Annual Holiday Family Show Returns to Axis Theatre Dec 4-22

This December, the acclaimed Off-Broadway Axis Theatre Company will present its 14th annual beloved family holiday show, Seven in One Blow, or the Brave Little Kid. Adapted from the classic fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm, this festive, interactive winter play is written and directed by Axis Artistic Director Randy Sharp. Though the poignant tale was created for kids, the Axis production-which teases out some of the many plausible subtexts-resonates equally well for adults.

All proceeds for the performance on Saturday, December 12 at 3:00 P.M. will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Axis will stage Seven in One Blow, or the Brave Little Kid on Fridays at 7:00 P.M. and on Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 P.M. There will be an additional performance on Tuesday, December 22 at 7:00 P.M. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors and $5 for kids. Running time: 50 minutes. The show is appropriate for ages 4 and up. For tickets call 212-352-3101 or visit www.AxisCompany.org. Axis Theatre is located at One Sheridan Square in Manhattan's West Village, just off 7th Avenue (accessible from the 1/9 train at Christopher Street or the A/B/C/D/E/F/M at West 4th Street).

Set just before the holidays on a snowy winter day, Seven in One Blow, or the Brave Little Kid tells the story of a child living in the city who kills seven flies with a single swat and makes a belt emblazoned with "Seven in One Blow" to commemorate the event. The Kid travels through the snow and meets numerous colorful characters along the way, including the Scarlet Pimpernel, a Pea, December, a Witch, an Ogre and a Princess. Most people think this belt refers to seven people and assign the Kid all kinds of difficult tasks based on this faulty presumption. Over the course of the take, invaluable lessons are learned: an Ogre finds that you don't always have to show how strong you are to be strong; a girl realizes that when you tease someone, you may be hurting a person who is just like you; and a scary monster understands that because she is loved, she may not be so scary after all. In the end, after a surprise twist, the Kid discovers that a parent's love and care has no limits.

The cast, most of whom have participated since the first production in 2002, of Seven in One Blow, or the Brave Little Kid includes Marc Palmieri, Lynn Mancinelli, Jim Sterling, Brian Barnhart, George Demas, Emily Kratter, Spencer Aste, Edgar Oliver, Laurie Kilmartin, Regina Betancourt and, in a special on-film appearance, Deborah Harry as the Mom. The production team features lighting design by David Zeffren; sound design and music production by Steve Fontaine; and costumes by Karl Ruckdeschel, based on the original design by Kate Aronsson-Brown.

Seven in One Blow, or the Brave Little Kid is now published and is part of an eclectic repertoire of original and published plays that Axis Theatre Company has produced. Past productions include Buchner's Woyzeck, Beckett's Play, Benjamin Baker's 1848 vaudeville A Glance at New York (Edinburgh Fringe & NYC), Julius Caesar, USS Frankenstein, the U.S. premiere of Sarah Kane's Crave, starring Deborah Harry, and Down There, Sharp's play about the torture and murder of 16 Year-Old Sylvia Likens. Axis also produced the premieres of Marc Palmieri's Levittown (directed by George Demas) and Edgar Oliver's East 10th Street, which was a recipient of the Edinburgh Fringe First Award in 2009; part of the Spoleto Festival in 2010; and re-mounted to much acclaim at PS 122 earlier this year. Axis's episodic play Hospital, about the interior life of a man in a coma, is a West Village phenomenon every summer. In 2006, Axis Company produced a feature film, Henry May Long, which won 13 film festival awards in the U.S. and Canada.

About Randy Sharp

Randy Sharp is Axis Theatre Company's founder and Artistic Director. She has been writing and directing theater for 30 years. Her plays include the Drama Desk Award-nominated Last Man Club (published by DPS), Nothing on Earth, Down There, Seven in One Blow (published by DPS and performed every December in NYC and around the country) and Hospital, a long-running serial about the interior life of a man in a coma, which is a West Village phenomenon each summer. She wrote and directed Solitary Light, a musical created with Paul Carbonara (Blondie) about the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Sharp's directing credits include Last Man Club, Nothing on Earth, Down There, Seven in One Blow, Hospital, Edgar Oliver's East 10th Street: Self Portrait with Empty House (Fringe First Award, Edinburgh Fringe; Spoleto Festival USA 2011) and In the Park, A Glance at New York (Edinburgh Fringe & NYC), Julius Caesar and the U.S premiere of Sarah Kane's Crave, starring Deborah Harry.

About Axis Theatre Company

Randy Sharp founded Axis Company in 1996. The company acquired a permanent home in 1998 at 1 Sheridan Square in New York City's West Village. Built in 1834 by Samuel Whitmore, the building once housed Café Society, the historic site of performances by Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughn, Art Tatum, Big Joe Turner and other jazz greats; and later was the home of Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Axis transformed interior performance space into one where audiences are totally immersed, surrounded by the experience of a theatrical production the moment they enter. Distractions from the material are minimal.

Among the wide variety of works Axis has produced in the theater are Beckett's Play; Benjamin Baker's 1848 vaudeville A Glance at New York (also at the Edinburgh Festival); the U.S. premiere of Sarah Kane's Crave, starring Deborah Harry; the premieres of Edgar Oliver's East 10th Street (New York Times Critic Pick; Fringe First Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Spoleto Festival, USA) and In the Park; David Crabb's Bad Kid (New York Times Critic Pick, now an acclaimed book published by HarperCollins Perennial); Marc Palmieri's The Groundling; and Sharp's Drama Desk-nominated Last Man Club, Solitary Light, Nothing on Earth, Down There, Seven in One Blow and Hospital.

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