A PATCH OF BLUR Plays Howl Help Festival at Abrons Arts Center, Now thru 10/21

The Howl Help Festival presents A PATCH OF BLUR, An Un-authorized, Satirical Jukebox Musical, Fractured & Directed by Kevin Malony, tonight, October 18 – 21, 2012 at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street @ Pitt LES NYC.

The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series starts the 2012 season with a hilarious satire based on the iconic Academy Award nominated 1965 movie, A Patch of Blue. The original film, a treatise on racism and the notion that "love is blind," starred Sidney Poitier and Shelly Winters. Set against the background of a growing civil rights movement, it tells the story of a beautiful, white, blind teenage girl, the daughter of a white-trash prostitute, uneducated and innocent, who falls in love with a (unbeknownst to her) black man. Mayhem ensues! Cue Music.

The TWEED version will be a jukebox musical incorporating songs of many different styles and eras, and a cast of raucous comic performers guaranteed to shed new light on this heart rending, magnificent old story. The Cast –all singers!- features several TWEED veterans, including downtown drag legend Sweetie, Bree Benton, most known for her alter ego, Poor Baby Bree the depression era vagabond minstrel, the goddess of the demi-monde the incomparable Brenda Bergman, David Ilku (Duelling Bankheads, Unitard), returning favorite Rosa Curry, and newcomer to TWEED, the singer and actor, Basil Rodericks.

Director Kevin Malony has gathered together a first rate team of designers and musicians who have taken over The Underground Theater at The Abrons Arts Center for week of unrivaled comedic, musical madness.

Thanks to a generous grant from The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman Foundation, the entire proceeds of the box office will go the The HOWL Help Fund, an affiliate of The Actors Fund.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Thursday October 18th, 8pm
Friday October 19th, 9:30pm
Saturday October 20th, 7pm and 10pm
Sunday October 21st, 5pm and 7pm

FOR TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
Online: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/917963
Phone sales: 212-352-3101

Starring: Sweetie, Bree Benton, David Ilku, Basil Rodericks, Brenda Bergman and Rosa Curry

Video by Ina Archer
Costumes by Ramona Ponce
Set & Lighting by Mark T Simpson
Photography by Aaron Cobbett
Graphics by Douglas Riccardi
Music Consultation by Grady Hendrix
Stage Management by Elspeth Walker
Musical Direction and Piano Accompaniment by Chris Dieman

BIOGRAPHIES:

The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series. A Fractured Classick is a live performance, sometimes a staged reading, often a full production, satirical in nature, of a well known or iconic American play or movie. The purpose of The Series is not merely to poke fun – though fun is poked – but to illuminate the brilliance of the original work. One moment you may be laughing at the camp aspect (in its' purest form), and the next, transfixed by the raw, emotional power of the source material. The aim of The Series is to pay irreverent, yet sincere, homage to great works of the stage and screen. From The Miracle Worker to The Women, from Interiors to A Raisin In The Sun, The Series has presented over 30 plays and screenplays, ranging from celebrity studded one-night-stands in large halls, to longer runs in tiny downtown venues. 2012 marks the 15th anniversary of The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series.

TWEED TheaterWorks was founded by Kevin Malony in 1983 and has grown from late night shows in East Village dives to full-scale productions at premier Manhattan venues. For two decades TWEED has produced innovative and unusual live theatrical work, including performance art, plays, musicals, dancetheater and category-defying extravaganzas. The TWEED New Works Festival (1985-1995) presented the early work of many of today's recognized theater artists, including Bill Russell, Lisa Kron, (Lypsinka) Epperson and John Kelly. Other on-going endeavors include The TWEED Music Series and The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series, a popular cult phenomenon that presents staged readings of classic American plays and films employing unique casting choices.

More Articles by This Author...