Blackbird

By David Harrower

Directed by Karla Hartley

Sep. 11 – 28, 2008

Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm

Tickets: $24.50

Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts

Winner!

  • Creative Loafing Best of the Bay – Best Director – Karla Hartley (Blackbird, among others)
  • Creative Loafing Best of the Bay – Best Scenic Design – Scott Cooper (Blackbird, among others)

The southeastern US premiere!

Una and Ray had a relationship that resulted in disastrous consequences. Ray moved on with his life, ensuring that they would never set eyes on each other again. Fifteen years later, Una has found Ray.

Highslide JS

(L-R) Paul J. Potenza and Caitlin Eason in Jobsite's Blackbird.

Click to enlarge

"A searing theatrical experience." – The Guardian

Never has a more thought-provoking play been written about such a taboo subject. The play explodes with unresolved and possibly irresolvable concerns that make it one of the most daring new plays in recent theater. Blackbird is a brilliant, unnerving and controversial play that taunts us with the limits of our own language and our conceptions of love, abuse and that much-abused neologism "closure".

Blackbird was commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival and premiered at the King's Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2005. The production transferred to the Albery Theatre, London, in February 2006, and went on to open at the Manhattan Theater Club, New York City, in April 2007.

Age recommendation: 18+ Contains adult language, situations and subject matter.

About the Artists

Jobsite’s production is directed by Karla Hartley (The Goat, Boston Marriage). Jobsite stalwarts Paul J. Potenza (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Pillowman, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) and Caitlin Eason (Woman in Mind) star.

About BlackbirdBuy TicketsShow TimesCast & CrewMedia2008–09 SeasonBlackbird Poster

"... the superlative acting elevated the subject matter to a shameful level of enjoyment ... Eason and Potenza spun gold from the detritus of their characters' lives. Slogging through the muck of abuse, their performances were riveting." – The Tampa Tribune

"[Blackbird] offers its audience a host of uncomfortable questions, and ends intriguingly without answering any of them. So its power endures, and even grows, after you've left the theater and started to think about what you've seen and heard." – St. Petersburg Times