It's gay; it's camp; it's Gay Camp!
After a sold-out run at NYC's
Duplex Cabaret Theatre in 2013, the hit show Gay Camp will play a weekly run beginning February 28, 2014.
The script - penned by co-authors
Philip Mutz and Susan-Kate Heaney - has been updated since its previous run with newer, bigger laughs, and even more up-to-the minute punchlines.
Phillip Fazio (Arizona premiere of Grey Gardens, Last Five Years, and August: Osage County) returns once again to direct this latest update.
Gay Camp is a quick-change farce that follows the stories of several young campers at a gay reform camp. They have been sent away by their parents to be 'fixed'. Instead, they learn how to love - themselves and one another.
Combining fast-paced writing, wildly imaginative direction, audience interaction, and razor-sharp comedic performances by three actors playing more than a dozen zany characters, Gay Camp is fast, funny, and not pulling its punches as it takes on anti-gay sentiment in America.
Start with a deliciously evil counselor facing off against a loud-and-proud young camper, throw in a few electrified fences, disco balls, Cher ballads, gay Twister, Michele Bachmann surprises, slow-motion fantasies, Straight vs. Gay lessons, whips, handcuffs, flannel, and more innuendos than you can shake a dildo at, and you've got Gay Camp.
Re-joining in the fun will be composer/musician
Bradford Proctor (Bunked: The Musical), serving as Gay Camp's onstage accompanist and unassuming narrator.
Gay Camp was initially part of the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival and ran from August 11 - August 22 at the HERE Mainstage Theatre in SoHo.
Following its initial sold-out run, Gay Camp received the Overall Excellence Award from FringeNYC for "Best Ensemble 2012", and was selected as one of 19 shows (out of the 187 Fringe shows) to receive an extension as part of Fringe's Encore Series (subsequently playing at the Players' Theatre).
Gay Camp played scattered dates at the Duplex from August 17 - December 20, 2013, with cast members
Philip Mutz, Ken Urso, and Christian Mansfield reprising their roles.
Gay Camp also served as the inspiration for this past June's My Big Gay 'Gay Camp' Talent Show, a one-night-only comedy cabaret, that played NYC's
Laurie Beechman Theatre and featured Broadway's
Nadia Quinn (Bloody Bloody
Andrew Jackson),
Mariand Torres (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812), and the entire Gay Camp cast. Additionally, Gay Camp received its West Coast debut on August 3, 2013, at the Interplayers' Theatre in Spokane, Washington.
Featured in this past September's OUT Magazine, Gay Camp has been playing to sold-out houses, and receiving rave reviews since its inception.
Gay Camp will perform at The
Duplex Cabaret Theatre, 61 Christopher Street (at 7th Avenue), NYC. Gay Camp runs 75 minutes and will perform Friday nights with the following performance schedule: February 28 at 9:30pm, March 7 at 9:30pm, March 14 at 9:30pm, March 28 at 6:30pm, April 4 at 9:30pm, April 11 at 9:30pm, April 18 at 9:30pm, and April 25 at 9:30pm
Tickets can currently be purchased via Brown Paper Tickets at
www.brownpapertickets.com. Tickets are $12 in advance or $18 at the door, plus a 2 drink minimum. For more information on Gay Camp, visit our website at
www.gaycamptheplay.com.
Phillip Fazio (director) graduated from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Musical Theatre and Directing. Immediately upon graduating, Phillip began a three-year contract as an Artist in Residence at
Phoenix Theatre. Now in its 92nd Season,
Phoenix Theatre is the oldest arts organization in the state of Arizona. Regional Directing credits include Proof, Rent, Ragtime, Grey Gardens, Hidden in this Picture, West Side Story, Macbeth, The Last Five Years, Rocket Man, Cabaret, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Almost Maine. Assistant Director credits include the
Center Theatre Group/Deaf West revival of Pippin (Directed by Tony Award Nominee
Jeff Calhoun) at the
Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and the New England Premiere of Take Me Out at Speakeasy Stage Company in Boston. New York City directing credits include Ben and Leslie Save the World and SuperBen for The Think Theater Project, The Real Life with The Identity Theatre Company, and Gay Camp at
The Duplex and in FringeNYC. Phillip is a member of the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab and Actors' Equity Association.
Philip Mutz (co-author) is a writer and actor in New York City. Recent acting credits include Comedy of Errors, Henry V, Midsummer Night's Dream, and Cymbeline (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ), Kidnapping
Laura Linney (Midtown International Theatre Festival), Gay Camp (FringeNYC, Peoples' Improv Theatre), King John (NY Shakespeare Exchange), and Romeo and Juliet (Columbia Stages). His writing credits include The Real Life (Identity Theater Co), Gay Camp (
The Duplex, FringeNYC, the PIT), Kidnapping
Laura Linney (MITF), and SuperBen (Think Theater Project). He is currently head writer for the web series The Reality Whores (webisodes can be viewed at www.therealitywhores.com). His recent viral video Sh*t Gay Guys Say to Straight Guys has over one million views on YouTube. Philip holds a B.F.A. in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has trained in sketch writing and improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade.
Susan-Kate Heaney (co-author) is an actor and writer currently based out of Los Angeles. She is a graduate of New York University with a BFA in Drama. Most recently, she has been performing her comedic shows Mop-oholic and Kinky Bangs in New York and Los Angeles, at UCB, the Pit, iO West and Second City. Susan-Kate is a co-creator and lead actor in comedic web series The Reality Whores. She has performed in theaters all around New York including Bank Street and Rattlestick. Recent work includes the role of Jessica in Mercy (NBC) and a recurring role on Showtime's Masters of Sex.
Bradford Proctor (composer/accompanist) currently resides in New York City, and composes mainly for musical theater. He wrote the lyrics and book (along with Alaina Kunin) and the music for BUNKED!: A New Musical, which premiered at the 2010 International New York Fringe Festival. BUNKED! was extended as part of the Fringe Encores series, and won the prize for "Best Overall Production of a Musical". Bradford was commissioned to write a song for Lincoln Center's Holiday Songbook series, wrote a song for Gay Camp (NY Fringe 2012), and has also participated as a composer for 8 Minute Musicals in March 2011, produced by AWOL. Bradford is currently a participant in the BMI
Lehman Engel Musical Theater workshop, and is writing the book, music and lyrics for Grub Street: The Musical (currently in development).
