Skylight Theatre Launches 2015 Season with Disconnection

Launching their 2015 Season, shortly after garnering the most Ovation Awards of any intimate theater in 2014, Skylight Theatre Company opens with Allen Barton's newest work, DISCONNECTION (2013-Years To The Day was his critically acclaimed world premiere with extended run in LA/NY/Edinburgh).

Based on true events and current headlines, DISCONNECTION is a powerful indictment of contemporary religious intrusions into personal relationships. A successful lawyer, his classical piano mentor, and his estranged daughter all confront the dark side of dedication to a Church whose aged founder faces the end of his life in isolation and regret.

"Disconnection was inspired directly by my experience with Scientology, and its notorious policy of the same name, whereby members must renounce their affiliation with anyone deemed to have gone against tenets of the Church. After watching this odious policy affect the life of one of my mentors, and again experiencing its interference in my own relationship with my cherished piano teacher, I was compelled to write this story. Scientology is just one of many controlled-thought systems that have taken hold throughout history, but the play is designed to be a metaphor for all those systems. It is not just an indictment of Scientology's disconnection policy, but of all of its ancestors, and hopefully, its progeny as well" -- Allen Barton (Playwright)

ALLEN BARTON (Playwright) is a Los Angeles-based writer-director, and classical pianist. Last season's Years To The Day attained international critical acclaim after an extended run at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Allen has written & directed five short films and his first feature screenplay; REAL MUSIC was a top-three finalist in the CAPE New Writers Award Competition. He is author of several one-act plays and has earned numerous stage, TV, and film credits as an actor. As a pianist, Allen performed Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" at the 25th Annual S.T.A.G.E. fundraiser (Wilshire Theatre), was a prizewinner in the 2002 Los Angeles Liszt Society Competition, and has recorded five CD's (available on iTunes). In 2010 he was made a Steinway Artist. A graduate of Harvard University, his selected directing credits include Speed-The-Plow, Oleanna, The Heidi Chronicles, Engagement (writer), The Interview, The Real Thing, Rabbit Hole, and The Last Five Years.

DISCONNECTION opens at 8pm tonight, January 24th at the Beverly Hills Playhouse 254 South Robertson Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA. 90211 Performances are at 8:30pm Fridays 8pm Saturdays and 7pm Sundays thru March 1st. Tickets are $30-$34. For reservations call 213-761-7061 or online at http://skylighttix.com.