Little Candle Productions Presents World Premiere Play About the 2008 Mortgage Crisis

In 2008, playwright Stephanie Alison Walker and her husband were among the one in 54 homeowners to receive a foreclosure notice when the American housing market collapsed. As she fought to save her home and her marriage, Walker penned the first draft of “American Home.” In this powerful drama, opening Aug. 26 at the Fremont Centre Theatre, a young couple faces eviction from the dream house they stretched to buy, an elderly widow falls prey to a reverse mortgage scheme, and a minister of the prosperity gospel must face the flock she’s led astray. “American Home” takes an unflinching look at the impossible choices people make when faced with losing everything and, ultimately, celebrates the powerful resilience of community and the human spirit.

Walker’s popular blog, Love in the Time of Foreclosure – featured by the Los Angeles Times, NPR, Business Week Magazine, Chicago Magazine, Huffington Post Live and ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer – has been called “a heartbreaking work of staggering acceptance” and her play, “American Home,” a work of that same tone and caliber.

“I was astounded, when I first read the script,” says Little Candle Productions co-founder and Managing Director Betsy Roth, “That a piece dealing with this subject matter as deeply and personally as Stephanie does could still leave me with sense of hope. At Little Candle, we are passionate about creating theatre that affirms our audiences, that looks at the human experience through a lens that shows us that even our own brokenness is not beyond repair, and ‘American Home’ absolutely hits the mark.”

“American Home” will be the fourth world premiere for Little Candle Productions at South Pasadena’s Fremont Centre Theatre, where audiences may have seen “The Innocence of Father Brown,” “The Elliots,” the smash hit “Cold Tangerines: The Play” and the eighth production overall for the five-year old company that also, notably, mounted “The Light of Western Stars” at San Marino’s Old Mill last summer in celebration of the venue’s bicentennial.

The cast features Jennifer Adler, Ozioma Akagha, Marc Barnes, Jono Eiland, Mel Green, Ethan Rains, Bette Smith, Jessica Temple and Caroline Westheimer. The play is directed by Kate Woodruff with lighting design by Rob Van Guelpen, and costumes by Paula Deming.

Dates and Times

– Aug. 26* — Sept. 24

– 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Sundays

*with one 8 p.m. preview on Friday, Aug. 25

Location

– Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena

Tickets

– $25 general admission, $20 students/seniors/military

– $34 opening night gala includes champagne and dessert reception following the show

– Group discounts are available at www.littlecandleproductions.com or by calling (626) 497-8700.

Stephanie is an L.A.-based award-winning playwright. Her plays include “The Madres,” “The Abuelas,” “Friends with Guns,” “The Art of Disappearing,” “American Home,” “The Sister House” and “Three Fittings and The Box Jumper.” Stephanie’s work has been produced and/or developed at Los Angeles’ Skylight Theatre, Moving Arts, Antaeus Theatre Company, The Road Theatre, The Blank Theatre, San Diego Rep, 16th Street Theater in Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, Boulder Ensemble Theater Company, American Blues Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville and more. Awards include: Finalist for the 2016 Saroyan/Paul Playwriting Prize for Human Rights, Winner of the Ashland New Plays Festival, Blue Ink Award, the Generations Prize, Jane Chambers Award Runner-Up, finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and the CTG/Humanitas Playwriting Prize and Four-time Finalist for the Heideman Award. Stephanie’s short plays are anthologized by Smith & Kraus. Her play about the Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina, “The Madres,” was one of six plays presented at the 2016 NNPN New Play Showcase in December and is slated for an NNPN Rolling World Premiere kicking off in Los Angeles with Skylight Theatre Company.

Stephanie is a proud member of the Playwrights Union, Antaeus Playwrights Lab and The Dramatists Guild of America. She rents in Los Angeles with her brilliant husband Bob and their spirited sons, Malcolm (age 7) and Graham (age 3).

Kate Woodruff is a Los Angeles-based director whose focus is on creating a viable home for the arts in her community. In addition to supporting new and emerging playwrights, she holds board positions with several nonprofits and is delighted to be a part of the Little Candle team. A Los Angeles native, Kate has been involved in theatre since childhood, first appearing on a professional stage at eight years old. In the years since, she has performed on stages across Los Angeles and Orange County, in addition to many commercial, film, television and voiceover projects. She briefly detoured from theatre to study Psychology and Linguistics at UCLA, but her true passion quickly called her home. As part of the Long Beach Playhouse’s New Works Festival, Kate has directed several West Coast debut productions, including “Children of Camelot,” which made its East Coast debut at the off-Broadway SHEnyc festival in summer 2017. She is excited to make her directing debut with Little Candle at the helm of “American Home.”

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