Brett Singer & Associates, LLC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
Blind Fish Productions To Present
Blind Fish Productions will present AMERIKUS REX, a new
comedy by Kevin Rice. John Giampetro
will direct. Performances will be at , ,
and will begin on Thursday, October 7th, continuing through Sunday,
October 31st.
AMERIKUS
REX
is a scathing political satire that re-casts our present political situation to
Rome in the year 13AD. Casear Augustus
is on his deathbed and must pick a successor. His stepson, Tiberius, is the logical choice. Augustus, however, doubles the field of
candidates by recalling to Rome Tiberius’ brother, Cornelius, who has been in
exile for the last ten years on the isle of Amerikus. Against the historical
background of backstabbing, blood lust, and sexual intrigue, Cornelius foments
further conflict upon his arrival. The
influence of his ten years in banishment is immediately apparent from his
business suit, cowboy hat, and bizarre and broken Latin spoken with a Southern
accent. Cornelius’ simplistic new
persona does not deceive his mother Livia who, together with the
slave-sophisticate, Clea and her stammering nephew Claudius form the party of
opposition to Cornelius. Throughout the play, the entire Familia is working to
expose Cornelius in his ambition to seize the mantle of the Roman Empire for
his own nascent empire of Amerikus. Much more than mere Bush-bashing, this
new satire is a biting and thorough skewering of our current empire as seen
though the prism of ancient Rome.
AMERIKUS
REX
is aiming to have production values that are as ambitious as its political
ideals. The set designer, Tim
Baumgartner, will take over the Belt Theater to create a contemporary version
of ancient Rome. The costume designer,
Ramona Ponce is best known for her work with Lypsinka, Varla Jean Merman and
the Ridiculous Theatre Company; she will bring a similarly “fabulous”
sensibility to her work on AMERIKUS REX. Political events include the Friday, October
8th performance, which will be a benefit for the political action committee Downtown
for Democracy. In addition, the producers have made
a special offer to audiences: arrive 10 minutes before show time, tell a George
Bush joke, and purchase a ticket for just $10.
Playwright
Kevin Rice is a founder of the critically acclaimed Wellfleet Harbor Actors
Theatre in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, where he has made his presence known as an
actor, director and playwright over the last twenty years. His original comedy, One Night In The
Life Of Denise Ivanovich, received its World Premiere at the Edinburgh
Fringe 2000 and was named “Critics Pick" by the Boston Globe in a
subsequent professional Equity production in Wellfleet. Mr. Rice has also directed two Russian-language
productions of his original plays in Russia:
Siberian Summer in 1995 at the Pushkin Russian Dramatic Theatre
and, in 2002, his adaptation of the Russian novel, Oblomov, at the
renowned Sakha Theatre in Yakutsk, where it continues to run in repertory. As an actor, he is best known for
originating the role of JFK in Gip Hoppe's original Boston production of Jackie.
The
cast for AMERIKUS REX will be Caitlin Gibbon (Irish Arts Center, Cherry
Lane Theatre, several plays with Kevin Rice), Adam Green (recent NYU grad), Dan
Matisa (John Houseman Theatre, Joe’s Pub), Jack R. Marks (numerous Broadway
credits, as well as several films, including “The Eyes Of Laura Mars” and
“Girlfight”), and Valorie Niccore (“All My Children”, “Another World”, “The
Dating Game”). John Giampetro, co-founder and principal director for New York’s
Accidental Theatre Company, will direct.
AMERIKUS
REX will
begin performances on Thursday, October 7th and will continue
through Sunday, October 31st.
The schedule will be Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays
at 3:00pm. Tickets are $15 and may be
purchased by calling Smarttix at (212) 868-4444, or online at
www.smarttix.com. Photos will be
available for download at www.brettsinger.com/clients/amerikusrex.html.
AMERIKUS
REX
Written By Kevin Rice,
Directed by John Giampetro
Presented by Blind Fish
Productions
,
SCHEDULE:
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm, Sundays at 3:00pm
TICKETS: $15.00; Call (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com
240 West 44th Street phone:
(212)575-0263
New York, NY 10036 Fax: (212)575-2240