Mr. Mintz plays Lance Rod, a hard edged, super competitive and somewhat deranged sales manager leading a class of newly hired sales representatives. The audience is guided through the ridiculously manipulative methods used to coerce people out of their money.
Mr. Mintz farcically rips at the fake mask of sincerity used by desperate sales reps and he also exposes our exploitative consumerist culture. Underlying this outrageous comedy is the sad delusion of a futile search for a mythical American Dream. As P. T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute."
As a performer in New York, Mr. Mintz performed his solo theater shows for several years at clubs and cabarets as well as working extensively as an artist in residence in public schools. In addition, he was a frequent presence at the downtown performance art scene at venues such as the Limbo Theatre, The Garage and P.S. 122. Dominate The Competition came from his experience in the corporate world as a sales trainer. When he was offered a well paid position as a sales trainer for a large insurance and financial company, he had no idea what he was getting into. Mr. Mintz taught the agents the full spectrum of so called "persuasive skills" that held a thin veneer of legitimacy over the manipulative techniques that bordered on exploitation and outright lies as they learned to twist human nature to their advantage.
But Mr. Mintz also had to do a sales job. His pitch was to sell the agents on dreams of enormous wealth and a successful business with unlimited growth. A few actually did succeed, many more did not. As he watched numerous agents crash and burn once they got out into the field, he was able to witness firsthand how both buyer and seller are deluded into purchasing a bill of goods filled with dubious promises. The result of this eye opening experience is Dominate the Competition, a broadly comic farce that's actually not that far from a sobering reality.
DOMINATE THE COMPETITION
Written, directed and performed by Alan Mintz,
WHERE: Hudson Guild Theater - 6539 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90038
WHEN:
June 3 at 8pm - Preview
June 8 at 8 PM
June 10 at 8 PM
June 14 at 8 PM
June 16 at 8 PM
TICKET PRICE: $12.00 with comps available for members of the press upon request.
RUNNING TIME: 60 minutes
ADMISSION: 15+ or older.
BOX OFFICE: http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/4305?tab=tickets
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