KIM GARFIELD & COMPANY
Public Relations
6359 Orange Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Contact:
KIM GARFIELD
(323) 965-1029

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WORLD PREMIERE / GUEST PRODUCTION OF
"LET THE ROCKS SPEAK"
OPENS MARCH 8
AT FOUNTAIN THEATRE

In 1915, one and a half million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman
Turks in what is considered to be the first genocide of the 20th Century.
To this day, the Turkish government has refused to acknowledge it.
88 years later, the Armenians are still waiting for an apology.

LET THE ROCKS SPEAK, written by Lilly Thomassian, will have its World Premiere as a guest production at the Fountain Theatre, opening Saturday, March 8 at 8:00pm (through April 27). Two previews are set for Friday, March 7 at 8:00pm and Saturday, March 8 at 2:00pm. The play, inspired by real events and people, is directed by Anita Khanzadian, who recently staged Interact Theatre Company's acclaimed production of Death of a Salesman (starring her husband, Eddie Jones).

Photos by Rick Friesen

More than just a memory play about the Armenian genocide, LET THE ROCKS SPEAK explores profound universal issues: how do we survive traumatic events? How do we balance the need to remember with the healing power of letting go? How can we find peace within ourselves?

Ten years after the genocide, three survivors - a father and his two daughters - now live in a tiny Boston apartment where past and present collide. It is the younger daughter's 16th birthday and she has two wishes: to learn to dance, and to remember the past. At day's end, both of her wishes are fulfilled.

The cast is headed by Anna Der Nersesian and Anais Thomassian as the daughters and Jimmie F. Skaggs as their father. The ensemble also features Magda Harout, Miranda Leann Lopez, Stephanie Satie, Ruby Tarzian and Amanda Troop.

LET THE ROCKS SPEAK is produced by Virginia Morris and Jimmie F. Skaggs for ShapeShifter Productions. Choreography is by Anna Djanbazian, with set design by D. V. Caitlyn, lighting design by Kathi O'Donohue, costume design by Maro Parian and original music and sound by Brian Benison.

Lilly Thomassian first wrote Let The Rocks Speak as a poem in three voices. It was when she read a Los Angeles Times article about six survivors that it became a play -- which won the 2001 Catawba College Peterson Award and was a finalist in the David Mark Cohen National Playwrighting Competition. Her one-act play, How Do I Look? was a finalist in Pathway Productions' National Contest; The Interrogation, inspired by the Iranian revolution, was a finalist in the 2001 Ashland, Ore. New Plays Festival.

Anita Khanzadian co-directed Counsellor-At-Law (L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award), Marathons and The Root at Interact Theatre Company. At Theatre 40, she staged La Ronde, The Parallax Garden, Waiting For The Moon To Fall and Painting Churches; also T. Williams' Out Cry at the Lee Strasberg Center. In New York she has been a guest director at Playwright's Horizons, Ubu Repertory Theatre and Perry St. Theatre.

Jimmy F. Skaggs has guest-starred in over 30 TV series; TV movies: Larry McMurtry's Dead Man's Walk and Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory. Films: Lethal Weapon, Cutthroat Island. Anna Der Nersesian co-starred in the Fountain Theatre's Beast On The Moon and A Noise Within's Oedipus The King; Anais Thomassian has played Anita in West Side Story, Daisy in Rhinoceros and Wendy in Peter Pan, among others.

The performance schedule is: Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 2:00pm and 8:00pm, Sunday at 2:00pm. Tickets are $25 ($15 for previews). Reservations: (323) 663-1525. The Fountain Theatre is located at 5060 Fountain Ave., Hollywood. Parking is adjacent.

# # #

10 February 2003