AVENUE Q Enters the Race with Clinton and Trump Puppet Debate Next Week

If you're one of those people who feels as though this Presidential election campaign has been a "joke" or "no laughing matter" or somewhere in between, take heart: the long-running, Tony Award-winning musical comedy Avenue Q (now in its 13th year in NYC) is entering the race, as it were, with the addition of a Hillary Clinton puppet and Donald Trump puppet to its Acting Company of people and puppets.

The Clinton and Trump puppets will make their debut in a Town Hall-style debate - a preview to the actual first scheduled debate between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump - on Monday, September 26 at New World Stages (340 W. 50 St.) at noon.

The debate will be attended by-and briefly open to questions from -- select members of the public, along with members of the Avenue Q cast including Rod (the closeted, Republican Wall Street investment banker), Lucy (who bears a striking resemblance to Melania Trump), Trekkie Monster (noted for his savvy money-making schemes on the internet peddling in porn), Christmas Eve (a Japanese psychotherapist with immigration, language and assimilation issues), and others.

Resident director Jen Bender notes that the storyline in Avenue Q - about a bunch of 20 somethings in NYC just out of college, trying to find their purpose in life -- itself addresses, in its smart, savvy and hilarious way, issues of concern to voters in the 2016 election: race, unemployment, religion and LGBT matters. These matters are expected to be addressed in Avenue Q's Town Hall debate on September 26, along with issues of hand-size, hair and emails.

AVENUE Q - which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2004 on Broadway - features such well-known musical numbers as EVERYONE'S A LITTLE BIT RACIST, I WISH I COULD GO BACK TO COLLEGE, IF YOU WERE GAY, THE INTERNET IS FOR PORN and the finale FOR NOW, which reminds us that everything in life is only for now.

The Clinton and Trump puppets have been created and designed by Rick Lyon, who conceived and designed Avenue Q's company of puppets.

Now at New World Stages and the winner of 3 Tony Awards, Avenue Q has music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty, and is directed by Jason Moore.

AVENUE Q previously debuted George W. Bush and John Kerry puppets during the 2004 Presidential campaign.

For more on the show, visit www.avenueq.com.