Peter Michael Marino's DESPERATELY SEEKING THE EXIT Plays Top of the Hourglass, 11/4 & 11/11

After an acclaimed run at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, writer/performer Peter Michael Marino returns to NYC with his comic autopsy on his $6 million West End musical fiasco Desperately Seeking Susan in DESPERATELY SEEKING THE EXIT. Directed by Obie Award winner John Clancy, performances of this solo tell-all comedy run November 4 & 11 at Top of The Hourglass on Restaurant Row.

In 2007, American playwright Peter Michael Marino wrote a musical based on the film “Desperately Seeking Susan” featuring the music of Blondie. It opened on London’s West End…and closed a month later. DESPERATELY SEEKING THE EXIT offers a behind-the-scenes peek at how this £4 million musical was made and unmade: hatching the idea, deals with MGM, Debbie Harry and even Madonna; the workshops, the previews, the scathing reviews and the closing night. Once you’re in, there’s no way out!

Peter Michael Marino is a writer, actor, director and teacher. He received the 2010 and 2011 Backstage Reader’s Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Teacher for his acclaimed “Flying Solo” classes at The PIT. He also received the Back Stage Bistro Award for his cabaret spoof, Lance Jonathan: More About Me! He is the co-writer of the lesbian pulp homage Hollywood Nurses. He has directed and developed shows with Delilah Dix (Ars Nova, Laurie Beechman Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe), Mark Giordano’s Mad Man (The PIT), Sheila Head’s Head Games (IO West, Ars Nova), and Alicia Levy’s Chickapalooza (The PIT, Ars Nova). As a performer, he appeared in STOMP for five years off-Broadway and on tour, as well as in numerous regional productions and workshops.

John Clancy is an Obie Award-winning director, playwright, and a partner in Clancy Productions, an acclaimed international theatrical touring and Production Company. He is the founding Artistic Director of The Present Company and a founding Artistic Director of The New York International Fringe Festival. He has directed six Scotsman Fringe First winning productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, including Americana Absurdum (Brian Parks), Cincinnati (Don Nigro), Horse Country (C.J. Hopkins), screwmachine/eycandy (C.J. Hopkins) and his own Fatboy. Both Horse Country and Cincinnati went on to win The Best of the Fringe Award at the Adelaide Fringe in 2004. In 2002 he received a Glasgow Herald Angel for excellence in direction at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. John was awarded The New York Magazine Award in 1997 for “creativity, enterprise and vision”.

DESPERATELY SEEKING THE EXIT runs November 4 & 11, Sundays at 7:30pm. Top of The Hourglass is located on Restaurant Row at 373 West 46th Street (at 9th Avenue). Tickets are "Pay What You May," available on a first-come, first served basis; no advance reservations will be taken. There is a 2 drink minimum; a full bar is available. For more information, visit www.SeekingTheExit.com.

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