THE 6TH ANNUAL CRINGEFEST (2010) announces Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind, a collection of eight short plays directed by Robert Bartley (creator and director of Broadway Backwards) including the premiere of the outrageously over-the-top musical - Zombie Strippers, will kick off the festival on Friday, July 23, 2010. The cast of Zombie Strippers will be lead by Michael-Kennon Miller, recently featured in The National Tour of Footloose (Willard), Jennifer Leigh Gottleib, from the National Tour of The Wedding Singer (Linda) and Jeannine Elizabeth (TV's Gossip Girl), joined by Richard Pryor, Jr. (son of famed comedian Richard Pryor and co-starring in the upcoming feature film Stork with Ed Asner, Joyce Dewitt and Kim Fields) in two of the other "Sex Encounter" plays, After Life and Chat Room.
Following the opening performance of Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind, honorary Golden Pineapples (the Cringefest award) will be given to theatre luminaries: Tony Award-nominated playwright and actor Charles Busch, award-winning playwright Israel Horovitz, playwright and gay rights activist Doric Wilson, Backstage Editor-at-Large Sherry Eaker and Dixon's Place Founding and Executive Director Ellie Covan.
Also including in Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind are Lena Cigleris, Jeannine Elizabeth, Hollye Gilbert, Ricky Pope, Evan Sokal, Lauren Schacher, Jonathan Reed Wexler and Cringefest favorite Dylan Weinberger. Pope (Annie National Tour) also serves as musical director for Zombie Strippers, and Jeff Siebert (Cabaret, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) is associate Director. In addition to creating and directing the annual event Broadway Backwards which benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the LGBT Center, Bartley is the co-author of The Cuban and the Redhead, has directed off Broadway and acted on and off Broadway and in national touring companies.
Cringefest offers "brilliant and hilarious works that are irreverent, politically incorrect, satirical, naughty and utterly zany." Cringefest runs through August 8 in the Grand Theatre at the Producers Club, 358 West 44th Street. Visit www.nyartists.org for a definitive schedule. Plays featured in Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind include:
Chat Room by Melanie Wallner
Would Ya? by Bruce Post
Clean up, Aisle Six by Paul J. Lawrence
Bagel Shopping by David Schrag
Jump! by George J. Bryjak
Phil in Customer Service by David Schrag
After Life by Jon Brooks
Zombie Strippers (musical) by Mark LaPierre
Tickets are $25 M-Sat. @ 8 p.m. ($20 advance sales - deadline July 1); student tix $15; $20 Sat. @ 5 p.m. & Sun. @ 4 p.m.; $18 Sat. @ 10:30 & Sun. @ 7 p.m.; and $18 Sun., Aug. 8, @ 4 p.m. Grand Theatre at the Producers Club, 358 W. 44 Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.
$40 HONORARY GOLDEN PINEAPPLE NIGHT TIX: Fri., July 23, 8 p.m.-12 a.m. - Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind, Golden Pineapple Awards, party till you drop with splendiferous food & drink, all inclusive. Reservations strongly suggested.
For more information or reservations, call 212-242-6036 or visit www.nyartists.org. For online ticketing: www.theatermania.com.
