POPTART! to Play TADA! Theatre, 12/2-5

POPTART! is a new play by Krystle Phelps that takes a searing look at a pop star whose life unravels the night leading up to an important concert. Directed by Gwenevere Sisco, this production focuses on a diva with a major chip on her shoulder, her long-suffering personal assistant, and a washed up rock star looking for a paycheck. While not a traditional musical, the artists featured in the story perform live original music by James Parenti, Krystle Phelps, and Trish Phelps. Exploring themes of gender, race, and all things celebrity, POPTART! delves into the need to be truly heard ... even if you have nothing to say.

The cast features Monique St. Cyr as the starlet in question, Monique Jackson; Allison Strickland* as her assistant, Anna Martin; and rounding out the dramatis personae is James Parenti as struggling songwriter James Pearce. Gwenevere Sisco directs, supported by Anna Katherine Moore (Stage Manager), Jonathan Hartley (Set Design), Brian Henderson (Lighting Design), and Risi Werner (Costume Design). * These Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.

POPTART! is produced by Girl Just Died. Co-founded by James Parenti and Krystle Phelps, Girl Just Died is a theatre production company based in NYC that is dedicated to bringing to life new, exciting, and honest work that heavily features a variety of voices. This is their first solo venture as producers after working with Dare Lab to produce the well-received and often sold out run of May Violets Spring in April 2014.

Krystle Phelps is a new voice. 2014's May Violets Spring was her first time producing theatre and POPTART! is her first public shout into the void. A graduate of NYU's film and television production program at Tisch, her specialty is writing screenplays about women behaving badly. This is her first script for a theatre production, but there's still bad behavior aplenty.

James Parenti has been writing and performing music in the northeast for the past decade, featured at venues such as the Knitting Factory, Bitter End, Bowery Electric, Pianos, and the dearly departed Spike Hill. Parenti has released two full-length records (Maybe That's Why We Lost in 2011 and Don't Be Gone Long, Ellen in 2015) and is also a playwright (May Violets Spring, Our Hanging-Ropes) and actor.

The play will run from Wednesday-Saturday, December 2-5 at TADA! Theatre, 15 West 28th Street, New York, NY 10001. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets.