Bonjour,
The west coast premieres of these two powerful new plays are now running. Bounds” is on Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00pm, and “I Want a Country” on Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 4:00pm. If you haven’t yet seen them, make your reservations now!
What the Critics are saying:
TOP TEN! RECOMMENDED!
“A surreal journey that serves as a lament for unexpected loss, a skewering of global capitalism, and – perhaps – a metaphor for what awaits the U.S. as it embarks on its potential imperial collapse….Director Frédérique Michel has crafted an absurdist setting and cryptic characters into a sometimes confusing yet compelling narrative that depicts reluctant migrants in a quest for a new home….Michel’s crafty, artful staging befits the nature of this lost tribe…. One telling line would be appropriate for any of the characters to utter: “We’re a group of indignant, frustrated people. We’re not a county.” If that is not a suitable definition of a country, I do not know what is.”
— Martín Hernández, Stage Raw
“WOW! As strikingly stylized as it is unapologetically political….Like Andrei Kureichik’s Insulted. Belarus, Andreas Flourakis’s I Want A Country spotlights City Garage’s knack for bringing innovative European theater to American audiences….Dynamically staged…thought-provoking and topical, I Want A Country is well worth an hour of your time.”
— Steven Stanley, Stage Scene LA
“Both of these plays are timely, especially amidst the rising threats of mass deportations of immigrants, unreasonable searches and incarcerations, and increasingly militarized borders. Once again, and per their thirty-five year record, City Garage Theatre has produced plays that speak to the times and encourage people to have empathy and compassion for what it means to arrive in a country that may pummel you into the ground.”
— Allie Rigby, SeeFilm LA
If you haven’t yet made your reservations, make them now. “Bounds” is playing on Thursdays and Fridays, and “I Want a Country” on Saturdays and Sundays. Get tickets for both plays and save $10!
“Bounds” by Tino Caspanello
Buy tickets for “Bounds”
Translated by Haun Saussy
Buy tickets for “I Want a Country”
See both plays, and save $10!
Buy tickets for Both Plays
Special Performance of both plays on Sunday, March 9th! – Followed by Q&A
Join us on Sunday, March 9th to see both plays on the same evening! “Bounds” will be at 4:00pm, followed by “I Want a Country” at 6:00pm. Afterward, we’ll have a Q&A with the cast and the creative team. Buy a ticket in advance for either show on that date and you can see both—or pay-what-you can at the door.
“Bounds” by Tino Caspanello
Translated by Haun Saussy
February 6 – March 14, 2025; Thursdays, Fridays 8:00pm
Five women are stranded on a beach in an unknown country. They might be displaced persons, refugees, unhoused, undocumented immigrants. What we do know is that they are unwanted. They pass the time by playing games and singing songs, they fantasize about belonging, and they compete. One of them, they know, will be selected. But who will that be? While they wait, bonds are created, ties of affection. “Bounds” is a story about us, about the truths we take for granted, and about a society unable to exist without bonds. It is also about “the others,” about those to whom we open our doors—or refuse. It is a story about cages, violence, dreams, a story that reflects our time, a time when we struggle with the rules, obligations, and prejudices that keep us from looking in the eyes of our neighbors.
“I Want a Country” by Andreas Flourakis
Translated by Eleni Drivas
February 8 – March 16, 2925; Saturdays 8:00pm, Sundays 4:00pm
A group of people huddle in the darkness, clutching suitcases and umbrellas. They have lost their country. Where did it go? They wander in search of a new one. They complain, argue, debate, talk about what makes a place feel like home. Together, they imagine what the country of their dreams would be like: a place where they could find peace, justice, and kindness at last. Though written by Flourakis about the Greek financial crisis of the early 2010s, this haunting and poetic text speaks just as powerfully to our own political moment here in the United States where so many long to replace division and enmity with connection and understanding.
Links for Tickets:
Buy tickets for “Bounds”
Buy tickets for “I Want a Country”
Bounds
I Want a Country
Merci, and see you at City Garage!
Frederique & Archie & Charles