Directed by Kym Pappas

Design & Support Team: Carla Nell (Producer), Jamie Channell Guzman (Stage Manager), Michael McKeon
(Scenic Design), Xavier Luevano (Lighting Design), Alanna Serrano (Costume Design), Carla Nell (Sound Design),
 Jamie Channell Guzman (Graphic & Web Design), Adriana Zuniga-Williams (Photography)

Cast: Samantha Ginn (Kate), Alex Guzman (Martin), Jonathan Sachs (Leonard), Dana Wing Lau (Izzy),
Robert Malave (Douglas)

Four aspiring young novelists sign up for private writing classes with Leonard, an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon, and hearts are unmoored. The wordplay is not the only thing that turns vicious as innocence collides with experience in this biting comedy.

“Fresh from its San Diego Critics Circle win of the Don Braunagel Award for Outstanding Work by a Small Theatre Company, InnerMission Productions scores again, in this third excellent staging of its first full season…Kym Pappas directs with a firm hand but a light touch, and her five skillful actors carve out nicely nuanced characters.”
-Pat Launer, Center Stage

“Anyone who’s ever tried to write fiction seriously—in or out of a classroom—should be spellbound by the language of this cogent 2011 play. Kym Pappas’ expert direction elicits top performances from all, especially Sachs as Leonard and Guzman’s Martin, an understandably reluctant protégé. Seminar’s truths about writing and human insecurities are inescapable.”
-David L. Coddon, San Diego City Beat

“Samantha Ginn continues to show startling range as Kate, the fierce but fragile Bennington grad whose wealthy family owns the home where the seminar takes place. While Ginn has made a splash in numerous comic roles, here she displays a capacity for raw vulnerability and a self-righteous anger that becomes a key disruptive and reorganizing force as the sessions wear on.”
-James Hebert, San Diego Union Tribune

“It’s a high compliment to Jonathan Sachs (outstanding as draconian Leonard), director Kym Pappas, and the InnerMission Productions cast that they make the playwright’s sudden change of key and tone — and mind — feel reasonably consistent…the InnerMission production shows why they recently earned the prestigious Don Braunagel Award for small theater companies.”
-Jeff Smith, San Diego Reader

“The cast is terrific. Sachs’ Leonard Leonard dominates as he roars his insults, claiming they’re “truth”, seemingly oblivious to the effect he’s having on his hapless students. His colleagues are equally fine actors. Ginn’s portrayal of Kate is stunning, almost saying more with her expressions and gestures than with words. Known for her comic roles, here she shows heartbreaking vulnerability.”
-Jean Lowerison, SDGLN

“Jonathan Sachs plays the washed up Leonard in InnerMission Productions’ staging of the verbally vicious comedy. From his opening moments, he stands as a force to be reckoned with…Seminar is not afraid to be brutally comedic, and those that enjoy wickedly sharp jokes should visit the Diversionary Black Box Theatre.”
-David Dixon, San Diego Story