Grief explored in short theatrical bursts

Local Cal Lutheran alumna to make directorial debut

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Thousand Oaks resident Natasha Buran, a Cal Lutheran alumna who studied at the Theatre Academy London, is making her directorial debut after years of acting. 

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Jan. 19, 2017) The California Lutheran University Theatre Arts Department will present a production that plays to shortened attention spans with 42 scenes, some no longer than 25 seconds.

The Mainstage Production of “Love and Information” will be performed at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, through Saturday, Feb. 11, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, in the Blackbox Studio Theatre on the Thousand Oaks campus. 

Thousand Oaks resident Natasha Buran, a Cal Lutheran alumna who studied at the Theatre Academy London, is making her directorial debut after years of acting. Buran, who earned a bachelor’s degree in theater arts, has been a member of Kingsmen Shakespeare Company and Theatricum Botanicum.

Containing a series of vignettes, “Love and Information” by British playwright Caryl Churchill has seven acts and more than 80 characters. Each scene is a burst of information. The large number of scene changes makes having one set impossible, so projection technology will be used to display location, weather, inner monologues and even some performances.

“I have taken the artistic liberty of interpreting Churchill’s play through an emotion that connects us all: grief,” Buran said. “In this play, we are mourning the people we used to be and the people we were too afraid to become.”

Each act will depict a stage of grief: shock, denial, bargaining, guilt, anger, depression and acceptance. The characters grieve differently, some with humor, rage or agony. The play looks at how people reveal themselves, and information, after so much pain.

“I don’t expect these characters to show you a formula for recovery, but rather the idea that you are never alone,” said Buran.

The 10 actors playing the many roles are: Mindi Carpenter, Jordan Erickson and Cecilia Lindgren, theater arts majors from Thousand Oaks; Annika Dybevik, a music and theater arts major from Seattle; Jordan Bedgood, a theater arts and communication major from Burbank; Blake Elder, a Woodland Hills resident who hasn’t declared a major; Danika Elvine, a Camarillo theater arts major minoring in business and gender and women’s studies; Kyle Poppert, a theater arts major from Walnut Creek; Kevin Repich, a theatre arts and communication major from Simi Valley; and Sophia Roberts, a global studies and sociology major from Eugene, Oregon.

The theater is located at 141 Memorial Parkway. Admission is $10. For reservations and information, call 805-493-3452 or visit CalLutheran.edu/college-arts-sciences/theatre-arts/. Tickets may be available at the door.

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