EVREN ODCIKIN
World Premiere
THE OLDEST PROFESSION by Paula Vogel
Brava Theater Center, San Francisco CA (2010)
The day before Reagan gets elected, five working ladies in their 70s lounge in Central Park. As younger competition and gentrification starts creeping into their turf, "the girls" will do whatever it takes to keep the business going even if it means dying on the job. Filled with music and dance, Vogel's sizzling hot play is a funny and touching celebration of the oldest profession in the world.
Two Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle nominations, including best ensemble
"Odcikin has directed the play with a smooth, sensitive hand that mines for the big laughs and makes room for the occasional poignancy."
—Bay Area Reporter
"Odcikin’s done a bang-up job of directing the comedy in Brava Theater’s tiny, upstairs second stage, using every patch of space available and offering a fully sensorial experience.”
—San Francisco Examiner
"The Oldest Profession is funny and touching, heartwarming and heartbreaking, and, as one of the lascivious ladies might say, worth every penny."
—Pacific Sun
"Director Evren Odcikin calibrates the evening just about perfectly, guiding his quartet of actors plus one rollicking good piano player through Vogel’s poignant, but laugh-filled landscape."
—Theater Dogs
"Odcikin directs his actors with such obvious affection that it's difficult to resist the show for long. It may just be the sweetest play you'll ever see about a prostitute's final days.”
—SF Weekly
Cast
Linda Ayres-Frederick, Lee Brady, Tamar Cohn, Cec Levinson, and Patricia Silver
Creative Team
Angela Dwyer (music director and piano player), Simone Hamilton (lighting design), Jackie Martinez (scenic design), Reid McMann (sound design), Michelle Mulholland (costume design), and Jocelyn Thompson (stage manager)