Austin Playhouse to Present THE DEAD PRESIDENTS' CLUB, Begin. 10/18

In this comic gem by the famed Texas playwright best known for The Night Hank Williams Died and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, four former presidents - Richard M. Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, Calvin Coolidge and Harry S. Truman- find themselves in an exclusive holding pen outside heaven awaiting the decision of an admissions committee. "Just who is on that committee?" asks the recently arrived Nixon. "That's the problem: a buncha narrow-minded damned saints!" Johnson replies. As the sanctified weigh the leaders' good deeds against their sins of omission and commission, "Landslide Lyndon" and "Tricky Dick" plot to get around the bureaucracy and go straight to the Boss.

The cast includes Austin Playhouse Company members David Stahl as Nixon, Michael Stuart as LBJ, Tom Parker as Harry Truman,Huck Huckaby as Calvin Coolidge, and Hans Venable as the Heavenly Bureaucrat, with a special appearance by Jacqui Cross.

This show is rated PG-13 due to somewhat "salty" language (mostly LBJ's).

Austin Playhouse first produced The Dead Presidents' Club in May 2003. The production was revived in August of that year and returned for three more summers. Austin Playhouse and Texas State University co-produced the play in November 2008. The Dead Presidents' Club had its world premiere production by Austin's State Theatre Company in 1997. Tom Parker has portrayed Truman in every Austin production.

Production Team: Direction and set design by Don Toner, costume design by Buffy Manners, lighting design by Don Day, and sound design by The Gunn Bros.

Political cartoonist Pat Oliphant designed the artwork for The Dead Presidents' Club.

Austin Playhouse 2013-2014 Season: Our season continues with the murder-mystery And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, November 22 - December 22, 2013, a new adaptation of Corneille's 17th century farce The Liar by David Ives, February 7 - March 9, 2014,the world premiere of Roaring by Cyndi Williams, April 4 - May 4, 2014, and a TBA, May 23 - June 22, 2014. Austin Playhouse will also produce the provocative recent Broadway hit Venus in Fur by David Ives, January 3 - 26, 2013.

Opening Night Benefit: On Friday, October 18th celebrate the return of the Dead Presidents and Don Toner's Birthday with a party benefiting the Austin Playhouse Production Fund. The evening includes the opening performance of The Dead Presidents' Club, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, silent and live auctions, a Dead Presidents photo booth, wine pull, cake, and more!

Austin Playhouse is a professional theatre currently performing its 13th season. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Don Toner and Artistic Director Lara Toner Haddock, Austin Playhouse has grown from a three-play season on the campus of Concordia University, to a year-round operation producing an average of eight plays a year. Austin Playhouse is currently planning to build its own two-performance venue space in the heart of the new Mueller Redevelopment Town Center, adjacent to the new Austin Children's Museum.

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