Exit Wounds

The world premiere of Wendy Graf’s Exit Wounds explores the effects of a national tragedy on three generations of the perpetrator’s family. How do you find redemption when someone you love has committed a terrible crime? A story of healing, hope and compassion, Exit Wounds unravels slowly, as a mystery: what was the tragic event that caused hoarder Linda Sadowski (Suanne Spoke, seen in Athol Fugard’s The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek at the Fountain, recurring roles on General Hospital and Switched at Birth, and films including Whiplash and upcoming festival award-winner Wild Prairie Rose) to retreat from life, and her son, Matt (Marshall McCabe – Showpony and Graf’s Unemployed Elephants at the Victory) to become estranged? How can Linda stem the ripple effect of the family’s painful past and save the 17-year-old grandson (Dor Gvirtsman –The Chosen at the Fountain) she’s never met? Graf wanted to look at the human story behind the “ripped from the headlines” sensationalist story of a horrific tragedy. “We always hear about the families of the victims, but what happens to the families of the perpetrators?” she asks. “Can they ever live a normal life again? I wanted to explore how entire families can become defined by the actions of one member, and how the fallout from one person’s act can affect future generations.” The multiple award-winning Graf’s recent plays include Unemployed Elephants–A Love Story (Victory Theatre –Stage Raw Top Ten; Stage Scene LA “Scenie” awards for outstanding production and two-hander); Please Don’t Ask About Becket (Electric Footlights at Sacred Fools Theatre); All American Girl (InterAct Theatre Company – Stage Raw Top Ten and 2015 award nominations for playwriting and solo performance, LA Weekly “GO!”, Stage Scene LA “Scenie” award for outstanding solo performance production, Better Lemons “Best of 2015” list); Closely Related Keys (Lounge Theatre, directed by Shirley Jo Finney – NAACP award for lead performance); No Word in Guyanese for Me (2012 GLAAD Award, Helen Hayes Award-recommended); Behind the Gates; Lessons (L.A. production directed by Gordon Davidson); and Leipzig (LADCC nomination; Garland Award for playwriting; Dorothy Silver finalist). Ms. Graf is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA and Pacific Resident Theatre writing units, and of the Dramatists Guild of America. Two new character-driven relationship plays, both by award-winning women writers and both inspired by events currently at the forefront of our national consciousness, beat out 1241 other submissions in the inaugural Moss Hart & Kitty Carlisle Hart New Play Initiative. Hart NPI artistic director Christopher Hart will direct Silver Medallion-winning plays Confederates by Suzanne Bradbeer, opening Nov. 9, and Exit Wounds by Wendy Graf, opening Nov. 16, at Grove Theater Center in Burbank, where the two plays will continue to run in repertory through Dec. 16. One will be named the Gold Medallion winner and open on March 13, 2019 for a six-week, off-Broadway run in the 196-seat “Theater A” at 59E59 Theaters in New York City. The Moss Hart & Kitty Carlisle Hart New Play Initiative is unique because it offers writers fully staged productions on both coasts for a truly national impact. Out of 1,243 submitted scripts, four were selected as Bronze winners and received readings last summer at 59E59 Theaters in New York. Of those, Confederates and Exit Wounds were selected to receive full productions at Grove Theater Center, and one will return to premiere at 59E59 next year.