Tin Drum Productions to Present OLD FAMILIAR FACES at FringeNYC, 8/11-24

Tin Drum Productions will present, as part of The Present Company's 17th Annual New York International Fringe Festival, the world-premiere of Cassidy's Old Familiar Faces, a heartbreaking drama about love, obsession, madness, murder, and blank verse.

Since his first production in 2008, Cassidy's plays have won four New York Innovative Theatre Awards, including for Outstanding Full-Length Script (2009) and Outstanding Solo Performance (2011). Last year, Cassidy was commissioned by The Kennedy Center/Washington National Opera to write the libretto for a new short opera, which was hailed by The Washington Times as "brilliant" and "remarkable." Cassidy was named one of nytheatre.com's 2011 People of the Year for his contributions to the independent theatre scene.

Old Familiar Faces tells the astonishing true story of Charles and Mary Lamb, the brother/sister team known for their classic children's book, Tales from Shakespeare (1807). Though both were celebrities in the British literature scene of their day, each sibling wrestled with acute mental disorders-a situation which had culminated in 1786 when Mary murdered their mother with a carving knife during a psychotic break. The story of the Lambs is juxtaposed with a contemporary American "adaptation" of the difficult romance between Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Much like their historical counterpoints, the characters of Lee and Oliver wrestle with demons of their own, including manic depression and anxiety disorder, only to find solace in the classical plays that brought them together. These two storylines converge into a thrillingly contemporary reexamination of classical texts, as well as a universal tale of love, passion, creation, damnation and hopeful salvation.

Sam Tsoutsouvas and Tandy Cronyn will be playing Charles and Mary Lamb. Mr. Tsoutsouvas' credits include Red Bull Theater's The Witch of Edmonton, Broadway's By Jeeves, Edward II, and The Three Sisters, among many others. Ms. Cronyn made her Broadway debut in the original production of Cabaret as Sally Bowles, and has performed all over the country in classical and contemporary productions, including her new solo show The Tall Boy (recently presented by The Clarence Brown Theater in Knoxville, TN). James Patrick Nelson (Off-B'way: Classic Stage Company, The Mint) and MariAnne Miller (PlayMakers Repertory, The Guthrie) have signed on to play Oliver and Lee, respectively.

Old Familiar Faces will be performed at The Players Theatre in the West Village. Tickets are $15-18 and can be purchased at www.fringenyc.org. The performance schedule is as follows:

Sunday, August 11th, 12pm
Tuesday, August 13th, 2pm
Friday, August 16th, 9:15pm
Sunday, August 18th, 7:30pm
Saturday, August 24th, 5pm