THE METROMANIACS Comes to Theatre 40 in July

Metromaniacs aren't people who are crazy about subways. They are people who are nuts about poetry, i.e. verse composed in meter. David Ives' play The Metromaniacs is an English language adaptation of a French farce from 1738, La Metromaie, and it is set in Paris in that year, a moment when there was a particular craze for poetry. Ives' play is performed in English, in rhyming couplets.

Would-be poet Damis has fallen in love with the works of a mysterious Breton poetess, not knowing that she is really Francalou, a middle-aged gentleman. Meanwhile, Damis's non-literary friend Dorante has fallen in love with Francalou's daughter, Lucille, who mistakes her new suitor for her favorite poet-Damis! Add to the chaos some scheming servants, pseudonyms, and disguises, and there is much to untangle before love-plots are resolved and a happy ending found. With his sparkling wit and brilliant sense of comedic timing, David Ives brings a new shine to this lost classic.

Playwright David Ives" Broadway credits include Venus in Fur; Dance of the Vampires; David Copperfield: Dreams and Nightmares; and adaptations of classic musicals and plays (Irving Berlin's White Christmas; Wonderful Town; Finian's Ranbow; Is He Dead?). Ives is also an actor.

The Metromaniacs debuted in Washington, D.C. in 2015. The new Theatre 40 production marks its Los Angeles Premiere.

Marjorie Hayes directs. The recipient of a BFA from CalArts and an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon, her directing credits include Happy End; Love's Labour's Lost; Three Tall Women; The Food Chain; My Sister in This House; and Fuente Ovejuna, for which she received the Austin Cirdle of Critics Award. She is also a cabaret artiste and an actor. In addition to spending several years as an actor with Jerzy Grotowski's Polish Theatre Laboratory, her acting includes roles in Topeka; Uncertain, TX; Mothers and Sons; Buried Child; and Oklahoma! She is currently Professor of Acting and Directing at University of North Texas.

Marjorie's cast for The Metromaniacs includes (in alphabetical order) Alec Anderson Carrasco, John Combs, Mandy Fason, Michael Lanham, Hisato Masuyama, Josephine Nunez and David Hunt Stafford.

Set design: Jeff G. Rack. Costume design: Michèle Young.

WHAT: The Metromaniacs. A comedy. Los Angeles Premiere engagement.

WHO: Written by David Ives. Based on La Metromanie by Alexis Piron. Directed by Marjorie Hayes. Produced by David Hunt Stafford for Theatre Forty.

WHERE: Theatre 40, in the Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. The venue is on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. Free parking is available in the parking lot beneath the theatre. To access parking, enter through the driveway at the intersection of Durant and Moreno Drives.

WHEN: July 21-August 21, 2022. Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.

ADMISSION: $35.

RESERVATIONS: (310) 364-0535.

ONLINE TICKETING: www.theatre40.org

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