RLTP Presents INSIDIOUS, Closes 7/10

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) today announced that the revival of its smash-hit, world-premiere production of Insidious will close Sunday, July 10, 2011. This raw and unsettling modern drama is the work of Western New York playwright Ibn Shabazz; it was developed in RLTP's 2008 Emanuel Fried New Play Workshop and enjoyed a critically successful and wildly popular debut run at the Road Less Traveled Theater during the summer of 2010.

"Audience and critical response to Insidious was some of the strongest in our seven-year producing history," said RLTP Artistic Director Scott Behrend. "By the time we reached the end of our original sold-out run we realized that there were potential patrons who wanted to but wouldn't get a chance to see Insidious; in addition, it was evident, too, that a large group of theatergoers who had seen Insidious, in some cases more than once, still were interested in seeing it again."

So the decision was obvious, concluded Doug Zschiegner, director of the original production and of the 2011 revival: "Insidious must return!" The revival will reunite the entire original cast, including Greg Howze, Xavier Harris, Adrienne Lewis, Carlton Franklin, and John Vines, under Zschiegner's direction.

RLTP bills Insidious as the story of "a man's struggle against his darkest demons... as personified by a charismatic street hustler who will not take ‘no' for an answer. Insidious is an unflinchingly potent tour through the inner hell of addiction." Anthony Chase of Artvoice and WBFO's Theatre Talk called Insidious "Thrilling... hilarious... wholly unpredictable... (a) wild ride," and added "The dialogue is quick, authentic, and fun. Xavier Harris is dry perfection as sociopathic Insidious... Adrienne Lewis is brilliant... Greg Howze and John Vines are masters of droll understatement... Carlton Franklin (is) priceless... I cannot praise the perfectly modulated direction of Doug Zschiegner enough." Colin Dabkowski of The Buffalo News called Insidious "a fine production of an edgy play! Heartbreaking ... entrancing, almost magical," and indicated that one performance "left the sold-out crowd stunned and enraptured!"

Behrend said Insidious was a play he "simply had to produce. When I first read it a couple of years ago, I thought, ‘There's no way we can ever do this show.' Then I saw the first reading and I knew: we had to do this show." Behrend hopes that this revival will help the play to reach the broadest and most diverse audience possible. "This is a play that is urgent and important, and a play that people need to see."

"Insidious illuminates a dangerous world we rarely see onstage," added Zschiegner. "Ibn shines a light on desperate individuals dancing through minefields of addiction, promiscuity, and HIV - all right here in Buffalo. It's really a thriller... a high-stakes pressure cooker with people desperately clinging to their sobriety, their families, and even their lives. Insidious pulls no punches... it's a terrifying play."

In order to allow the widest possible audience to discover (or rediscover) Insidious, RLTP has developed a series of pricing programs. First, all tickets to the revival run of Insidious are capped at $20, a $10 discount from RLTP's regularly priced ticket. In addition, presale tickets - available now through June 1st - are $15. And, to meet repeat-viewing demand during the revival run as well as to encourage patrons to bring a friend, RLTP will offer a special "Hooked On Insidious" rate: with proof of original purchase (a ticket stub or a prior electronic reservation from a revival performance), patrons who return to see the show a second time during the revival receive a 2-for-1 deal on the second ticket purchase, creating a $10 per-ticket price.

Ibn Shabazz is a director/playwright based in Buffalo, New York. Insidious is his first full-length play. His previously produced one-act plays are Cancel Christmas with the Northwest Community Players and A Simple Mother's Day Card with the PRT Workshop Ensemble. Under a pseudonym, Donald Richardson, Jr., Ibn has worked as a freelance writer for the Outcome Buffalo newspaper and assistant editor for the lifestyle magazine, Flava Men. He has several short stories that have been published and is also a screenwriter. Mr. Shabazz started writing at age 15 with the teleplay Where's the Money?, filmed by the Langston Hughes Institute's Inner City Television Workshop. Ibn wrote for the US Army's All Soldiers Show while serving on active duty and has worked as an actor, director, and stage manager with the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) Department of Theatre and Dance, Spelman College, The ALLIANCE THEATRE Company, Theatre Charlotte, and Shakespeare in Delaware Park. He most recently directed The Bluest Eye at the Paul Robeson Theatre and is currently drafting his next play, The Kiss of Life.

Insidious will run June 10th through July 10th at the Road Less Traveled Theater. Shows are at 7:30PM, Thursdays through Sundays. There will be NO 2:00PM matinees on Sundays during the run of Insidious.

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) is a professional theatre company dedicated to the development and production of new theatrical works by Western New York playwrights, as well as presentations of esteemed modern dramas of outstanding literary merit. RLTP is located in the Market Arcade Film & Arts Center in the theater district of downtown Buffalo. For ticketing information call 716-629-3069 or visit www.RoadLessTraveledProductions.org. RLTP's work is made possible through public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

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