In “2.5 Minute Ride,” playwright Lisa Kron weaves the story of a pilgrimage with her father to Auschwitz – where his parents died during World War II – with a hysterical tale about visiting the roller coaster capital of the world in Ohio.
PlayMakers Repertory Company at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will present Kron in the one-woman play from Jan. 9-13 in the Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road.
“2.5 Minute Ride” won an OBIE Award (for off-Broadway productions), Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations, an L.A. Drama-Logue Award and the GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Award for best play on or off-Broadway. It was named best autobiographical show of 1999 by New York Press.
Newsday called the play “one of the most tender and discerning family tragicomedies in recent memory.” The New Yorker wrote: “Kron gets it: Her personal story resonates with compassion for humanity. She pulls of the impossible.”
The play is part of PlayMakers’ PRC² series of real-life stories followed by artist-audience discussions after each show – with Kron after “2.5 Minute Ride.” Shows will be at 8 p.m. nightly and 2 p.m. on Jan. 13, in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre. Tickets are $24 to $32, available at www.playmakersrep.org or (919) 962-PLAY.
Another Kron play, “Well,” received two Tony nominations and was named on “Best Play” lists by The New York Times, the Associated Press, Backstage and the Advocate. Kron is a founding member of the theatre company The Five Lesbian Brothers, whose plays have been produced by New York Theater Workshop and performed across the country by the Brothers and other companies.
“(Lisa Kron’s) power as a writer-performer is a gift to the American stage,” said playwright Paula Vogel.
Based in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, PlayMakers is the Carolinas’ premiere resident professional theatre company. The Drama League recently called PlayMakers one of the best regional theatres in America.
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| Lisa Kron |
PlayMakers contact: Connie Mahan, (919) 428-1744, cmahan@email.unc.edu
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339, deereid@unc.edu