THE FATHER Launches Cutting Ball Theater's Hidden Classics Reading Series, 8/19

Cutting Ball Theater continues its 2012 celebration of August Strindberg's centennial with the first installment of this season's Hidden Classics Reading Series on August 19, 2012, at 1 p.m. One of Strindberg's best known plays, THE FATHER, like Strindberg's Miss Julie, is an intense look at the power struggles between men and women.

The Captain is a former military hero who, in a patriarchal society, seems to have all of the power. In a struggle over how to raise their daughter, the Captain's wife raises doubts in his mind as to whether or not he really is the father of his child. Whatever power the Captain has, he is totally at the mercy of his wife's faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Amy Mueller directs this staged reading, featuring Bay Area theater favorites James Carpenter and Catherine Castellanos. This reading will be followed by a discussion on Strindberg and women.

The centerpiece of Cutting Ball's Strindberg celebration will be the production of all five of August Strindberg's Chamber Plays, in new translations by Paul Walsh, in a festival entitled Strindberg Cycle: The Chamber Plays in Rep in fall of 2012; this will be the first time all five of Strindberg's Chamber Plays will be performed together in repertory in any language.

This season, Cutting Ball's Hidden Classics Reading Series not only continues to explore and celebrate the work of August Strindberg, but presents a variety of extraordinary works ranging from the ancient Greeks to the Elizabethans and modern experimentalism. The series offers a profound look at some of the greatest authors ever to write for the stage in a program that continues to be one of San Francisco's best-kept secrets.

Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. Cutting Ball Theater has partnered with Playwrights Foundation, and the Magic Theatre/Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental works. The company has produced a number of World Premieres, West Coast Premieres, and re-imagined various classics. Cutting Ball received the 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie award for outstanding talent in the performing arts, and was voted "Best Theater Company" in the 2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian Best of the Bay issue. The company also earned the Best of SF award in 2006 and "Best Experimental Theater Company" in 2012 from SF Weekly, and was selected by San Francisco Magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007. Cutting Ball Theater was featured in the February 2010 and 2012 issues of American Theatre Magazine.

The Cutting Ball Theater in Residence at EXIT on Taylor is located at 277 Taylor St., San Francisco, Calif. Readings free and open to the public. For more information, visit cuttingball.com or call 415-525-1205.