THE ARSONIST OF VENICE Comes to the Hollywood Fringe

"To burn or not to burn, that is the question." Just out of prison for a string of inexplicable arsons, a celebrated novelist returns home to Venice, California with a dark and singular goal. Set against the splendor and privation of modern Los Angeles, this dark, poetic drama excavates painful human truths, exploring how early violence and unresolved loss can lead to addiction and madness. Hollow Visions Productions will bring The Arsonist of Venice to the 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

The Arsonist of Venice is directed by Blake Shields and runs June 2nd through June 23rd at the The Broadwater Second Stage in Hollywood, CA.

In The Arsonist of Venice, a celebrated novelist and hero of the activist left returns home to Venice, CA after serving time for a string of brazen arsons. Now he is planning something far more sinister, and those who love him are helpless to stop him. Drawing inspiration from legendary playwrights like Eugene O'Neill, Sam Shepard, and David Rabe, The Arsonist of Venice is a raw, honest study of a brilliant, wounded character, brought to life by a seasoned Hollywood actor.

Actor Blake Shields originally developed the play because he felt moved to write about a gifted, broken, and destructive individual. "That's the sort of character I wanted to play," he reflects, "and since no one else seemed to be writing him for me, I figured I'd do it myself. I suppose an impulse to work through my own warped past had something to do with it," he adds. "I find something irresistible, necessary even, about facing the most painful things, and doing it through art. That's what I've tried to do here."

Who

Darby Gaëlle Hannon (Actor) first studied Meisner Technique at the Maggie Flanigan Acting Studio in New York City. After working some in New York in theatre, film, and TV, she decided to study in the UK, where she recently received her MFA in Professional Acting from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Darby's most recent performance of SHE in Dutch dramatist Lot Vekeman's POISON at the Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol, England earned her reviews such as "Hannon is a tour-de-force" (- Life as Theatre) and "Hannon's finely tuned, compelling performance as the damaged survivor of a personal tragedy will stay in my memory for a very long time" (-Stage Talk Magazine). Recent film credits include writing and starring in two short films that premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and Santa Fe's Film Festival, as well as in Dimitri Logothetis's newest film starring Morgan Freeman and Luke Hemsworth.

Blake Shields (Actor/Director/Writer) is an intensely dramatic actor, tending to play wounded, dangerous figures on the fringes of society. He aspires to bring truth and humanity even to the most disturbed characters, regarding this as a sacred undertaking. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows over a twenty-five year career, including The Closer (TNT), CSI (CBS), The West Wing (NBC), Heroes (NBC), K-Ville (FOX), American Horror Stories (FX), The Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount+), Carnivale (HBO), and notably, a starring role in the John Hughes film New Port South and a series regular role in Showtime's Sleeper Cell, which was nominated for three Golden Globes including Best Ensemble Cast. Blake is also a lifelong playwright and poet; his previous play, Double Bind, won the org*smico Playwrighting Award in the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Bernard C. Bayer (Actor/Producer) has trained extensively with venerated acting teachers Howard Fine and Larry Moss, and was the star and musical director of the acclaimed stage musical The Charles Aznavour Story. Aznavour premiered at the historic El Portal Theater in Los Angeles and went on to enjoy a successful run in New York City. Bernard has also appeared in the short film The Arsonist of Venice with storied actor and writer Blake Shields, the film Love, Meet Hope alongside acting legend Ed Asner, and he recently branched out into comedy in the Eko T.V. series Scroll Wheel of Time. Bernard is a virtuoso classical musician, having toured Asia as a solo concert pianist, and Europe with the Bratislava Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed with prestigious ensembles like the San Diego Symphony, and more recently, with members of the New York Philharmonic. His deep musical knowledge animates his acting work, imbuing it with a keen sense of emotional arc and cadence.

Director Michael Shaw Fisher is a writer, actor and director whose stage productions have been a staple of the Hollywood theatre scene for almost a decade. A proud member of Sacred Fools, Cherry Poppins, and Artistic Director of the org*smico Theatre Company, Michael appeared in Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play at Sacred Fools, Richard III at Theatricum Botanicum, and Doctor Nympho VS the Sex Zombies (Winner of the Beyond Bechdel-Wallace Award) at Celebration Theatre. As a writer, Michael received Thesis Distinction while obtaining his MFA in Writing for Film and Television from USC's School of Cinematic Arts. Aside from writing independent feature films, including an award-winning adaptation of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens, Michael's first composed musical Doomsday Cabaret was nominated for a Best Music & Lyrics Ovation Award in 2013. Other penned projects include HFF14 Best Musical Winner EXORCISTIC: The Rock Musical Parody Experiment , his critically acclaimed solo-show Shakespeare's Last Night Out (winner Top of Fringe, Best Solo show and winner for the Ovation award for Best Book for an Original Musical in 2017), and in 2018 Michael won the Ovation for Best Lyrics and Music for Skullduggery: the Musical Prequel To Hamlet which was produced Sacred Fools. His writing/performing can currently be heard in the bombastic new Great Wild Stars Podcast, as well as the 2023 Cast Recording of EXORCISTIC The Rock Musical - both of which are streaming worldwide.

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