DONNA/MADONNA Begins Performances 8/18 as Part of FringeNYC

Rizzo 39 Productions proudly presents the award-winning Donna/Madonna as part of the 14th annual New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC. The solo musical comedy debuted in New York last November as part of the United Solo Theatre Festival, where it was named "Best One-Man Show." Fresh from its Los Angeles debut this July, Donna/Madonna will appear at The Players Theatre (115 MacDougal St, NYC 10012) under the following schedule: THU 8/18 @ 5:15PM; FRI 8/19 @ 2PM; SAT 8/20 @ 4:45PM; WED 8/24 @ 9PM; THU 8/25 @ 7PM (this date followed by a talkback as part of the FringeHIGH program for teenage theatergoers)

In this autobiographical one-act, writer/performer John Paul Karliak wants desperately to be the perfect son for his adopted mother, a doting Catholic housewife from Scranton, PA. But realizing he will never be the ideal local boy, he seeks answers from a very different source: his fashion-writing, married- to-a-British-pop-star birth mother. Donna/Madonna is a tale of motherly love and finding acceptance, told through stories, songs and characters like Darth Vader, Carol Channing and John Paul's unforgettable mothers. Hilarious and poignant, this cross-country journey from Scranton to Los Angeles shows that sometimes you have to meet a "Material Girl" to truly appreciate "America's Sweetheart."

Between them, co-directors Tiger Reel and Matthew Craig boast impressive credits in both theatre and television. Reel is the Founding Artistic Director of the Los Angeles-based Action! Theatre Company, where his directing credits include Slaughterhouse-Five (West Coast premiere), The Tempest, and Inherit the Wind, among others. He has also directed regionally and internationally. Craig has performed nationwide with The Second City Touring Company and most recently has appeared on episodes of According to Jim, Mobbed, and The Office. He is currently a writer for Saturday Night Live. Donna/Madonna's multiple musical interludes and mash-ups are the work of 2007 LA Weekly Theatre Award-winner Billy Thompson and rising club staple DJ ChocLixx.
Additional details about this show can be found at www.donnamadonnashow.com.

MORE: John Paul Karliak is an actor/writer from the "Electric City," Scranton, Pennsylvania. Recent film projects include: Dante's Inferno, "Little Black Dress" for AFI, "L.T.D." (web series), and "Delusions of Grandeur" (TV pilot). LA theatre credits include: The Mistakes Madeline Made (west coast premiere), The Girl, the Grouch & the Goat (world premiere), Into the Woods, Inherit the Wind, Women and Wallace, Whatever, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. John Paul is a graduate of USC School of Theatre, iO West, and Second City Training Center. He has written numerous short films and four plays produced in locales around the country. Donna/Madonna marks his first full-length solo production.