Graphic Design by Maya Eliam
"Do you believe in light, Loomer?"
Coming in November for a 5 week engagment at TBG Theatre on 36th Street in Manhattan, the World Premiere of DEAD SPECIAL CRABS by DAN KITROSSER
Aunt Missy has the perfect present for her neice’s wedding: a brand new tan Corolla. But given her Chronic Foot Condition, her nephew Loomer has to drive it down I-95 from Maine to Florida. And thus ensues this mad-cap road trip with serial killers, cults, emo poets, first-time homosexuals and noir private detectives. And crabs.
It’s going to be the trip of a lifetime, provided you make it out alive.
Featuring:
Greg Carere as Virgil
Samantha Cooper as June
Ellen David* as Aunt Missy
Andrew Harriss as Walter
Nic Marrone as Loomer
Amy Lee Pearsall* as Kathy
Lee Seymour* as Detective Barney Horntub
Aurea Tomeski as Edgar Allen Poe Girl
Directed by our own Artistic Director, Kristin Skye Hoffmann
Costume Design by Elivia Bovenzi
Sound Design by J. Alexander Diaz
Scenic Design by Joshua Rose
PM/Lighting Design by Cate DiGirolamo
PSM- Rosie Kolbo
ASM- Lydia Lavin
Assistant Director- Keith Hale
***
Born from a crowd pleaseing staged reading from the Wide Eyed Winks Reading Series season 1, Wide Eyed now presents the World Premiere of Dan Kitrosser's wacky comedy that investigates the darkest parts of humanity.
At TBG Theatre located at 312 W 36th St, New York, NY 10018
A, C, E trains to the 34th Street- Penn Station
Preview Performances: November 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 @ 7pm
Performances: November 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 @ 7pm
November 23 @ 3pm followed by talkback with the cast, director and playwright
HOSTED BY Jennifer Conley Darling, Producing Artistic Director of terraNOVA Collective.
Performances: December 4, 5, 6 @7pm
Photos from Winks Staged Reading of DSC
Production Photos
by Al Foote III
Dead Special Press
Washington Square News-
"The Production offers an unabashedly strange yet enjoyable plot."
Nytheatrenow-
"If you were ever wondering why Wide Eyed Productions is an enduring, innovative theater company, this show will give you 2 1/2 hours of sustained entertainment...Blink at any time throughout and you will miss something funny...Bravo for the actors and the team that made this feat possible."
-Ed Malin, nytheatrenow
Talkin Broadway-
"This is funny stuff, indeed...Andrew Harriss turns in an excellent performance...Director Kristin Skye Hoffmann keeps everything moving at breakneck speed." -Howard Miller, Talkin Broadway
Flavorpill-
"Dead Special Crabs...provides plenty of laughs...Andrew Harriss steals the show as a hilarious, relentlessly cheery cult member."
-John Peacock, Flavorpill
Electric Link-
"It's one crazy ride...The entire cast gets an A+...Dead Special Crabs is fun, thought-provoking, and great entertainment."
-Karen D'Onofrio, Electric Link
Dead Special Interview on Go See a Show with Robert Gonyo- Featuring Samantha Cooper, Greg Carere & Kristin Skye Hoffmann
Dead Special Cast
Greg Carere as Virgil
Greg Carere is a New York-based, Canadian-born actor and writer, and is thrilled to be working with Wide Eyed and this awesome company, and really wishes he could think of a better word than "thrilled" right now. New York credits include: The Downtown Loop (3LD), If You Can Get To Buffalo (Incubator Arts Project), The Party Play (The Brick), The Grass is Greenest at the Houston Astrodome (NY Fringe), King John (The New Ensemble Workshop); regionally: Merchant of Venice, Pericles, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare by the Sea), Rudy vs the World (OLS). He holds an MFA from The New School for Drama. Love to his family, friends, and Rose.
Samantha Cooper as June
Samantha is tickled pink to work with this hilarious, talented group of artists. Recent credits include: Leah In Vegas (NY Fringe, dir: Kristin Skye Hoffmann), the award-winning Goliath (Culture Project, Wild Project, California tour); Worldwide Plays/Writopia Lab ‘13 & ‘14 (Theatre Row, June Havoc), Ok! Cupid! The Musical, Foreign Bodies (Women Center Stage/Culture Project), And Then They Came For Me (NCTC), Twelfth Night (BoCoCa Festival); The Killing of Jacob Marr (221 Films). Samantha received her B.A. from UC San Diego, and has trained at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, A.C.T., Circle In The Square, and the Lorenzo de’Medici school in Florence, Italy. Administrative Director/Company Member - Poetic Theater Productions. Founding Member - Brass Tacks Theatre Collective. For Toby, always.
Ellen David* as Aunt Missy
Andrew Harriss as Walter
Ellen David is delighted to be part of Wide Eyed's production of "Dead Special Crabs" after having done early readings of it for the talented playwright. Ellen is the proud recipient of the 2006 Innovative Theater Award as Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for Working Man's Clothes production of "To Nineveh" by Bekah Brunstetter. After studying in London at Guildhall, she moved to Israel where she appeared on Israel National Television, toured with The English Theater of Tel Aviv, portrayed Pilate's Wife in the Norman Jewison film "Jesus Christ Superstar" and dubbed numerous international movies. In New York she was a founding member of the sketch comedy group, "Rubber Feet". Regionally she performed at The Cleveland Playhouse and the Hanna Theater. At The Schoolhouse Theater she played Geneva in Landford Wilson's "Redwood Curtain" and the fabulous Bunny in Albert Innaurato's "Gemini". She had the title role in Clifford Odet's "Country Girl" at Fleetwood Stage where she also performed "Love Letters" with Matthew Arkin. She can be seen in an episode of Law & Order "Kid Pro Quo". Last season she played twelve characters in "The A is for Abortion Play" for FringeNYC. Recently, she took part in the HB Studios' Ten Minute Plays, where she played the scientist, Lise Meitner. She has recorded numerous Talking Books for the blind and visually impaired.
Andrew Harriss is a national treasure. He is an actor and writer who has been a member of Wide Eyed Productions since its inception in 2007. Company credits include The Medea, Much Ado About Nothing, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, A Devil Inside, The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot, Henry VI (Part III), and Plight Of The Apothocary in 2011’s A Girl Wrote It. Other credits include Gorilla Rep's Hamlet, The Jack Johnson Project, and All For Love with Boomerang Theatre Company. Andrew is also the writer, producer, and star of the webseries White Liars. And the short films The Friday Before Christmas, Moroccan Birdhouse (co-wrote), and Best Friends Club. He is originally from Irvine, California and holds a BFA from Hofstra University.
Nic Marrone as Loomer
Nic Marrone is beyond honored that this is his first Wide Eyed Production. A Georgia native, Nic made his own cross country road trip 3 years ago to attend the masters program at The New School for Drama. He IS saddened knowing that after working on this piece, with this writer, and this director, and this incredible group of actors and crew there just wont be another opportunity quite as amazing as this one for a long long time. Maybe never...? Nic Marrone is beyond honored that the height of his career is with Wide Eyed Productions! www.ndmarrone.com
Amy Lee Pearsall* as Kathy
Amy Lee is an acting company member of Wide Eyed Productions, and was named as one of Indie Theater Now’s People of the Year for 2013. Recent stage credits: Picture Ourselves in Latvia (New Light Theater Project); King Kirby (Comic Book Theater Festival/The Brick); Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens (Boomerang Theatre Company); Blast Radius (The Honeycomb Trilogy) (Gideon Productions). A member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and the League of Professional Theatre Women, Amy Lee has served as a member of the Indie Theater Now (née nytheatre.com) reviewing squad since 2010. www.amyleepearsall.com
Lee Seymour* as Detective Barney Horntub
Lee is an actor, writer, and producer. Highlights as an actor include Triassic Parq (Off Broadway) and As You Like It (Stratford-Upon-Avon); as a producer they include Godspell (Broadway) and BALLS: The Musical (Off Broadway). He has written two novels and is working on a trilogy of Young Adult books about supernatural creatures hiding out on Cape Cod. He sits on the board of the artist residency SPACE on Ryder Farm, and enjoys Scotch smoky enough that you could mistake it for bogwater. MA from LAMDA, BA from Yale.
Aurea Tomeski as The Edgar Allen Poe Girl
Aurea is so pleased to be making her official Wide Eyed debut in this Dead Special way with this intensely talented creative team. New York credits include: Women and Wallace (Box Colony Theatre), Tapefaces (Ars Nova), Crimes of the Heart (Kraine Theatre). Regional credits: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet (California Shakespeare Company), Oliver Twist (A Noise Within), Entropy General (Alive Theatre), History of the Devil (The Garage Theatre). BS from NYU, MFA from The New School for Drama. Gratitude to Dan and KSkye for the words and the vision. Viva Hurricanes! www.aureatomeski.com
*Appearing Courtesy of Actors Equity Association
Dead Special Crew
Dan Kitrosser, Playwright
Kristin Skye Hoffmann, Director
Dan is an award winning playwright, performer and composer. His plays and musicals have appeared seen at P.S. 122, Urban Stages, 45 Bleecker Theatre, The Ohio Theatre, The Brooklyn Lyceum and Bryant Park, with work developed at Primary Stages, The Lark and American Place Theatre. His childrens plays The Legend of Ichabod Crane, (Don’t Look Back) and the upcoming Where You Come From have all been awarded grants from the Brooklyn Council of the Arts (2010, 2011 & 2012) and have toured schools, homeless shelters and community centers in Brooklyn. He adapted the national bestselling novel We the Animals by Justin Torres with Emmy-nominated director Jeremiah Zagar for UnionHZ films, which was selected for the 2014 Sundance screenwriters lab. His play Tar Baby, which he co-wrote with Desiree Burch, has been presented at PS 122 by Terra Nova Collective, at the Backyward Ballroom at the New Orleans Fringe and opened Off-Broadway in January 2013 at the DR2. He is also part of the Terra Nova Collective's 2014-15 Groundbreakers playwriting group. Dan holds an MFA in playwriting from The New School for Drama, where he is the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Fellow.
Kristin is the Founding Artistic Director of Wide Eyed Productions (2007-present) Her most recent directing projects include : Leah in Vegas by Kara Ayn Napolitano (FringeNYC 2014), The Old Forever New Things by Dan Kitrosser, Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp, Animals by Sam Byron as part of the FringeNYC Festival 2012 (Winner Overall Excellence in Directing Award), Being Late by Judith Goudsmit, Outstanding by Bekah Brunstetter, Euripides’ The Trojan Women, Lisa Ferber’s The Return of Toodles von Flooz (both theatrical and film productions), Brian Watkins’ My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer, Dale Wasserman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Much Ado About Nothing, and Euripides' The Medea for Wide Eyed Productions. Other New York credits include: Derek Ahonen’s The 'You Knows' Know, 3T reading series with Naked Angels, A Midsummer Night's Dream for Jackson Rep, Le Pond by Dan Kitrosser for NSD and Bryant Park Reading Room, the award-winning production of Plays for the Sunni Triangle (Winner Best Comedy) and The Accommodation by Paul Cohen. Kristin holds an MFA in Directing form The New School for Drama as well as a Bachelor's Degree in Performing Arts from the University of Northern Colorado. www.kristinskyehoffmann.com
Cate Digrolamo,
Production Manager & Lighting Design
Cate is a Lighting Designer and Production/Stage Manager who has worked for Gate Theatre Notting Hill, Royal Court Theatre, Almeida Theatre, Hightide Festival Theatre, and Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, and more recently CAP21 and UglyRhino Productions in New York. She received her B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. For Wide Eyed she designed lights for the award winning production of ANIMALS by Sam Byron and DEAD SPECIAL CRABS by Dan Kitrosser, both Directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann.
Rosie Kolbo,
Production Stage Manager
Rosie is a new comer to the New York area. She recently completed a year-long internship with Chicago's TimeLine Theatre Company (voted the 2010 "Company of the Year" by Wall Street Journal). Her NYC credits include: Leah in Vegas for FringeNYC 2014 (Drift In, Act Out), A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III (The Queen's Players), Taming of the Shrew (Hamlet Isn't Dead), and Writopia Lab's Worldwide Plays Festival.
Elivia Bovenzi, Costume Design
Elivia Bovenzi recently received her MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama, with a concentration in costume design. Most recently she designed costumes for AcousticaElectronica, an immersive dance experience created by toUch Performance Art, current artists in residence at American Repertory Theater. Her credits at Yale include An Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Yale Repertory Theatre/Berkeley Repertory Theatre),Cloud 9 and King Richard 2 (Yale Drama School). She was the 2014 recipient of the Leo Lerman Graduate Fellowship in Design. www.eliviabovenzi.com
J. Alexander Diaz, Sound Design
J Alexander is a sound artist originally from Colorado and now based out of Brooklyn, NY. His work encompasses sound for theatre, dance, and the concert stage. Since graduating from DePauw University in 2013 J has collaborated with theatres and dance companies in Colorado, Indiana, New York City, and Ghana, Africa. Currently, J is Artist in Residence with the Accra Theatre Workshop in Ghana where he is working on a new musical, several dance pieces and instillations. New projects in NYC include working with the RadioTheatre, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and volunteering with the 52nd Street Project.
Joshua Rose, Scenic Design
Having merged fully formed from his father's thigh, Joshua has ruled as the goddess of the hunt with his ever-present pack of hounds. This is why everybody calls him a bitch. Wait. No. Sorry, that's Diana. Joshua is a mere mortal who likes to pretend he is a God by creating theatrical worlds with a pantheon of writers, directors, actors and other designers. He is particular thrilled to be working with the hysterical group of theatrical gods at Wide Eyed Productions. Thanks and love to Bubba, Hansel, and Lulu for their love, support, and patience.