Featuring “Mlle. Dias de Corta” by Mavis Gallant and “Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People” by Lorrie Moore directed by AMY KOSSOW and by JOEL MULLENNIX

Napa, CA- In two eras, across an ocean, two women learn the secrets hidden inside those they love the most. Word for Word returns to Napa with STRANGERS WE KNOW, verbatim theatrical performances of two stunning short stories by masters of the genre, “contemporary legend” Mavis Gallant and the “very funny” Lorrie Moore. Told with emotional force and crackling wit, this two-part evening plays at the Napa Valley Opera House on Thursday, March 1 at 8 p.m.

STRANGERS WE KNOW begins with Mavis Gallant’s “Mlle Dias de Corta” directed by Amy Kossow, and is followed by Lorrie Moore’s “Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People” directed by Joel Mullennix. In Gallant’s story, a wildly conservative, proper and lonely French widow takes a look at her exotic tenant, revealing a fast-changing Paris and an enduring hope. This is followed by Moore’s tale of Abby Mallon, who takes an ambitious and crazy funny drive across Ireland with her mother at the wheel. STRANGERS WE KNOW shows how love, longing, and wit can catch the heart off-guard and blow it open, revealing the strangers we know. STRANGERS stars *Sheila Balter, Maria Candelaria, *Susan Harloe, Paul Finocchiaro *Joel Mullennix, and *Patricia Silver. *member Actors Equity

CALENDAR EDITOR PLEASE NOTE:
WHAT: NAPA VALLEY OPERA HOUSE presents WORD FOR WORD, a program of THE Z SPACE STUDIO, in STRANGERS WE KNOW, featuring “Mlle. Dias de Corta” by Mavis Gallant and “Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People” by Lorrie Moore.
WHEN: Thursday, March 1, 8 p.m.
COST: $30/$25
WHERE: Napa Valley Opera House, 1030 Main Street, Napa, 94559
INFO: Call 707-226-7372 or visit www.nvoh.org
Photo editors: A selection of black and white and color photographs of Strangers We Know are downloadable in hi-res jpeg format from http://www.zspace.phanfare.com.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
MAVIS GALLANT (author) creates stories that are particular and specific, as if observed from a window; places come to life under her wide eye of character. Now 83, she continues to write and is considered by her peers many to be “one of the greatest short story writers of our time” (Michael Ondaatje). Known for her sharp wit, keenly observed detail, and crystalline prose, Gallant writes of outsiders often outsiders to Paris, or other points in Europe who constantly attempt to connect to the worlds floating about them. On November 1, 2006, a tribute to Mavis Gallant was held at the Symphony Space in New York, with her friends and admirers Michael Ondaatje, Russell Banks, and Jhumpa Lahiri.

Gallant was born in Montreal in 1922. Raised virtually as an orphan, she attended 17 different schools from the age of four - public, convent and boarding - and her formative years were characterized by upheaval. On completing her education she worked briefly in the cutting room of the National Film Board before becoming a feature reporter for the Montreal Standard in 1944. Gallant began writing fiction in Canada, publishing stories in Preview (1944), the Standard Magazine (1946) and Northern Review (1950). In 1950, at the age of 27, Mavis Gallant left her native Montreal for Paris, and has lived there ever since. A contemporary legend whose short stories have captivated readers and other writers for over 50 years, Mavis Gallant’s has published over 100 stories in The New Yorker; her short story collections include a remarkable view of both pre-war Canada and post-war Paris: The Other Paris (1956), My Heart Is Broken (1964), The Pegnitz Junction (1973), The End of the World and Other Stories (1974), From the Fifteenth District: A Novella and Eight Stories (1979), Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories (1981), Overhead in a Balloon: Stories of Paris (1985) Across the Bridge (1993), and Selected Stories, published to great acclaim in 1996.

She has written two novels, Green Water, Green Sky (1959) and A Fairly Good Time (1970). Displaying a great gift for nonfiction, she has also written an impressive body of reviews and essays on French culture and society; her graphic eyewitness account of the 1968 Paris student riots was published in The New Yorker, and is now collected in Paris Notebooks: Essays and Reviews (1986).

LORRIE MOORE (author) Lorrie Moore grew up in Glens Falls, New York and attended St. Lawrence and Cornell universities. She is the author of three short story collections, and two novels (and is currently at work on a third), as well as a children's book and many book reviews. She has been teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison forever. Her work has received the Rea Award for the Short Story, the PEN/Malamud prize, the Irish Times International Prize, and a Lannan Foundation fellowship. Her first published New Yorker story was included, 11 years later, in The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People” is from Ms. Moore’s collection, Birds of America, reviewed by The Nation as follows: “Funny. Very funny. And mean-but in a good way. In the end, it’s Moore’s generosity toward her own characters that is most striking.” Of humor in her writing, Moore told Salon.com, “People being funny with each other is also a kind of generosity between people, I'm interested in that, those little moments of generosity, where someone really does want to make someone laugh, those moments where we help each other out.”

AMY KOSSOW (Director, “Mlle. Dias de Corta”) is a Charter Member of Word for Word. Directing credits include "Lost and Found," "Winter Night," and "The Boy Who Disappeared Clouds" for Word for Word; “Brilliant Traces” at The People's Light and Theater Company, “Just Like Me” at The Intersection for the Arts, and “Look for Water” at the Eureka Theater. As a Word for Word company member, Amy appeared in "Xingu," "The Bunchgrass Edge of the World," "Three Blooms," and "The Fall River Axe Murders.”

JOEL MULLENNIX (Director, "Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People") This is Joel's third directing foray into the Word for Word style. In Spring 2005, he directed A Traveling Jewish Theatre's highly successful Word for Word-style production of “Family Alchemy - Stories by Bernard Malamud and Grace Paley.” In the Fall of 2005, he collaborated with Word for Word Artistic Director Susan Harloe to direct Julie Orringer's “The Isabel Fish” at Lick Wilmerding High School. In addition to these two Word for Word-style productions, Joel has also directed “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “ The Cherry Orchard” by Chekov, “A View from the Bridge” by Arthur Miller, and “Prelude to a Kiss” by Craig Lucas. His company, Industrial Strength Productions, produced the acclaimed productions of ‘East” and “Greek” by Steven Berkhoff, in which he played major roles. He has acted in many Word for Word productions, as well as appeared on many Bay Area stages. In addition to directing "Which Is More...," Joel will also be acting in Strangers We Know. Joel holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California at Davis. He teaches acting at Chabot College.

WORD FOR WORD is the theatre company that transforms classic and contemporary fiction into performance works for the stage. Founded in 1993 by Susan Harloe and JoAnne Winter, the company is in its 13th season. Word for Word performs short stories in their entirety, preserving the author’s language and honoring his or her literary intent. Word for Word has staged works throughout the Bay Area, as well as in France through support from the Florence Gould Foundation in New York). In addition, Word for Word presents its popular School and Library Tour throughout Northern California. The company has presented 12 annual home seasons at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center. In 1997, Word for Word received a special Bay Area Critics Circle Award for its unique concept and in 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2005, the Bay Area Critics Circle awarded the company numerous honors for productions including “The Halfway Diner,” “Winesburg, Ohio,” “Stories by Tobias Wolff,” and “Immortal Heart.” WORD FOR WORD is a program of THE Z SPACE STUDIO.

THE Z SPACE STUDIO supports a culturally and aesthetically diverse community of theater artists working together to develop Bay Area theatre and theatre audiences. Founded in 1993 by David Dower, the Z Space Studio has become one of the nation's leading laboratories for the development of new voices, new works and new directions in American theater. By creating a space where all types of artistic development can occur side by side, the Z Space Studio has become what Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Artistic Director Tony Taccone describes as "a virtual bastion of creativity, a bubbling cauldron of new work, and a safe haven for unfettered creative expression." The Z Space Studio employs hundreds of artists each year in the process of developing new works. The programs developed under the Z umbrella are enjoyed by over 30,000 people each year and can be found in schools, libraries, and theaters throughout Northern California and the country. Since the founding of the Z Space Studio in 1993, the Studio and the Bay Area artists we serve have racked up an impressive list of awards and other notable achievements, including the Helen Hayes Award, the Kesselring Prize, the MacArthur Award, and two Pulitzer nominations. Two Z-commissioned works, “Haiku Tunnel” and “Red Diaper Baby,” have become major motion pictures. In 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003, Z-produced projects have landed in the San Francisco Chronicle's "10 Best Theater Events of the Year" list.