'Blood From a Stone' West Coast Premiere Opens May 5 at Electric Lodge, Venice

Blood From A Stone tears at the gut with its wrenching story of dysfunction and destruction. A sadly relatable dark comedy that shows the most difficult trap to escape from may be our own family. An unflinching and darkly comic depiction of life in blue collar Connecticut, Blood From a Stone zeroes in on a working class family wrestling to keep it together. When Travis pays a visit to his parents' home, he finds an already volatile household imploding and his close-knit but deeply conflicted family teetering on the brink.

By Tommy Nohilly, Blood From a Stone was originally produced by the New Group in New York City where the lead role was played by Ethan Hawke who won an Obie Award for his performance receiving rave reviews.

WHO:
• Written by Tommy Nohilly
• Directed by Thomas C. Dunn
• Starring Joanne Baron, Chad Brannon, Frankie Ingrassia, Jossara Jinaro, Ryan Lahetta, Gareth Williams
• Produced by Ryan Lahetta, Racquel Lehrman-Theatre Planners for LB Productions
• Associate producer Victoria Watson-Theatre Planners

WHEN:
Performances: May 5 – May 22
• Thursdays at 8 p.m.: May 5, 12, 19
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: May 6, 13, 20
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: May 7, 14, 21
• Sundays at 2 p.m.: May 8, 15, 22,

WHERE:
Electric Lodge
1416 Electric Avenue
Venice CA 90291
(Parking Lot Parking)

HOW:
(323) 960-7788 or www.Plays411.com/stone
• Like us in facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bloodfromastoneplay/

TICKET PRICES:
$20 Previews; $30.00 General admission:

# # #

Joanne Baron * (Margaret) is a highly regarded film and stage actress. She has been awarded five Dramalogue awards for her lead roles on stage including her semi-autobiographical one-woman show which she wrote and starred in called There Once Was a Girl from Pawtucket. Ms. Baron’s film and television credits include This Is 40, Indignation, Spider-Man 2, Real Genius, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad Men, and most recently, the Netflix series Murder in the First; andLove. Ms. Baron has also produced several films including Allie and Me directed by Michael Rymer where she performed the title role; and the indie Sundance hit Perfume in which she co-starred with Jeff Goldblum. She is currently developing a web series called, Joanne Brown is Here co-starring Tariq Trotter of the Grammy award winning musical group The Roots. Ms. Baron is the Artistic Director of the renowned Baron Brown Studio in Santa Monica with her husband of thirty years, writer/director D. W. Brown.

Chad Brannon (Travis) is an Emmy Award winning actor best known for his role as Zander on General Hospital, Lucas Mize on Friday Night Lights, and Ryan Archer on CSI. Other Film/TV credits include Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring, Cold Case, Deadwood, JAG, and Malcolm in the Middle. Chad loves the theatre and is very excited to be on the stage again. Past credits include Hamlet in Hamlet, Torch in Beirut, Messenger in 1776, and Christian in Cyrano De Bergerac. Chad just recently wrapped Slamma Jamma to appear in theaters this fall, and can be heard everyday as the main voice of the History Channel and as one of the signature promo voices on Fox for American Idol, Bones, and American Grit, on CBS for NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS, and on SEC ESPN Network for College Basketball.

Frankie Ingrassia (Sarah) is an actress and director, known for Election (1999), The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993), and Glow (2000).

Jossara Jinaro * (Yvette) is excited to reunite on stage with Chad Brannon since Beirut by Alan Bowne. She has performed in numerous theatres like The American Conservatory Theatre, Chicago’s Teatro Vista, The Kennedy Center, Pasadena Civic, Bilingual Foundation, and Teatro Sinergia. Certain LA ventures are Marina in Ten Tricks, the historically-famous Sor Juana in The Nun and the Countess, Evelyn in The Tenth Man, and Aida in Firehouse. Some film and television includes Rae from Passions, Courtney Messina (Cheech Marin’s daughter) on Judging Amy, Virginia Bustos in Viva Vegas, which earned her an Alma nomination, and most recently Reina in the Emmy–nominated Hulu’s East Los High. More at jossarajinaro.com

Ryan Lahetta (Matt) recently won “Best of” in the Hollywood Fringe Festival for his adaptation of Lanford Wilson’s play Home Free. Ryan has also been in commercials for the Big 10 Network and also a joint venture between Nike and MTVU for The World Race. Ryan can also be seen on the Discovery Channel. Ryan’s theatre credits include Golden Boy at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad, CA, History Boys at Cygnet Theatre in San Diego, along with EQQUS at the Beck Center for the Arts in his home town of Cleveland, OH.

Gabrielle Salinger (Sarah/Yvette - Understudy), originally from Boston, Massachusetts, is delighted to join the cast of Blood from a Stone. Gabrielle’s past stage work includes Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, as well as roles in Present Laughter (Daphne), Picnic (Madge), and Twelfth Night (Maria). She has also played roles on both ends of the murder spectrum as a murderess in the feature film You’re So Dead and a murder victim in the thriller short Love at First Sight. Her acting is featured in videos with Ryan Adams and Nick Jonas, and in a rather steamy make-out scene with Eminem. Her modeling and voice work includes the sexy N9 in the cartoon series Techtopia, MTV, LA Weekly, Elegant magazine, the e-book Warchild Pawn, and news narration for Yahoo, MSNBC, and AOL. Gabrielle graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles and studied theatre in Paris with NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She has just completed her first children’s book. To find out more about Gabrielle, please visit her website at gabriellesalinger.com

Gareth Williams * (Bill) has been an actor for over 35 years, appearing in countless theatre performances including the World Premiere of Beth Henley’s Signature in Los Angeles, the World Premiere of Richard Greenberg’s Hurrah at Last! at South Coast Rep, and Machinal at Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre. Film: Love After Love with Andie McDowel and Chris O’Dowd, 13 Moons with Steve Buscemi and Peter Dinklage, and 20th Century Women with Annette Benning and Elle Fanning. TV: Hawaii Five-0, Perception, Masters of Sex, The Mentalist, and CSI: NY & Miami.