Posted January 8, 2012 3:16 pm EST
Indianapolis - The Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis announces the opening of a world premiere, Current Economic Conditions, a comedy by Don Zolidis, opening January 12, in the Frank & Katrina Basile Theatre.
In addition to the usual Producer’s Party on opening night – Thursday, January 12th – that night the theatre will host the playwright Don Zolidis and National New Play Network Executive Director Jason Loewith.
The parental expectation of having an "empty nest” is increasingly giving way to the reality of a "cluttered nest" as more and more adult children return home to live with their parents. In Current Economic Conditions, Lily Booker is a twenty-something with a successful job and a flourishing social life. Seemingly overnight her job is eliminated and she finds herself living with parents who question everything from her lingerie purchases to her choice of men. Charming and satirical, Current Economic Conditions is a play for anyone forced to discover you really can’t go home again – at least not without being given a curfew.
Another example of how the Phoenix Theatre is a place where the new play process is alive and well, Don Zolidis wrote Current Economic Conditions in the last year and was part of the casting and re-working process for this premiere production. It is a startling statistic, but some 37 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds are unemployed or out of the workforce entirely, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; and the 19.6 percent unemployment rate for people 25 years old and younger in April 2011 was the highest since the Labor Department began recording the data in 1948.
“The economy may be inching back, but so many young adults are facing a daunting road back to employment and financial independence,” says Phoenix Producing Director and production director Bryan Fonseca. “These grown-ups initially moved back home hoping to wait out the recession, but for many, what began as a temporary crash pad has become a permanent residence. Current Economic Conditions brings out the humor and heart of this phenomenon.”
“The play was originally brought to me by Bill Simmons, who was working on another play by Don Zolidis and read Current Economic Conditions. It was brand new, extremely relevant and seemed like a perfect fit for us,” says Fonseca.
“I met Don in 2010 while we were work-shopping his play White Buffalo, a heavy drama about the death of a child and recovering from that loss, at the Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, Michigan,” says actor Bill Simmons. “He gave me Current Economic Conditions to read during our down time from the workshop and I was blown away by Don's ability to craft such a funny, light comedy that's so topical. I organized a reading for Bryan (Fonseca) and brought in three actor friends (Diane Kondrat, Chuck Goad and Jolene Moffatt) to read it with me. The night we read it the play just lifted off the page. In my experience, that usually means the play is really good and I think Current Economic Conditions is one of those gems.”
For more information and show times, visit the Phoenix Theatre's websit at www.phoenixtheatre.org.
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