Mark St. Germain's THE FABULOUS LIPITONES World Premiere Opens at Theatrical Outfit Tonight

Theatrical Outfit presents the world premiere of The Fabulous Lipitones, written by Mark St. Germain (playwright, Freud's Last Session) and John Markus (writer/producer of The Cosby Show). The show runs tonight, March 27 - April 21 at the Balzer Theater at Herren's, 84 Luckie Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia. Directed by Justin Anderson. Musical Direction by Michael Monroe. Tickets are on sale now at www.theatricaloutfit.org or by calling 877-725-8849.

The world premiere of The Fabulous Lipitones, by award-winning playwright Mark St. Germain (author of the hit show, Freud's Last Session), and Emmy-winning writer John Markus (head writer for The Cosby Show and writer/producer for The Larry Sanders Show), features some of Atlanta's top musical and comedic talent: Daniel Hilton, Tom Key, William S. Murphey, and Glenn Rainey.

One of the founding members of the barbershop quartet, The Fabulous Lipitones, drops dead following a competition and the small-town-America trio races to find a new member to compete in the finals. Finding an Indian Sikh with dubious credentials who sings a mean tenor makes their road to victory a funny and touching lesson in what it takes to create real harmony.

"Barbershop music is no walk in the park: it demands straight tone and tight harmonies, sung a capella, no less. There's something inherently vulnerable about a capella music because you have no other instruments outside of the human voice to hide behind," says Director Justin Anderson. "Now, you couple that with great comedy, which always demands a deep degree of vulnerability for the 'funny' to ring true, and you have an uproarious evening of theatre in store."

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS:

Mark St. Germain: Mark has written FREUD'S LAST SESSION, Dr. Ruth, All The Way, which will be performed at the Hartford Stage this Spring, and BEST OF ENEMIES. Other plays include CAMPING WITH HENRY AND TOM (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards), EARS ON A BEATLE, THE GOD COMMITTEE and OUT OF GAS ON LOVER'S LEAP. His play SCOTT AND HEM IN THE GARDEN OF ALLAH will premiere at the Contemporary American Theater Festival and the Barrington Stage in the summer of 2013. Mark wrote the Tammy Wynette Musical STAND BY YOUR MAN, which began at the Ryman Theater in Nashville. It began touring again in September of 2012. With composer Randy Courts, Mark has written the musicals THE GIFTS OF THE MAGI, JOHNNY PYE AND THE FOOLKILLER and JACK'S HOLIDAY.

Television work includes Writer/Creative Consultant for THE COSBY SHOW.

He co-wrote Director Carroll Ballard's film DUMA and produced and directed the documentary "MY DOG, An Unconditional Love Story", with Richard Gere, Glenn Close, Edward Albee, and others. Mark wrote the award winning children's book "THREE CUPS".
Mark is an Associate Artist of the Barrington Stage Company, and a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer's Guild East and HB Playwrights.

John Markus: Emmy Award-winning writer John Markus began his career in high school, supplying jokes about his rural Ohio hometown to Broadway columnist Earl Wilson. After graduating from Stanford University he moved to Los Angeles where he landed a job writing a revival of the animated "Mighty Mouse." Accepted into Paramount's apprentice program, he was a staff writer on "Working Stiffs", a sitcom starring Michael Keaton and Jim Belushi. After an assignment on Paramount's "Taxi", Markus joined the original writing staff of "The Cosby Show". He became the supervising producer for the series after the first six episodes, then was promoted to showrunner/co-executive producer for the second season. He remained with the acclaimed series until 1990. During his tenure, he wrote or co-wrote 67 episodes, earning an Emmy, a Peabody, and two Humanitas prizes. He also co-created the Cosby spin-off "A Different World", which ran for seven seasons on NBC.

Markus next co-created the critically acclaimed "Lateline with Al Franken" for Paramount Network Television and NBC. He was consulting producer on "The Larry Sanders Show", co-writing the Emmy-nominated Ellen Degeneres episode, "Ellen: Is She Or Isn't She?" His play Sons of Liberty, a prototype for an NBC television series, was produced at the American Place Theater and directed by Jerry Zaks.

Markus just directed the award-winning documentary, "The Kings Of BBQ- Barbecue Kuwait". The film follows five legendary Pitmasters on a mission to serve authentic-style BBQ to our troops stationed in Kuwait. Markus created and currently executive produces the Destination America series, "BBQ Pitmasters", which takes the first in-depth look at the world of competition barbecue and its divas.

Theatrical Outfit's The Balzer Theater at Herren's is located at 84 Luckie Street NW, Atlanta, GA. The production will run tonight, March 27 - April 21, 2013. Performances are Wednesday - Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. (except no Saturday matinee on March 30). There is a 2:30 matinee on Thursday, April 4.

Group discounts available; call Cherice Norman at 678.528.1497. Tickets start at $15. Box Office is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and prior to performances. Tickets: 1.877.725.8849; www.theatricaloutfit.org.

Theatrical Outfit is an Atlanta-based professional theater company whose purpose is to provide its diverse audiences, actors and artists with a rich theater experience and to produce works that stimulate thoughtful discussion. It is intentional about using local talent to tell its "Stories that stir the soul" - which often come from classic and contemporary literature - featuring themes that are both relevant and revelatory.

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