Evento

It Is What It is / The Watch Tower

Local writers Diane Karagienakos and Christopher Barranti met in a writing group several years ago, helping each other with feedback on their work. Now the two are collaborating at the Exit Theater April 13 - 29 with a three-week run of two short plays sharing one stage. The two works, both directed by Kathryn Wood and presented with a short intermission, complement and contrast each other with female/male perspectives on love, death, relationships and sexting.

"It Is What It Is" by Ms. Karagienakos is a multi-layered multimedia meditation on what it really means to connect in today's hyper-connected world. Estranged siblings brought together around their father's deathbed struggle with buried issues and simmering conflict. As their father's condition worsens and spoken dialogue becomes explosive, the audience is given a more complete, and often hysterically funny, perspective thanks to their texts, IMs and emails.

In a classic San Francisco bar room set piece, "The Watch Tower" by Mr. Barranti focuses on the passing revelations and deep insights found among a group of strangers at the bottom of a shot glass on a rainy afternoon. Emotionally starved characters experience an unexpected awakening as their facades are swept under the bar mat. Absurdly humorous, combative and revealing, this new play will be instantly familiar to local audiences.