PlayhouseSquare Welcomes YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY SHUT UP!, Now thru 2/17

Celebrate 2013, with You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up!, continuing its National Tour starring Kevin Bartini and Gabrielle Mirabella at the 14th Street Theatre at PlayhouseSquare for a limited engagement, tonight, February 5 through February 17. You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up! is a part of the U. S. Bank Star Performance Series.

After 17 years of marriage, writers-actors-and real-life-married-couple Annabelle Gurwitch ("Dinner and a Movie," Fired!) and Jeff Kahn ("The Ben Stiller Show," Forty Year Old Virgin) have adapted their hilarious, often moving, memoir, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up! for the stage. Directed by Patrick Walsh (based on the original direction by Darren Katz), You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up!

In this 75-minute tour de force, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up! takes a humorous look at a relationship that seemed doomed by opposing personalities from the start. After trials and tribulations they learn to navigate the conflicts that come with romance, money, and children by embracing each other's differences, taking on parenting as a competitive sport, and dropping out of couple's therapy. Their delightfully crazy lifestyle has managed to keep their relationship intact, up-ending every idea you ever had about living "happily ever after."

This uproariously funny story is sure to strike both laughter and terror into the hearts of any couple (not to mention every single man or woman who is contemplating the connubial state). The book was developed through sold-out performances at The Comedy Central Theatre and at Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles, and made its New York premiere at The New York Comedy Festival 2009.

GABRIELLE MIRABELLA (Annabelle) is a Florida native with a degree from the Manhattan School of Music. After studying in NYC for both theater and opera, Mirabella is busy cramming as many new and wonderful opportunities into her career as possible. Favorite regional theater credits include Velma in Hairspray and Laura in Swing!

KEVIN BARTINI (Jeff) Comedy fans the world over have taken notice of Kevin Bartini's cutting edge, quick witted biting sense of humor. After ten years honing his skills in New York City, Kevin has become one of the brightest new stars on the comedy landscape. Kevin's easygoing likeable persona combined with lightning fast improvisational skills make him one of the most sought after audience warm up comics in the television industry. Currently Kevin can be seen warming up the audience at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as well as Bunk on IFC. He has also worked for two seasons as an audience warm-up comic for Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. Movie fans and comedy fans may best know Kevin as the creator and star of The Movie Preview Review Podcast. On each episode Kevin reviews a new release after having only seen the movie's previews. The MPR Podcast has become a viral sensation attracting a worldwide fan base. Kevin has also appeared on television on Discovery Channels Cash Cab, The Game Show Network's Newlywed Game and NBC's Saturday Night Live. Kevin got his start in theater working with the likes of The Williamstown Theater Company, Barrington Stage Company and Shakespeare and Company. He can currently be seen touring nationally with You Say Tomato I say Shut Up. Besides being a very popular comedian Kevin is a sought after comedy writing. HBO Sports hired Kevin to write a sports themed sketch series titled Got No Game. This popular multi episode series was a hit on HBO Sports' web page and eventually on HBO's main web page as well. He has also contributed to such varied programs as MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Fox News' Red Eye and Comedy Central's Live at Gotham. Kevin's comedy writing has been featured numerous times on top radio programs including The Bob and Tom Show, Comical Radio, and On-Air with Ryan Seacrest. www.KevinBartini.com

You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up! will play the 14th Street Theatre tonight, February 5 - 17. Tickets are on sale now at The PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office, via phone at 216-241-6000 or online at www.playhousesquare.org. Ticket prices range from $20.00 to $35.00. Group orders may be placed by calling 216-640-8600. For more information about You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up! visit www.tomatoplay.com.

The Creatives:

ANNABELLE GURWITCH (Writer) first gained a wide comedic following during her years co-hosting "Dinner & a Movie" on TBS. Annabelle turned her experience of being canned by Woody Allen into the Off-Broadway play, touring show, book and documentary film Fired. Her film premiered on Showtime and has been screened everywhere from The South by Southwest Film Festival to The Department of Labor. She's been a regular commentator on NPR and a humor columnist for TheNationMagazine.com.Annabelle has appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, Fox and Friends, CNN, MSNBC, The CBS Early Show and Talk of The Nation on NPR. She's been profiled in major print outlets including The Washington Post, Psychology Today, More, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, InStyle, The New York Times, The JTA, USA Today and People. Time magazine cited Annabelle in their cover story "10 Ideas that are Changing the World" for Fired! She has hosted television shows on ABC, VHI, Style and HBO. Acting credits include "Medium," "Boston Legal," "Seinfeld" and films Shaggy Dog, Melvin Goes to Dinner and Daddy Day Care. Her work Off-Broadway garnered her a place in The New York Times Top Ten Performances in Theatre, 2002. Her essays have appeared in The L.A. Times, Child, The Jewish Journal, Glamour and two anthologies: Note to Self and Rejected! She hosts "WA$TED"! On The Planet Green Network. This is her second book and second marriage.

JEFF KAHN (Writer) is a writer/performer who began his career on MTV's "The Ben Stiller Show." A few years later, he won an Emmy award for writing on FOX's "The Ben Stiller Show," it was a moment so unexpected and shocking that he literally cried. Jeff has written on several other shows including, "Later with Greg Kinnear" "Austin Stories" and "Dilbert." His essays can be read online at FreshYarn.com and in his wife's terrific and very funny book, Fired! He also has written and produced numerous television pilots, in particular, a spin-off of "All American Girl" starring Margaret Cho. He can be seen on HBO reruns of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Entourage" and "The Larry Sanders Show," and has been seen in films including , Tropic Thunder, 40-Year-Old Virgin, and The Cable Guy. Online, Jeff is featured on the show, "The Writer's Room." This is his first book and first marriage.

Annabelle an Jeff live in Los Angeles with their 13 year old son, Ezra, and their eighteen-year old cat, Stinky.

Darren Katz (Original Director) is currently Resident Director for The Lion Kingon Broadway. Recent directing credits include I Got Sick Then I Got Betterat New York Theatre Workshop (co-directed with James

Lapine), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2nd National Tour), Happy Sunshine Kung Fu Flower(The Zipper Factory), and the development of original shows at Pace University and NYU/Strasberg Studios. He is directing and developing numerous new theater pieces, including Sunrise At Hyde Parkby Tom Wilson Weinberg and Peggy Stafford; Sexurity by Yuval Boim (Joyce Soho); The Birthday Boyby Wes Webb; and The Wasp Womanby Phillip Chernyak and Blake Hackler (NYTE).

Patrick Walsh (Director) Theater-- Director: Hangar Theatre - Macbeth, The Empty Ocean, The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon; Chautauqua Theatre Company - The Brothers Size; Victory Gardens - Push Comes To Shove; Rubicon Theatre Project - Lucy Dreaming; Theatre Building Chicago - Fifth of July, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Bailiwick Repertory Theatre - Two Spoons, Haram Iran; Mad Hatter Theatre Productions - Chicken Bone Beach; Props Theatre - Closer; Trail's End Theater - Into the Woods, A Midsummer Night's Dream. As Assistant Director: Guthrie Theatre Goodman Theatre; Dallas Theatre Center; Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Chautauqua Theater Company, and Next Theatre. Patrick is a member of the 2009 Lincoln Center Directors Lab; the Recipient of an SDC Foundation Observership, as well as a Chautauqua Theater Company Directing Fellowship, and a Drama League Directing Fellowship.

DAVID KOTELES (Additional Material) has had plays produced on the east and west coasts, including his award-winning, GLAAD-nominated comedy Bald Diva!: the Ionesco Parody Your Mother Warned You About. Bald Diva! was later published in NYTE's anthology Playing with Canons: Explosive New Works from Great Literature by America's Indie Playwrights. And it was listed on numerous end-of-the-year ("Best of the Season") lists for best play of 2004. David's enjoyed numerous New York productions, workshops and readings of his work at such places as Ensemble Studio Theatre, Manhattan Class Company, The Rattlestick, Alice's Fourth Floor, Primary Stages, The Perry Street Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Source, Clemente Soto Velez, the Fresh Fruit Festival, the Homogenius Festival, Cherry Picking, the Red Room, and the Westbank Café. A graduate of the Columbia University School of the Arts, David has studied playwriting with Theresa Rebeck, Anne Bogart, Eduardo Machado, Leslie Ayvazian, Frank Pugliese, and Kelly Stuart. He was also honored with the Richard Rodgers Scholarship and a Howard Stein Fellowship while at Columbia. David graduated summa cum laude from Queens College, where he was made Phi Beta Kappa and earned the John Golden Award for Playwriting. He has also written several (as of yet unproduced) film scripts and TV pilots, and David was a finalist for the Writer's Lab at the Sundance Film Festival. He's a staff writer on the webisode sitcom, Ernie's Girls. And he currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is desperately trying to be a Hollywood sell-out.

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