LE POISSON ROUGE / THE GOLDFISH Plays NYC in French and English, Beg. Tonight

Parisian director Roxane Revon will direct veteran translator and playwright Samantha Grassian's newest play Le Poisson Rouge / "The Goldfish" for limited runs at Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival (today, September 1-8) and the 4th Street Theatre (October 1-6) in the East Village, NYC. The twist? On 4th Street, the play will be performed twice each evening: the first performance at 7pm presented in English and then at 9pm, with the same actors, presented in French.

Lauren Rayner Productions is set to produce the play in her third collaboration with director Revon. Attached to star is Nathalie Bryant, most recently seen as 'Estelle' in Revon's revival of Sartre's Huis Clos "No Exit" in WiredArts Fest 2013 in the original French, which was streamed live to over 50,000 online viewers worldwide, Zilong Pu, who will also choreograph the piece, and Samantha Grassian, also the author and translator of the play, which she originally penned in her native tongue: French.

"The idea came from me and a friend of mine, who is also blonde," says Grassian, "We got tired of all of these jokes being made about blondes and we thought it would be really funny to put two blondes in one of the most awkward situations we could think of, which was, what if two blondes killed a guy?" Bryant and Grassian will be learning the lines of this situation comedy in both English and French, no simple feat for two blondes.

"'Lisa' is a simple girl; she sees the world in a very simple way," says actress Bryant who will play the role opposite Grassian, who plays her partner in crime 'Perrine'. "This show will be very lively," says Revon, "and everyone will have a great time in our intimate downtown theatre. It will be performed in both English and French which truly makes this production unique in Manhattan."

Therefore, take two blondes, a dead man walking and dancing, a goldfish found 'belly up', and you will end up with a recipe for disaster.

Le Poisson Rouge / "The Goldfish" will play in English only at Theater for the New City during the Dream Up Festival in the Community Theater (155 First Avenue, New York, NY 10003) on September 1 at 8pm, September 2 at 6:30pm, September 4 at 9pm, September 6 at 9pm, and September 8 at 8pm. The show will continue at the 4th Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003) on October 1, 3, 4, 5 at7pm and October 6 at 5pm in English; October 2 at 7pm, October 3, 4, 5 at 9pm, and October 6 at 3pm in French. For tickets, visit www.laurenrayner.com/tickets.

For more information, visit www.laurenrayner.com/thegoldfish or "Like" the facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/lepoissonrouge.thegoldfish.

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