SHINER in the Reno Gazette
“Although more than 20 years have passed since Kurt Cobain committed suicide, Cobain’s life, death and music still grip a global audience.
Just this year, unheard recordings from the late Nirvana frontman have been released, a new documentary about Cobain just debuted, and another is on its way.
In “Shiner,” a Good Luck Macbeth Theatre production that opens Friday in Reno, audiences will be transported back to the weeks leading up to Cobain’s self-inflicted gunshot wound death in 1994.
Reno will be the fifth city to welcome the play to its community.
The play is not Cobain’s story.
Playwright Christian Durso tells the story instead of two 13-year-olds, Jake and Margot, who form their own grunge-music fan club to celebrate all things Nirvana, Cobain’s band formed in the Pacific Northwest.
Soon Jake and Margot become bound as much by their shared insecurities as by their music, and the two teens make a pact to die happy.
All they need to do is see Nirvana live in concert, and then they will jump off the U.S. Highway 101 overpass. But a first kiss, a restraining order, and Kurt Cobain’s ailing health threaten their plans.
The production, directed by Bill Ware, stars prominent Reno actress Kate Atack and regional actor Patrick John Kiernan, who is based out of New York.
The production team expects that “Shiner” will not only speak to Nirvana and Cobain fans, but to anyone that feels a sense of angst and lack of belonging.
“His music is speaking to emotions that they can’t express,” said Christopher Daniels, managing director of the production, of fictional characters Jake and Margot, along with Cobain’s loyal followers.
“Shiner” was listed on the Tracking Board’s 2012 Young and Hungry List, a roll of the top 100 best scripts in Hollywood and was listed as one of the top 10 plays in New Orleans for 2014.
“We’ve been interviewing people about their connection with Nirvana. It almost has this John F. Kennedy feeling, in that everyone remembers where they were when Kurt Cobain died,” Daniels said.
With the music and arts scene booming in Reno and with the recent release of the new Cobain documentary, Daniels also feels like it is a perfect time for the show to come through Reno.
Tickets are available online via www.goodluckmacbeth.org. Presale tickets cost $15 and $18 at the door.
Scheduled dates for the production include Friday and Saturday; May 21-24; May 29-30; and June 5-6.”
jimmyeatworldofficial
areudirty