Luna Stage Presents CARNAVAL, Beginning 1/31

Luna Stage will present the world premiere of Nikkole Salter's Carnaval - a play that was inspired by the author's discovery of the underground world of sex tourism and man-cations in Brazil. The play was developed in part through Luna Stage's New Moon Play Reading Series. Luna Stage Associate Artistic Director/Director of Play Development, Cheryl Katz, will direct. Previews for Carnaval begin on January 31st, 2013. The production runs Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm through March 3rd, 2013, with the official press opening on Friday, February 8th. Tickets range from $25 to $35 and can be purchased in person, on the phone at (973) 395-5551, or on the Luna Stage website: www.lunastage.org.

With Carnaval, Obie-Award winning playwright Nikkole Salter wanted to explore the demand side of sex tourism and its larger implications of cultural exploitation, cultural imperialism and the American ambition "to be the man". She was particularly interested in delving into the motivations this behavior and its global ramifications. "I wanted to write a play that would entertain as well as provoke discussion and personal reflection about how we engage the world," says creator Nikkole Salter. The play follows three young men from Brooklyn to Rio de Janeiro, and runs the gamut from hilarious to devastating, is not without controversy. "Some theaters opted not to produce the play because of the risqué nature of the subject matter and the use of explicit language," says Salter. "Though the plot and the characters are fiction, the world of the play represents a truth. And sometimes the truth is explicit."

Jane Mandel, Artistic Director and Founder of Luna Stage, decided to produce the play because she felt it tells an important story that will get people thinking and talking. "You can read about these issues in the newspaper or hear about them on the radio, but the theater brings it all to life in a very visceral way. Nikkole has created three distinct, complex characters." says Mandel. "The play is emotionally affecting. There won't be a person in the audience sitting back and saying that they don't feel involved," Mandel continues, "everyone will have an opinion and take a position on the topics explored in the play and we plan on holding as many post production talkbacks during the run as we can."