New Lincoln Theatre Productions is proud to present the return of Sex Marks the Spot, the incredibly funny political comedy by Charles Grippo, which played to sell out audiences in a limited engagement in January, 2010, at the Theatre Building Chicago. Directed by Damian Arnold, this brand new remounting of the show opens June 14, 2010 for the press, and runs through July 25, 2010, at the Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont in Chicago.
A few weeks before the election, Senator Clooney's mistress - porn star Desiree Le Bonque - threatens to reveal their affair on national television. Like any good politician worth his weight in cover ups, the Senator drugs her and forces his campaign manager and his press secretary to help him hide the burgeoning scandal from his suspicious wife, the press, and a detective who would like to be Sam Spade except God forgot to give him brains. But his efforts at spin control spin wildly out of control when his son, a marine sergeant, comes home with a secret and the campaign manager. The press secretary and even a nosy reporter reveal secrets of their own. Complication piles upon complication, until all of the characters' secrets and the Senator's increasingly outrageous attempts at damage control collide in the play's hilarious conclusion.
The play explores the side of sex scandals that politicians and their handlers try so desperately to hide from the public. It investigates what goes on "behind the scenes" as the politicos cynically manipulate the media, con the voters, and engage in elaborate cover-ups. Sex Marks the Spot is especially timely in this, an election year, as the voters attempt to sort through the sound bites, promises, and, of course, the lies of the candidates for the public offices.
"For some time I've been interested in the reaction --- the private reaction we never get to see - of the spouse of the adulterous politician, " Playwright Grippo says. " We're all familiar with the errant politician making the standard issue ‘I've let down my family' and the voters' speech , while the wife he has so publicly humiliated stands stoically by his side and offers her support and ostensibly her forgiveness. But I wanted to know: what does she really think of the SOB? What does HE have to promise HER that she will swallow her pride in such a way? Wouldn't you just once like to see her haul off and punch the idiot in the teeth in front of all the TV cameras? Now that would be a video worth watching over and over again on You Tube."
"I also felt the subject matter gave me a chance to puncture gender stereotypes, especially those about people who lead alternative lifestyles, and that doing it in a funny way would be more effective than being preachy." Grippo goes on. "I must have succeeded because, after one performance in the Bible Belt, a woman came up to me and she actually said: ‘I never knew cross dressers were as human as the rest of us.'"
Sex Marks the Spot has been presented at the Red Barn Summer Theatre, Frankfort, Indiana; Cortland Repertory Theatre, Cortland, New York; Mud Creek Players, Indianapolis, Indiana, and in other productions nationwide. Visit www.sexmarksthespot.org.
Charles Grippo is a playwright, producer, entertainment lawyer, composer/lyricist, author, and theatrical investor. His plays include Outrageous Misfortune; Sex Marks the Spot; A Wife's Tale; Thursday in the Park; Wait for the Wind; and The Tooth of the Matter. They have been produced Off Broadway, as well as in Cortland, New York; Indiana; Chicago; and in Ojai, California. His short stories have been published in national magazines. He has previously produced the Chicago premieres of Alan Bowne's Beirut and A Week-end Near Madison by Kathleen Tolan, as well as revivals of The Woods by David Mamet and the female version of the Odd Couple by Neil Simon. As a nationally recognized authority on entertainment law, he is the author of The Stage Producer's Business and Legal Guide, the first legal survival guide for anyone involved in the performing arts, and Business and Legal Forms for Theater. Both are widely used as textbooks in college and university theater management courses. They are published by Allworth Press and distributed by Random House. He is listed in Contemporary Authors, Volume 235. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Author's Guild, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Writer's Bloc, and Attorney's Title Guaranty Fund. Visit www.charlesgrippo.org .
Damian Arnold trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) for three years. He has performed on stage in the U.K. and the U.S., and has worked for the BBC as an actor and also as a writer. He is the founding member of the British Stage Company (BSC). Last year in Chicago he produced Marc Camoletti's comedy Don't Dress for Dinner at The Royal George Theatre. Past directing credits also include Noises Off, Absent Friends, Old Times, and Betrayal.
The cast of Sex Marks the Spot features Tony Fontana (Senator Clooney); Adam Schulmerich (Maxwell Kotch); Amanda Goodyear (Desiree LeBonque); Kieran Welsh-Phillips (Amanda Smythe); Lisa Herceg (Margaret Clooney); Rob Grabowski (Wally Sommers); Rory Jobst (Detective); Quinn White (Sgt. Jefferson Clooney, U.S. Marine Corps).
The performance schedule for Sex Marks the Spot is:
Previews: June 11 at 7:30 p.m.; June 12 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; June 13 at 2:30 p.m.
Press Opening: June 14, at 7:30 p.m.
Regular run through July 25: Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Ticket price: $26.00.
For tickets call the Theatre Building Chicago at 773-327-5252 or visit
Ticketmaster.com Theatre Building Chicago is located just minutes from the Loop at 1225 W. Belmont on the south side of the street between Lakewood and Racine. If traveling north, take the Belmont exit and proceed east about 2.5 miles. If traveling south, take the Kimball exit, turn right at the bottom of the ramp then first left onto Belmont and proceed east about 2.5 miles. From Downtown, follow signs to Lake Shore Drive and travel north to the Belmont exit and proceed west on Belmont about 1 mile.
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