Fraud & Phony to Present Inaugural Show TROLL This Summer

Fraud & Phony is pleased to announce its inaugural show: TROLL, a new play by Elizabeth Archer, directed by Melanie Keller, playing July 28 - August 13, 2016 at Trap Door Theatre, 1655 W Cortland St. in Chicago. TROLL features Maggie Cain, Dennis Frymire, Alex Nolen, Maggie Scrantom, Drew Shirley, and Mia Vivens. Tickets are available at www.fraudandphony.com.

Due to the onset of preeclampsia, eight-months pregnant neurosurgeon May Evans has been placed on bed rest and ordered to "do less"...forcing her husband Sam, a popular online journalist, to try and keep her from sneaking off to make calls to her staff. But as May's condition worsens, she begins receiving disturbing anonymous emails about Sam and his "online activities," which he claims are linked to his controversial articles and research methods. As the truth behind the emails is revealed, Sam and May are plunged into a nightmarish world of online vigilantism, articulate fetuses, and legal drama.

"I'm always fascinated and horrified when events of online brutality and harassment - the Rehtaeh Parsons case or Gamergate, to name a few - spill offline and have real-world consequences," says Archer. "TROLL was borne out of my desire to explore the offline repercussions of trolling as well as the everyday lives of internet trolls."

"Our premiere of TROLL comes at a very particular time in our culture," comments Keller. "For me, it looks at the way people are speaking to each other online with shocking vitriol and aggression. In light of things like the election climate, the shooting in Orlando and questions about what role the internet played in possibly radicalizing the shooter, the important conversations about consent and safety in the Chicago theatre community -- TROLL feels terribly timely. Elizabeth takes that energy and folds it into a powerful story that looks at relationships--between a husband and a wife, a mother and her unborn baby, a mother and her broken son, a father and his daughter's online troll -- and in doing so she invites us to consider our shared, flawed humanity."

Off-Night Performances on the FRAUD & PHONY SIDESTAGE - Sharing the TROLL space, Fraud & Phony is proud to present a series of free sidestage programming. All performances will take place at 8pm at Trap Door Theatre, 1655 W Cortland St. Free tickets for all shows can be reserved at fraudandphony.com.

· "UNPRODUCEABLE: A Night of Nigh Impossible Theatre" - Sunday, July 31 - A FREE evening of staged readings featuring big, strange, ten-minute plays that no theatre would ever think of producing...featuring the kinds of scripts playwrights might otherwise be embarrassed to even attach their name to, let alone have read aloud.

· "The Goldfish Project" - Saturday August 6 - The result of Chicago comedian Shawn Bowers spending two years pretending to be a woman on some of the world's largest online dating sites, The Goldfish Project is a multimedia-enhanced live reading of actual conversations, emails, chats and more. It's a terrifying, hilarious, mature-audiences-only look at how much men will put up with for a chance at hooking up.

All performances play the Trap Door Theatre, 1655 W Cortland St, Chicago. Preview: Thursday, July 28 at 8 pm. Opening: Friday, July 29 at 8 pm. Regular dates: Saturday, July 30; Friday, August 5; Sunday, August 7; Thursday, August 11; and Saturday, August 13. Curtain Times: All shows are at 8 pm. All tickets are $10. Tickets are available at fraudandphony.com or at the door.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM:

Elizabeth Archer (Writer) holds an MFA in Writing for Screen+Stage from Northwestern University, a BA in English from Fordham, and an Associate's Degree from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She is a graduate of The Second City Chicago's Musical Improv and Improv Conservatories. Elizabeth's plays have been staged/performed at the Source Festival in Washington, D.C., Denver's Horse+CArt Theatre, and Chicago Dramatists. She is a two-time semi-finalist for the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference (2015 and 2016), and a semi-finalist for the 2016 P73 Playwriting Fellowship. eaarcher.com

Melanie Keller (Director) is thrilled to be working with Fraud & Phony Theatre Collective for the first time. Recent directing work includes the Jeff Recommended production of The Drowning Girls at Signal Ensemble, and projects at WildClaw Theater and Chicago Dramatists. A member of Signal, she appeared as an actor in East of Berlin and The Russian Play for which she won a Jeff Award for Best Actress, The Weir (Jeff Nomination Best Supporting Actress), She Stoops to Conquer and Much Ado about Nothing. She is also an artistic associate with First Folio Theatre where her credits include Salvage, The Merchant of Venice, The Turn of the Screw and Private Lives. Acting work includes Feathers & Teeth at The Goodman and Tom Jones at Northlight Theatre. Regional work includes Twelfth Night at both Lakeside Shakespeare and the Michigan Shakespeare Festival. Other credits include Hamlet and King John (Chicago Shakespeare), and productions with Peninsula Players, Shakespeare Project of Chicago and Strawdog among others. She has appeared on Chicago Fire, and recently shot the short film UberEx. She trained at RADA and was a Chicago Fellow at the Stratford Festival of Canada.

Fraud & Phony is a new Chicago theatre collective with the aim of making weird, original shows and championing new, diverse voices. Beyond that, we make no promises: we'll do whatever we want...as long as it's not boring.

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