Justin Jain’s Neverboy

Takes Us On a Fanatical Flight of

Love, Lust and Longing

Justin Jain, the Community Education Center’s New Edge Resident Artist in Theatre, turns the classic story of Peter Pan on its ear in this tour de force solo performance of Neverboy. Created in collaboration with acclaimed writer/director/performer Matthew Graham Smith and award-winning director Adrienne Mackey, Neverboy is a wildly imaginative contemporary re-telling of the Peter Pan story as explored through a gay lens. For mature audiences only. Performances are Friday and Saturday, April 18-19 at 8PM, and Sunday, April 20 at 3PM at the CEC Meeting House Theatre located at 3500 Lancaster Avenue in West Philly / University City. Admission is $12, $10 for students and seniors. For further information and reservations call 215 387-1911.

In a fast-paced 60-minute solo performance Jain employs a highly physical style to tell the story of the Captain, as he revisits his years as a naive and hopeful Wendy in search of the Neverboy. Set on a remote island, the story unfolds through poetic language, heightened physicality and oftentimes crass humor. Both irreverent and moving, the play becomes a roller-coaster ride through the characters’ individual captivations with the Neverboy, providing two uniquely queer perspectives on universal feelings of longing, loving, loneliness, and isolation. Blurring the line between fantasy and reality, the play combines the world of dance with that of linear storytelling to create a vocabulary that is both engaging and visceral.

Neverboy is a first time collaboration between Jain, Mackey, and Smith. The project was conceived to allow Smith and Jain the opportunity to bring their skills to bear on a work based on themes they feel strongly compelled to investigate together because of their personal experiences as young gay men. All three are emerging theatre artists in the San Francisco and Philadelphia communities, dedicated to creating socially conscious performances that tell compelling stories. Completing the production team are Bradley K. Wrenn, set design and Timothy Sawicki, lighting.

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More About the Collaborators:

Justin Jain, performer, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where he graduated with honors in 2004. A Florida native, he has performed extensively at Walt Disney World and with several Florida-based companies. Florida credits include work with the Orlando Fringe Festival and Vital Spark Dance Co., whose contemporary dance style blends story, movement, and visual art to create cohesive narratives. Trained as both a dancer and an actor, Justin has pursued a career in Philadelphia since 2004, working with The Arden Theatre Company, Azuka Theatre Collective, 1812 Productions, Enchantment Theatre Company, Gurus of Guffaw, Hotel Obligado, Mum Puppettheatre, People’s Light and Theatre Company, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Shakespeare in Clark Park, Theatre Horizon, and The Wilma Theatre. He studied movement with Anne Bogart and the SITI company in their 2003 summer intensive. In 2006, he studied Commedia Dell’Arte under master Antonio Fava. Justin has toured regionally with the McCarter Theatre’s Education department in THE ARABIAN NIGHTS and THE ADVENTURES OF PERSEUS. He is currently a member of the FREEDOM RISING company at the National Constitution Center. In 2001, he danced internationally with SATCHMO PROJECT / RANDOM ACTS OF DANCE at the Concorso Internazionale Di Danze in Cesena, Italy.

Justin has acted as a collaborator and performer on several original movement-based physical theatre projects, foremost among them the 2007 Philly Fringe hit THE JERSEY DEVIL. In 2006, he was part of THE BALLAD OF JOE HILL performed at the Eastern State Penitentiary, also with the Philly Fringe. His most recent undertaking, BEAUTY IS, with Philadelphia’s Hotel Obligado, opened in 2007 and toured San Francisco in 2008. He is a recent recipient of the highly competitive University of the Arts Professional Development Grant to help produce THE GIANT SQUID as part of the 2008 Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival.

In 2004, Justin was selected from a national pool of over 300 applicants to become one of six Arden Theatre Company Professional Apprentices for the 2004-05 season where he received training and skills in all areas of theatre: management, production, administration, and the artistic process. Following his term as an apprentice, Justin went on to assistant direct the Arden’s production of WINESBURG, OHIO, which won the 2006 Barrymore Award for best musical.

Justin has served as an instructor and teaching artist for area schools and theatres including Arden Theatre Company, People’s Light and Theatre Company, and Russell Byers Charter School. He teaches several master classes in movement, stage combat, and acting. He is currently an instructor of stage combat for The University of the Arts Pre-College Program and a teaching artist for the award-winning Philadelphia Young Playwrights at Constitution High School. He is co-teacher for the UArts Pre-College LAB class, an ensemble-building class that collaboratively produces original works.

Matthew Graham Smith, writer, is a resident of San Francisco and a graduate of Wesleyan University, the Dell’arte school, Dublin’s Trinity University Leqoc program, and the Bali Arts program in Indonesia. As a member of the Dell’arte Company Matthew writes, directs, and performs in new company productions, touring nationally and internationally.

In 2002, Matthew earned a Barrymore award for his performance in EQUUS at Philadelphia’s MUM Puppettheater. His recent directing experience includes KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN at the New Conservatory Theatre, which was nominated for Best Overall Drama 2006 by the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. His critical writing about theater has appeared in LAMBDA Book Report. Primary Stages in NYC honored him with an award for his play, STRIP. The Asian American Writer’s workshop in New York City commissioned his play, I AM THE COOK YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, based on Monique Truong’s novel, “The Book of Salt.” Philadelphia’s physical theatre ensemble Hotel Obligado commissioned his play BEAUTY IS, which opened in Philadelphia in 2007 and toured San Francisco in 2008. Graham’s first play for the Dell’arte Company, SHADOW OF GIANTS, was featured in AMERICAN THEATER Magazine (February 2005). The NORTH COAST JOURNAL in California additionally awarded SHADOW OF GIANTS their honor for Best Original Play 2004. Graham’s latest play, A FAMILIAR FACE, was developed with support from Z-Space, Magic Theatre, and the Dell’arte Company. An accomplished educator, Graham teaches at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center MFA Program, San Francisco State University, Assumption University in Bangkok, and Sunway University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Adrienne Mackey, director, creates theater that focuses on subjects reflecting her diverse personal and social interests, including American labor history (THE BALLAD OF JOE HILL at Eastern State Penitentiary), Greek mythology (ECHO, Tribe of Fools, 2007 Philadelphia Fringe Festival), classic literature (THE MASTER AND MARGARITA at Mum Puppettheatre) and racial tensions within her hometown of Philadelphia (RECITATIF, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival 2007, Berkshire Fringe). In 2006-2007 she was awarded the Community Education Center's New Edge Residency in Theater. She will also serve as vocal coach for 1812 Production's upcoming show, CHERRY BOMB. She currently teaches voice and its connection with theater to both adults and children in and around the Philadelphia area. Adrienne Mackey received high honors in both Theatre Studies and Chemistry from Swarthmore College. Ms. Mackey is also a recipient of the prestigious 2008 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, which will take her to Paris to study with Pan Theatre Voice School.