The Tony Award Nominee to Perform 2.5 Minute Ride

February 7, 2009
UMBC Theatre

Contact: Thomas Moore
Director of Arts & Culture
410-455-3370
tmoore@umbc.edu

Note: You may view or download this release as a pdf file.

UMBC presents Tony Award nominee Lisa Kron in her play 2.5 Minute Ride on Saturday, February 7, at 8 pm in the UMBC Theatre. 2.5 Minute Ride is written and performed by Lisa Kron, directed by Mark Brokaw, with lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Darron L. West and original music by Dan Froot.

In 2.5 Minute Ride, Lisa Kron invites her audience on a roller coaster ride through the Kron family album. Rising and falling between high hilarity and deep disquiet, Kron demonstrates with disarming simplicity that humor and horror can share the same human moment. The play switches back and forth between Kron's journey to Auschwitz with her septuagenarian father, a Holocaust survivor; her Michigan family's annual pilgrimage to a Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park; and her brother's marriage to his Internet bride. By moving seamlessly between these three diverse recountings, Kron creates a complex and at times startling meditation on how human beings make sense of tragedy, grief, and everyday life.

"In 70 wildly funny and terrible minutes, (Kron) demonstrates with disarming simplicity that humor and horror can share the same human moment... one of the most tender and discerning family tragicomedies in recent memory."
--Linda Winer, New York Newsday

"Kron is rivetingly present-tense, pulling you right into the whirl of emotion behind her liberal and figurative ride: the amusing terror that can be borne juxtaposed with the unamusing terror that can't be."
--Johanthan Kalb, New York Press

Lisa Kron is a writer and performer of pieces that inhabit the gray area between theater and performance art. Her plays create a conversation with an audience that is simultaneously a conversation happening in real time and a carefully constructed theatrical event. Her work is constructed of juxtaposed anecdotes which at first seem random but ultimately create a cohesive picture which sends the audience back into the world with a slightly altered set of perceptions. Though her plays are based on autobiographical material, the effect is universal. The work resonates with questions, desires and fears that lead the viewer into their own journey. Each piece is a framework into which the audience can imagine themselves.

Admission
$15 general admission; $10 students and seniors.
Tickets are available through MissionTix at http://www.MissionTix.com or by calling MissionTix at 410-752-8950.

Public Information
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts

Media Resources
Online News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/news
High resolution images: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
Photo by Joan Marcus.

Directions
-- From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Theatre.
-- From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Theatre.
-- From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Theatre.
-- Visitor parking is available in the Commons Garage. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadways require a parking permit unless otherwise marked.
Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/