Mary Dimino's BIG DUMMY to Open at FringeNYC on 8/9

The Present Company presents Big Dummy, me and my old man written by and starring MAC Award winning performer Mary Dimino opening August 9th at the Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre (Players Theatre, 2ndFloor) as part of the 17th Annual New York Fringe Festival. Christine Renee Miller directs.

Growing up in Ozone Park, Queens, Mary Dimino was the daughter of a factory worker father whose job was to put the crunchies in Carvel Ice Cream cakes. As a young girl she idolized her handsome Elvis look alike dad, but even before she knew why she felt different from him. This feeling only escalated when she asked him questions like "Why is red dye #2 bad?" and he answered "Because it's the second one; the first one was pretty good!" From that point on she read books on every subject to stay informed and reject her mother's assumption that all girls should go to beauty school instead of college. Mary's journey from college student to couch potato to glorified assistant clothing shop manager, and finally working comedienne is chronicled in this hilarious and moving story inspired by her "big dummy" dad, whose endearing simplicity she finally interpreted to be a cross between Forest Gump and Aristotle.

Writer, actress and comedienne Mary Dimino is a Fringe NYC Outstanding Solo Show Award Winner for her critically acclaimed solo hit Scared Skinny. Her book, Scared Skinny No More was released in April by Sunbury Press. A 2010 MAC Award winner for Outstanding Female Comedian, Mary also won the 2008 Gracie Allen Award for the PBS documentary Fat, What No One is Telling You and was featured on NBC's Today Show. Her other television appearances include HBO's The Chris Rock Show, Comedy Central, VH-1, New York Undercover and in sketches on the David Letterman Show. A regular on the national comedy circuit, she has performed at Stand Up New York, Caesar's Palace, The Improv and The World Famous Laugh Factory. She is also a member of the all female comedy troupe The Italian Chicks and has opened for Janeane Garofalo and Kevin Meaney. Off- Broadway appearances include Tony and Tina's Wedding and the musical, Surprise. Currently she is a comedy contributor for the Huffington Post.

Christine Renee Miller directed Mary Dimino's award winning Fringe production, Scared Skinny. She has also directed Michelle Glick in her solo comedy Asian Belle that was featured at the Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival. Other directorial credits include Further Adventures of Swamp Girl at L.A. Women's Theatre Festival,Waste Management at Stage Left Studio, Make-out Queen at Emerging Artists and Drug Buddy at Cherry Lane Theatre.

Big Dummy me and my old man will play at the Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre (Player's Theatre Complex, 115 MacDougal Street 2nd Floor-A, C, E, B, D, F, M to West 4th Street) beginning Friday, August 9th. The performance schedule is as follows: Fri. August 9th at 7PM, Sat. August 11th at 3:45PM, Sat. August 17th at 12:45PM, Tues. August 20th at 4PM, Sat. August 24th at 6PM and Sun. August 25th at 2PM. Running time is 1 hour 11 minutes. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 on day of performance. For tickets go to www.FringeNYC.org or call (866) 468-7619. For more information go to http://www.big-dummy.com.