Iowa City, IA - Riverside Theatre, Iowa City's only professional theatre company opens its 31st Gilbert Street season with the rolling world premiere of the free-wheeling one-woman show, Feet First In The Water With A Baby In My Teeth by Iowa City playwright and actor Megan Gogerty.
The show runs Sept. 9-Oct. 2, at Riverside Theatre, 213 N Gilbert St, Iowa City. The show is directed by Los Angeles guest artist Alexis Chamow and performed by Gogerty.
Feet First In The Water With A Baby In My Teeth is a mostly-true story about a woman who gives birth and then a few years later becomes a mother.
"Feet First is about Megan's attempts to be a working artist, ardent feminist and a mom. And Alexis came to Iowa City to direct the play with her baby girl in tow. Talk about art imitating life and vice versa," said Riverside Theatre Resident Artist and Production Manager Ron Clark.
Sharing stories of a harrowing trip to New York City with a baby, being trapped in a house with a moody toddler, and Dolly Parton as a feminist icon Gogerty uses her quick wit and sharp-eye to take on politics, pop culture and parenting.
"Everything in this story is true. And some of it actually happened," Gogerty said.
Feet First In The Water With A Baby In My Teeth is a rolling world premiere with Atlanta's Synchronicity Theatre. After its initial premiere in Iowa City, the show will have a second premiere at Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta in December as part of their Bold Voices Series where the show will run from Dec. 2-19.
"Rolling world premiere is an initiative of the National New Play Network - of which Riverside Theatre is a proud new member. Theatres are encouraged to mount the same new play within a twelve-month period. The result is a 'rolling world premiere' through which a playwright develops a new work with different creative teams, for different communities of patrons - and hopefully attains the polish and momentum needed to attract the attention of other producers," said Riverside Theatre Artistic Director Jody Hovland.
"When Megan premiered her last solo show at Riverside Theatre in 2008, Megan Gogerty Loves You Very Much, she continued to develop the script throughout the run and afterwards, so that by the time she toured it to Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta later that season, it had morphed into Hillary Clinton Got Me Pregnant. So this time around it seemed like a no-brainer to include Synchronicity in our conversation about this new premiere - and they were as excited as we were."
Feet First In The Water With A Baby In My Teeth features scenic design by Scott Olinger, lighting design by Drew Bielinski, sound design by Gogerty, and original music by Christopher J. Clark.
Feet First In The Water With A Baby In My Teeth runs September 9 - October 2 at Riverside Theatre. Showtimes are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $28 for adults, $25 for over 60/under 30, and $15 for youth (18 and under). $15 college student rush tickets are available 20 minutes prior to the show with valid ID.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.riversidetheatre.org, by phone at (319) 338-7672 or at the Riverside Theatre Box Office, which is located at 213 N. Gilbert St, Iowa City. Box office hours are: 12 - 4 p.m. Monday - Friday.
Riverside Theatre will celebrate its 31st season opening with a reception at Chait Galleries, 218 E Washington St, Iowa City, on Sept. 1 from 5:30-7 p.m. This will be a chance to meet and mingle with the playwright and the director a week before the show opens. Suggested donation for this event is $10.
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