Dead End Dummy Opens Today in Coney Island

Dead End Dummy, a new work by Dick D. Zigun, will premiere at Sideshows By The Seashore in Coney Island today, October 10 and run through November 2, 2014. The show then opens at La Mama in Manhattan on November 7, running through November 16.

Dead End Dummy, directed by Trav S.D. explores the uniquely American art form of Vaudeville, following Max Morinsky, an aging ventriloquist, who, upon the death of vaudeville, sets out to kill Thomas Edison.

Dead End Dummy sees vaudeville through the eyes of the avant-garde, and reveals the power of a live audience and the importance of the relationship between a performer and the audience. It also demonstrates the extraordinary tradition of technique and the obsession necessary for the artist to master a specific performance. The work itself temporarily revives vaudeville, enlivening ventriloquism and melodrama as it follows Max on his descent into madness.

Zigun, founder and Artistic Director of Coney Island USA, holds an MFA in playwriting from Yale School of Drama and is also an alumni of New Dramatist and Bennington College and a NYFA Playwriting Fellow. During the past few years, he has written a trilogy of new plays: "Dirty Work At The Wax Works," "Coney Island Criminals," and "The Ride Inspector's Nightmare." Zigun is the author of a dozen weird American plays. Outside of Brooklyn his work has also been seen at the Mark Taper Forum, Franklin Furnace, Eureka Theater and Repertory Theater of St. Louis. Zigun is the inventor of the Mermaid Parade and the Godfather of Burlesque and Sideshow revivals. His most recent project is creation of a resident Coney Island Theater Company: Fun House Philosophers.

Trav S.D. has been in the vanguard of New York's vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995, when he launched his company Mountebanks, which has presented hundreds of top variety acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Lady Rizo to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces in NYC since 1989 at such venues as Joe's Pub, La Mama, Dixon Place, Theatre for the New City, the Ohio Theatre and the Brick. Recent directing credits include the historic first revival of the Marx Bros. 1924 Broadway show "I'll Say She Is" in the NY International Fringe Festival, and a theatrical run of Angie Pontani's Burlesque-a-pades at the Soho Playhouse. He is perhaps best known for his 2005 book "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous", recently cited by Bette Midler in people magazine as one of her favorite books. He also blogs about show business history daily at Travalanche (travsd.wordpress.com).

The cast features Scott Baker as Max; Poor Baby Bree as Sara; Douglas Mackrell as Edison; Becca Bernard as Beethoven; Rhiannon Schaeffer as Shadow 1; and Arianna Geneson as Shadow 2. Production and technical crew: Meryl Vladimer, Executive Director, CIUSA; Sarah Lahue, production stage manager; Kate Dale, prop and set design; Marie Roberts, scenic painter.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.