WAKE UP Comes to Axis Theatre in June

The Cliplight Theatre Company announced the world premiere of WAKE UP, a touching, funny and bracingly honest new solo show about a gay, Mormon-raised stage actor who begins using and selling crystal meth at the same time he's preparing for the role of Richard III. Written and performed by Spencer Aste, directed by Maegan Simpson, and produced by Brian Barnhart, the production begins previews on Wednesday, June 14th, with an official opening on Friday, June 16th, and will run through Saturday, June 24th, at Axis Theatre.

Tackling his own experiences with sexuality, Mormonism, drug use and abuse, with a marriage and a 30-year acting career often left hanging in the balance, Spencer Aste's WAKE UP tears apart the current trend of "living your best life" and exposes the harsh truths and difficult realities that come with "owning the life you've lived." Riveting, humorous, and earnest, WAKE UP is a play about choices and consequences - and occasionally, choices that were never choices at all. When your life pulls you under, what will it take for you to WAKE UP?

"Writing this show has been a labor of love and self-discovery, and a chance to build something beautiful with my loved ones, where I may have torn things down before. It conveys the message that it's okay to be a real fuck-up in your life, and to let people know. It's okay to talk about your spectacular failures and to accept them and their consequences, because when you do, truly amazing things can happen. It's also okay to be different and not 'fit in'. Embrace it!"

Spencer Aste's theatre credits include Axis Theatre: Strangers in the World; The Western; Dead End; Solitary Light; Nothing on Earth Can Hold Houdini; Last Man Club; Seven in One Blow; and Hospital. Various Roles in St. Joan with Bedlam. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Midsummer Night's Dream. Lincoln Center: Hamlet (Lincoln Center Institute); Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet (New York Philharmonic). Other New York theatre: Axial Theatre; The Acting Company (company member): Richard III; Murder By Poe; Taming of the Shrew; The Three Musketeers; MacBeth; Pudd'nhead Wilson. Fundamental Theater Project; Storm Theatre Co.; New York Theatre Workshop: Finer Noble Gases (directed by Adam Rapp); American Café (directed by Susanna Tubert); The Cell; MTC; MCC; Boomerang Theat. Co.; Rising Phoenix Rep. and La MaMa, among others. Regional Theatre: Denver Center Theatre Company: Twelfth Night; American Clock; New Business (directed by Steven Dietz). Shakespeare Santa Cruz; Creede Repertory Theatre. Films: "My First Kiss and the People Involved"; "200 American"; "Taking Woodstock" (directed by Ang Lee); voice of Wounded Soldier (green army man) in "Toy Story". Television: "The Blacklist"; "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"; "Boardwalk Empire"; "Royal Pains". Web Series: "The Thing". Spencer received his B.F.A. from the University of Utah and his M.F.A. from the National Theater Conservatory in Denver, CO. With love to Erik, always.

Director Maegan Simpson's theatre credits include (Regional/Off-Off Broadway): Almost, Maine; Beyond Therapy; Impossible Marriage; It's Only A Play; Rumors; Ice Cream with Hot Fudge; Mental Cases in Different Places; Middletown. She studied acting and directing at UMD, NYU, The Shakespeare Theatre, and The Barrow Group.

WAKE UP's production and design team features Paul Carbonara (Sound Design), David Zeffren (Lighting Design), Karl Ruckdeschel (Costume Design), Jake Generalli (Assistant Director), Erik Savage (Stage Manager), Laurie Kilmartin (Asst. Stage Manager), Regina Betancourt (Light Board Operator).

WAKE UP will have eight performances in total and take place Wednesday, June 14th through Saturday, June 24th at Axis Theatre, located on Barrow St. between West 4th and Washington Place at 1 Sheridan Square in Manhattan's West Village.

Performances are Wednesday - Saturdays at 8:00pm.

Tickets are $39 for adults, $20 for artists, and free for veterans & active U.S. service members and their families.

The running time is 70 minutes with no intermission. Tickets can be purchased online at www.wakeuptheplay.com.

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