is currently writing the feature film adaptation of “Marjorie Finnegan Temporal Criminal” for Margot Robbie’s Lucky Chap Productions.
Founded in 2007, IAMA is a Los Angeles-based ensemble of artists committed to cultivating new voices and creating new works that push boundaries and take risks, while fostering an inclusive community that inspires theater-makers of future generations.
IAMA is invested in challenging audiences with an authentic experience that reflects our complex modern world. Designated by “Playbill” as “one of 20 regional houses every theater lover must know,” the award-winning company is dedicated to developing new plays and musicals by emerging and established playwrights, including over 25 world, West Coast and Los Angeles premieres.
The backbone of the company, IAMA’s ensemble members have been featured in numerous critically acclaimed TV shows and films as well as a vast array of theater and live performances on and off-Broadway and across the country. Works developed at IAMA have traveled to off-Broadway, including to Second Stage and Playwrights Horizons, and continue to be performed regionally and internationally.
“Arrowhead” opens on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m., with performances thereafter on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 8 p.m., and on Sundays at 2 p.m. through March 4 (dark Monday Feb. 12). All tickets are $40, except Monday. Feb. 19 and Monday, Feb. 26, which are Pay-What-You-Can, and previews, which are $25.
Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039. Free parking is available in the ATX (Atwater Crossing) lot one block south of the theater.
For reservations and information, call (323) 380-8843 or go to iamatheatre.com.
