In ENTANGLEMENT, AJ Baker brings us a play about a play about the quantum mechanics of love. It’s been twenty years since actors Emma and Luke were a couple, but they’re still connected by a net of loose ends and secrets. When Emma writes a thinly veiled roman-a-clef of a play and asks Luke to direct her in it, the struggle over who controls the story of their break-up –and its far-ranging results — becomes just as important as the script itself. Aided and abetted by Luke’s daughter and Emma’s husband, the former lovers turn Emma’s play into a backdrop for grappling with how their long-ago choices entangle them in each other’s lives forever. The show plays at Z Below, located at 470 Florida Street, San Francisco,

ENTANGLEMENT is written by AJ Baker, and directed by Louis Parnell. The cast features Madeline H.D. Brown, Louis Parnell, Chad Deverman, Heather Gordon and Julian Green. Its development started with a first reading on May 17, 2015, directed by Louis Parnell. Staged readings were also presented on August 3 and 8, 2015 as part of 3Girls Theatre Company (3GT) New Works Festival, where it won the Festival’s top award. Its upcoming premiere brings it full circle in development cycle.

ENTANGLEMENT

November 18- December 17, 2016

Z Below, 470 Florida Street, San Francisco

Info/Tix: http://3girlstheatre.org/entanglement-by-aj-baker/

THE PLAYWRIGHT’S INSPIRATION from AJ Baker:

The story in ENTANGLEMENT is inspired by a subject I keep coming back to, in my work and my life: how do we deal with the consequences – however unintended – that our actions have on other people? In this play, I’m mixing a little bit of stage craft with a little bit of science to explore a variation on my favorite theme.

A LITTLE BIT OF STAGE-CRAFT: The action in my play centers around the rehearsals of Emma’s play, which is also named ENTANGLEMENT. Emma has written her play in an attempt to show Luke something she feels unable to tell him. She’s not the first person to try this technique! The ghost of Shakespeare’s Hamlet –with its infamous play within a play to “catch the conscience of the king” –haunts both her script and mine (and so does the spectre of Pinter’s Betrayal).

A LITTLE BIT OF SCIENCE: I’ve always found physics fascinating, and in recent years I’ve become particularly fascinated by quantum mechanics, the branch of physics that deals with our universe at its most micro level. I’m no scientist, but there’s enough information out there in layman’s language to make dilettantes like me dangerous! Because 2014 was the fiftieth anniversary of John Stewart Bell’s groundbreaking paper on quantum entanglement, there’s plenty of recent available on what Einstein (derisively) called “spooky action at a distance.” At its most simplistic, the theory of entanglement tells us that once two particles become entangled, what happens to one will always affect the other. The language of quantum mechanics sounds a lot like the language of love: particles become entangled, they have relationships with each other, they communicate across time and space, they are part of one system together. Given the huge scope and ever-increasing uses for quantum entanglement, why couldn’t an enterprising scientist — like the one in Emma’s play — come up with a quantum theory to explain love?

CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST

DIRECTOR AND ACTOR LOUIS PARNELL has worked extensively as an actor and director with numerous companies in the Bay Area including American Conservatory Theatre, Campo Santo, CCT, Center Repertory, CentralWorks, The Magic, Marin Theatre Company, SF Playhouse, TheatreWorks, Thick Description and Traveling Jewish Theatre; as well as with 3Girls Theatre and many other small nomadic companies. He most recently appeared as Doyle in the SF Playhouse production of THE NETHER. He has been honored with 11 BATCC nominations for acting or directing (4 wins) and 5 DramaLogue and Dean Goodman Choice Awards. He has also performed in numerous film, television and commercial roles including TRAUMA, NASH BRIDGES, AMERICA’S MOST WANTED and the PBS documentary RALPH ELLISON: AN AMERICAN LIFE which was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. He is on the Board of Directors of the SF Playhouse, was a founding member of Genesius Theatre Company and the Actors Theatre of SF, and is a proud member of Playground at Berkeley Rep, SAG, AFTRA and AEA.

PLAYWRIGHT AJ BAKER is also 3Girls Theatre Co-founder and Producing Artistic Director. Her full-length plays include: GLICKMAN’S THIRD ACT (semi-finalist, 2011 Bay Area Playwrights Festival; staged readings ,Brava! for Women in the Arts (2011), PCSF (2010, 2011), Meadowsweet Dairy (2010)); THE RIGHT THING ( world premiere 2012, Thick House); THE ANNIVERSARY EFFECT (semi-finalist, 2015 Bay Area Playwrights’ Festival; finalist, 2014 3GT New Works Festival; finalist, Capital Repertory’s 2014 NEXT ACT! New Play Summit (Albany, NY). As Producing Artistic Director of 3Girls Theatre, AJ has served as Executive Producer for five 3GT New Works Festivals and eight full productions, overseeing the presentation of more than 40 plays at all stages in the development process since 2012. She’s a proud member of Dramatists’ Guild, an ongoing participant in the Will Dunne Dramatic Writing Workshops and a past member of the Board of Directors of PlayGround. From 2007-2008, she produced and directed the popular monthly nightclub event, Talk Show Live: San Francisco. When she’s not writing, AJ practices law, plays with her cats and eavesdrops for material in the cafes of North Beach.

MADELINE H.D. BROWN is a San Francisco based performing artist whose focus is collaborating on and performing in ensemble-devised theatre. Recent productions: No.1 with Factory Floor (England) and Z Space- creator/performer, Antigone in Cutting Ball’s Antigone, the Stage Manager in Shotgun Players’ production of Our Town, Marie in Tom Wait’s and Robert Wilson’s Woyzeck directed by Mark Jackson & Aurora Theatre Company’s Metamorphosis and Salomania. She has also performed locally with 3Girls Theatre Company, Brava Theater Center, CenterREP, Crowded Fire Theater, Firefox, Golden Thread Productions, HATCH, Just Theater, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Marin Theater Company, The Marsh, Mugwumpin, Noir City Film Festival, Playwrights Foundation, Psychopomp and Circumstance Dance Theatre, Red Poppy Art House, SF Playhouse and Vertical Pool Productions. Before landing in San Francisco, she traveled as a cabaret performer in Europe performing at London’s Institute for Contemporary Arts, Hayward Gallery & Sadler’s Wells, Stockholm’s Sodra Teatern, Oslo’s ACTS, Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe and many muddy, rock festivals. Member, Actors Equity Association

CHAD DEVERMAN, a 3GT Associate Artist, has been a Bay Area based actor and educator for over ten years. As an actor, he has preformed with such theatre companies as ACT, San Jose Repertory, TheatreWorks, CalShakes, San Francisco Playhouse, Aurora Theatre, Capital Stage Company, Cutting Ball Theatre, and 3Girls Theatre. Film and television credits include the independent films Men of the Tree, The Delivery Man, and Curves, as well a recurring role on the NBC show Trauma. As an educator, Deverman has worked with advanced acting students through the Eugene O’Neill Foundation for several years and both coached and directed at numerous youth theatre companies around the Bay Area. He holds a BFA in Theatre from New York University and a Certificate of Study from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. Member, Actors Equity Association.

HEATHER GORDON is A Bay Area native who received her MFA in acting from A.R.T Moscow Art Theater & Harvard University. Local Credits – SF Playhouse (“The Scene,” Rebeck, directed by Amy Glazer), Aurora Theatre (“Wilder Times”), Cinnabar Theatre (“Born Yesterday”) and most recently Left Edge Theater (“God of Carnage”), TheatreFirst (“Stop Kiss”) and 3Girls Theatre ("Low Hanging Fruit"). On film, Ms. Gordon won critical acclaim and several film festival awards for her portrayal of “Clea” in the film, Seducing Charlie Barker, based on the play, “The Scene,” by Theresa Rebeck. Internationally, Heather has performed at A.R.T. (lead in The Donkey Show, Dir. Diane Paulus), Shakespeare Theatre Co. (Washington D.C. honoring Sir Ian McKellen), and the world renowned Moscow Art Theater. Heather embodied lead character, “Elizabeth,” in the #1 video game of 2013, BioShock Infinite. Heather has recorded with award winning Music Producer, Glen Ballard, including giving voice to the lead female character in his upcoming Broadway musical, and voiced two lead characters in the Sony animated film, SkyForce. Member, Actors Equity Association

JULIAN GREEN is proficient in art forms from Improv to Shakespeare. Trained at A.C.T (American Conservatory theater) in San Francisco, he has also studied under Patrick Russell, Dan Flapper, Francine Torres, and Nick Gabriel, among others. Recent appearances include "The Brothers Size" at Theatre Rhino, improv at Pan Theater Company, Keem in the film THUG, and various commercials. Julian last appeared as Tito in 3GT’s production of Robin Bradford’s LOW HANGING FRUIT, and is working with director Louis Parnell again on ENTANGLEMENT.