Jake Busey, Matt Steele, Nicole Sullivan, and Marissa Jaret Winokur Will Star In DIVOS! A High School Comedy

Jake Busey (The Predator, Netflix's Stranger Things, Hulu's freakish, Showtime Network's Ray Donovan), Matt Steele, Nicole Sullivan (Netflix's Disjointed, Netflix's Girlboss, ABC's Black-ish, FOX's MADtv), Marissa Jaret Winokur (HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hairspray), Jayson Bernard (Halloweed, Family Values), Jason Stuart (The Birth of a Nation, Tangerine), and newcomer Timothy Brundidge will star in DIVOS!, a high-school comedy written by Matt Steele, and directed Ryan Patrick Bartley, in his feature directorial debut.

Busey will play "Mr. Kelly," a sports helicopter parent intent on steering his son, baseball MVP "Josh Kelly," played by Brundidge, away from pursuing an acting career over a future as a baseball star. Steele plays "Ricky," a senior at St. James High School who lives, eats, and breathes drama class and the theatre, and who just knows he will one day be a big star, but that all hinges on him being the lead in school play for the fourth year in a row. Sullivan will portray "Candy," Ricky's single, eccentric mother who is also her son's BIGGEST fan. Winokur will play "Sister Hartt," an over-worked Nun who heads the choral department and tries to instruct the teens in chorus as well as in the ways of the Lord. Bernard is "Mr. Aubrey," the school's English teacher in charge of this year's play, and who will change one student's life with his casting choices. Stuart plays "Berry Cruise," who shares a ride with the teens they will not soon forget! Jayson Bernard and Roberto Rosario Jr., of J&R Productions are producing along with In The Basement Entertainment. The film is executive produced by Bernard.

"We are honored and thrilled to have such accomplished, funny, and versatile cast led by Jake Busey and Nicole Sullivan," said Rosario, Jr. "Mean Girls meets High School Musical in this modern-day, gender-bending cautionary comedy in the same vein as All About Eve.... if Eve were a comedy!" added Rosario Jr.

In DIVOS!, Ricky Redmond (Steele) is a legendary teen actor - legendary, at least, in his own mind (and his mother's, of course). After three show-stopping performances as an underclassman in South Hamilton High School's annual musicals, he knows he is a shoe-in for the lead role his senior year until baseball MVP Josh Kelly (Brundidge) shows up at auditions, and the never humble Ricky finally meets his match. Mustering up some team spirit, Ricky takes Josh under his wing to teach the rookie actor the ins and outs of being a teenage divo (a male diva!). He soon realizes, though, that Josh's star quality is more dangerous than he originally anticipated. The CLAWS come out when Josh attempts to sabotage not only Ricky's performance in the school play, but his entire future as a professional actor.

"DIVOS! The Movie is a fabulous romp full of misfits, mayhem and musical theatre," said Bartley. "Our goal is to make you laugh make you cry make you never want to say goodbye! That, and to destroy all preconceived notions of a self-aggrandized high school musical theater troop, and to show the hilarious and awkward cutthroat ineptitude within that word!" added Bartley. Rounding out the cast are Luis Avila, Julia Boyd, Chris Schermerhorn, Daniel Kim, Quinn Lozar, Josh Shechter, and Cougar MacDowall.

DIVOS! is scheduled film in September and October 2018.

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