"Dancing Lessons" - A Play on Autism Opens Twin Bill Theater's 3rd Season on Aug 16

"People attend live theater because they “feel other people’s emotions, see the world
like they do.” --Senga Quinn

Are you in for a new romantic comedy play about two lonely souls who embark on an
unlikely relationship filled with surprising discoveries and the healing power of love?

Twin Bill Theater Company is all set to open its third season with the Asian premiere
of DANCING LESSONS, a 95-minute charming new two-character play by Mark
St. Germain beginning August 16 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight, Level 2 Circuit Lane,
Circuit Makati.

Noted playwright Mark St. Germain is known for real-life figures in his fact-inspired plays
namely: Camping With Henry and Tom (about Henry Ford and Thomas Edison), Freud’s
Last Session (which also featured C.S. Lewis as a character), Becoming Dr. Ruth and Scott;
Hem in the Garden of Allah (featuring novelists Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald).

For DANCING LESSONS, Mark has written about two fictional characters in a heartfelt
production that is moving, comic and sweet.

SYNOPSIS

DANCING LESSONS centers on Ever Montgomery, a science professor and Senga Quinn,
a Broadway dancer. At the top of her career, Senga is holed up in her apartment with
a serious injury that threatens her career and identity. When neighbor Ever, a professor
at New York Institute of Technology, with a condition that is fearful of touch, asks for
a dancing lesson so he can deal with social intimacy (handshaking, hugs, dancing) at
an upcoming awards banquet that he was tasked to host. Through the lessons, a relationship slowly develops that has both individuals stepping out of their comfort zones.

CHARACTERS

Ever Montgomery – Professor of Geosciences at New York Institute of Technology
who has Asperger’s Syndrome. Ever is a high functioning and extremely hyper person
who lacks social skills. He cannot bear a person’s touch and struggles looking at them
in the eye. Things started to change when she asked Senga, his neighbor, to teach him
how to dance. She changes him in a way many would probably think is impossible.

Senga Quinn – A Broadway dancer who has suffered a major leg injury in a car accident.
Thanks to her life-threatening allergy to anesthesia, her chances of surviving a much
needed surgery becomes minimal that sidelined her to her apartment in New York.

CAST

RANDY VILLARAMA (EVER).

Randy is a Theater, Film and TV actor. He started acting professionally in 2001.
His baptism of fire started with Tanghalang Pilipino where he played Jonathan
Harker in Dracula. That play was followed by more TP Productions like Ligawang
Ligaw, In the Middle of Silence, Himala the Musical, Orfeo sa Impyerno, Bakeretta
(Ghost Operetta), A Midsummer Night's Dream. Also while not exactly TP
productions, he love's to be Part of The Virgin Labfest where he played
memorable characters in plays like When Sam Met Joe, Matyag, and even a
Japanese Doctor in Sundan Natin si Ever San;

Always trying to have a white belt mentality, he has worked with multiple Theatre
Groups/Directors like PETA (Ang Buhay ni Galileo, Noli-Fili, Romulus Da Great),
Atlantis (Beauty and the Beast), Trumpets (The Horse and his Boy), Repertory
Philippines (Portrait of an Artist, Hamlet), Dulaang UP (Angry Christ, Lulu, Arturo
Ui, Measure for Measure), Tanghalang Ateneo (Glass Menagerie, Othello), EGG
Theater Co.(Moliere PMS, Maniacal); Gantimpala Theater (Noli Me Tangere,
Florante At Laura), C.A.S.T. staged reading series (Our Country's Good), among
others.

He was trained in Acting and Comedy Improv by Ana Valdes-Lim. The first
Filipina to graduate with a degree of fine arts in theater at the Julliard School of
New York. Randy is a member of the Philippine Playhouse and was last seen in
the Gawad Buhay best ensemble winner "Manila Notes" directed by the brilliant
Oriza Hirata, and Baka Naman Hindi; for the Cultural Center of the Philippines, masterfully helmed by Dennis Marasigan.

It's Randy's first time to work with Twin Bill Theater. Playing EVER is a pinch
myself moment for him.

JILL PENA (SENGA).

A graduate of The Ateneo De Manila Fine Arts program and an awardee of the
Loyola Schools Award for the Arts, Jill Peña is intimate with the inner workings of
productions, both on and offstage and attributes her early theatre training to
Ateneo Blue Repertory. Theatre credits: The Sound of Music; (Sister
Sophia/Maria Understudy), Priscilla: Queen of the Desert (Ensemble/Diva
Understudy), Bituing Walang Ningning; (Ensemble/Laviña Understudy), Annie
(Grace Farrell): Resorts World Manila; "They're Playing Our Song" (Ensemble):
9Works Theatrical; Into the Woods; (Florinda/Rapunzel Understudy): Upstart
Productions; The Horse and His Boy; (Hwin): Trumpets; Tarzan; (Ensemble),
Carriet; (Chris Hargensen), Addams Family; (Ensemble), “Kinky Boots”
(Ensemble), “Sideshow”(Ensemble), “Waitress” (Jenna Understudy), “Beautiful”
(Janelle Woods): Atlantis Theatrical. Jill currently manages her own kiddie
entertainment company, Clowning Around.

During the run of Dancing Lessons, Twin Bill Theater will engage audiences through
special discussions on Asperger’s and Autism Spectrum conducted in partnership
with Autism Association.

The schedule of performances of DANCING LESSONS are as follows:

August 16 – 17 (Friday – Saturday) – 8 pm
August 21 – 24 (Wednesday – Saturday) – 8 pm
Venue: Power Mac Center Spotlight, Level 2 Circuit Lane,
Circuit Makati, Makati City.

Running Time: 95 minutes. For ages 13 and older.

The artistic team of DANCING LESSONS are as follows: Francis G. Matheu
(Director), Mark St. Germain (Playwright), JM Cabling (Choreographer), Kayla
Teodoro (Set Designer), Joseph G, Matheu (Lighting / Technical Director), Arby
Dimaculangan (Sound Designer), Joyce Garcia (Video Graphics Designer) and
Benjor Catindig (Graphic Designer).

DANCING LESSONS had its world premiere in 2014 for Barrington Stage
Company’s Boyd-Quinson Mainstage in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. From 2015-
present, it has also been performed by various regional theater companies in
Connecticut, Rochester, San Diego. Sta. Barbara, San Francisco, Vermont, Ohio,
and Florida. Theatre Tallahassee, Florida is set to run this production from
January 23–Feb. 2, 2020.

Check out the latest updates on DANCING LESSONS through the following
social media:

www.facebook.com/twinbilltheater
www.twitter.com/twinbilltheater
www.instagram.com/twinbilltheater
#DancingLessonsMNL
#TwinBillTheater
#BringAFriendToDL

For ticket inquiries, call Ticketworld 891-9999.

Twin Bill Theater is an independent contemporary theater company that
exists to stir minds for constructive societal revolution utilizing theater as means
for formal dialogue and intellectual intercourse foregrounding current issues that
continue to plague man’s social condition. We aspire for national and
international collaboration, engagement and cultural exchange through various
theater and arts festivals and cultural and academic research conferences. We
are a member of PHILSTAGE.

DANCING LESSONS is produced with permission granted by Abrams
Artists Agency, 275 Seventh Ave. 26th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA.