World Premiere Play MAVERICK Depicts Orson Welles' Final Days

Executive Producers Pam Carter and The Cliplight Theater, in conjunction with Amanda Cooper/ALC Management, are pleased to announce the world premiere of Maverick, co-authored by Frank Beacham and George Demas. A dramatization of co-author Beacham's real-life experience collaborating with Orson Welles in the months leading up to his death, Maverick begins previews at The Connelly Theater (220 E. 4th St., between Ave. A & Ave. B) on February 6, with opening night set for February 13 for a limited run through March 2. Tickets, priced $30-$50, are available at www.mavericktheplay.com.

In early 1985, then-video Production Company owner Frank Beacham embarked on a groundbreaking creative journey with revolutionary technology the Betacam and a true entertainment Maverick, Orson Welles. With the first handheld camera and recorder combination, the two were meant to revolutionize the way art gets made bypassing the gatekeepers and putting the responsibility of art back into the artists' hands. Told through a series of flashbacks, including glimpses of Welles' masterpieces Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil, and featuring cameo characters of Hollywood legends like Merv Griffin and Zsa Zsa Gabor, as well as TV host Robin Leach, Maverick traces the last great artistic endeavor of a multimedia mastermind that was intended to change the playing field forever.

The cast of Maverick features Stephen Pilkington and George Demas as Beacham and Welles, respectively, with Alex Lin, Matthew Mundy, Brian Parks, and Jed Peterson. Scenic and prop design is by Tekla Monson; lighting design is by David Zeffren; costume design is by Jess Gersz; and sound design is by Tyler Kieffer. Casting is by Stephanie Klapper, CSA. Maverick is co-directed by David Elliott and George Demas.
Maverick will play The Connelly Theater (220 E. 4th St., between Ave. A & Ave. B) from February 6-March 2, 2019 according to the following schedule: Wednesday and Thursday at 7pm; and Friday and Saturday at 8pm. There will be an additional performance on Tuesday, February 12 at 7pm, and no performances on Wednesday, February 20. Opening night is set for February 13. Tickets, priced $30-$50, are available at www.mavericktheplay.com.

Frank Beacham (Co-Writer) was Executive Producer of Tim Robbins' Touchstone feature film, Cradle Will Rock about Welles' legendary WPA production of Marc Blitzstein's musical. Beacham also produced, with the late Richard Wilson, the six-hour retrospective, Theatre of the Imagination: Radio Stories by Orson Welles & The Mercury Theatre and wrote, directed and produced the documentary, The Mercury Company Remembers with Leonard Maltin. In 1985, he teamed with Orson Welles over a nearly one year period to develop a one-man television special. Orson Welles Solo was canceled after Mr. Welles died on the day production was set to begin. His story, Charlie's Place, is being developed into a network television series. Beacham is a New York-based independent writer, director and producer who works in print, radio, television, film and theatre. A former staff reporter for United Press International, the Miami Herald, Gannett Newspapers and Post-Newsweek, Beacham's articles and stories have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers. His new non-fiction autobiography, The Whole World Was Watching: My Life Under the Media Microscope, was recently published by Booklocker, Inc.

David Elliott (Co-Director) credits include: The Submission (Olney), Edison's Elephant (Metropolitan Playhouse), Arrivals and Departures (Rattlestick, Exposure Festival), Eye Of The Beholder (Zipper), Doctor Faustus (Culture Project), Shimmer (Irish Rep), Lips Together, Teeth Apart (Phoenix), Something About Baseball (Theatre Off Park), Blood and Fire ("The Pitch" Merry Go Round), Imperfect Love, Lenin's Omelet; Furious (New York Performance Works), Dilettantes & Debutants (Miranda) among others. Assistant on Indiscretions (Barrymore), High Society (A.C.T), Inherit The Wind (Royale), As You Like It (Long Wharf). As a producer over 20 productions including Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike (Golden, Tony, Drama Desk Award), Dames At Sea (Helen Hayes), Lend Me A Tenor, The Musical (Gielgud, West End), Georgie (Davenport), In The Continuum (UK and US Tour), The Exonerated (NYC and US Tour).

George Demas (Co-Writer and Co-Director; Orson Welles): As a director, some NY theatre: the Drama Desk-nominated and New York Times Critic's Pick Krapp, 39, which ran 7 months Off Broadway, with limited runs in London and Dublin. He also directed the New York Times Critic's Pick Levittown at The Theater at St. Clement's. As a playwright, Demas' other full-length drama, Misfortune, was a semi-finalist for The Princess Grace Award and had a 2017 workshop at The Lake George Theater Lab. As an actor, some NY theatre: Our Town, Orson's Shadow, The Effect (all directed by David Cromer at the Barrow Street Theatre); Tim Crouch's An Oak Tree (Barrow Street Theatre); Nassim (BST at City Center); Last Man Club (Axis Company); Henry VI (dir. RSC fellow Barry Kyle at Theatre for a New Audience); Edgar Oliver's The Drowning Pages (directed by Michael Laurence at LaMaMa, E.T.C.); TV: Law & Order ; Boardwalk Empire ; Power ; Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ; Made in Jersey ; Film: Thanks for Sharing (w/ Tim Robbins, Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow); The Jimmy Show (w/ Frank Whaley, Ethan Hawke); Escape Artists (w/ Peter Dinklage, Josh Hamilton).
www.MaverickThePlay.com