Witty NIGHTS AT THE ALGONQUIN ROUND TABLE Time-Travels to Hollywood Fringe Festival

After a well received sold-out preview performance, award-winning writer/producer Steven Vlasak's new play, Nights at the Algonquin Round Table, debuts at The Three Clubs Stage in June as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Go back in time for four performances only to what Joy Bennett of The Jewish Journal calls "a witty play about the literary types at the famous Algonquin Hotel in 1926 in New York City... this sweet and amusing production is well acted and realistically conveys the times and flavor of that era. The setting in the nightclub Three Clubs on Vine Street was perfectly suited to the production. Roz Stanley, the actress playing Dorothy Parker, was particularly impressive, but all the acting was good."

Vlasak often wondered what it must have been like to listen in on the most hilarious, sophisticated and quick-witted authors of the Roaring Twenties when they met daily for lunch at Manhattan's glamorous Algonquin Hotel to one-up each other with their caustic quips and clever conversation...so he decided to go back there.

Flappers. Prohibition. Hot Jazz. The Roaring Twenties come roaring back to life when Hollywood's The Three Clubs is transformed into New York's legendary Algonquin Hotel during the Age of Wonderful Nonsense, when the brightest lights on Broadway gathered almost daily to one-up one another with their caustic quips and clever conversation, in this smarty-pants new comedy. It's the height of the Roaring Twenties, and there's a new kid in town. The location is sophisticated New York City, and the kid is some homespun hick wannabe determined to make a name for himself as a journalist by impressing the funniest and most famous writers on Broadway. But it's going take more than a sharp tongue to triumph in a literal - and literate - battle of wits with notorious wisecrackers like Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and George S. Kaufman.

"Although the wisecracks and surprisingly still-modern short stories of these writers live on, the experience of being in the same room with them as witness to their breathtaking banter and head-spinning repartee was never documented in detail beyond a few quotes in the next morning's newspapers," Vlasak said. "I wanted to recreate that moment in history. I gained access to several private collections, and imagined what it must have been like to be there."

Making his directorial debut is veteran actor Dig Wayne, who earned acclaim as the lead in the London's West End Olivier Award-winning production of Five Guys Named Mo. "Dig shares my vision of this bygone era and together we are turning The Three Clubs into Algonquin Hotel's famous Rose Room Restaurant, setting the scene for eight actors (including performers portraying Parker, Benchley and Kaufman) along with live blues from pianist Richard E. Harris, era-authentic costuming, a 1920's dance routine and vintage cocktails available throughout the show. Also lending a creative hand is award-winning film producer Victoria Paige Meyerink who serves as Production Consultant.

Starring in this historical comedy are Christopher Tedrow (mystery man Jack Beck), Erin Jo Harris (Sally Ardath), Roz Stanley (Dorothy Parker), Nicholas Daly Clark (Robert Benchley), Steve Brock (Alexander Woollcott), Chris Gooch (George S. Kaufman), Craig Win (Franklin Pierce Adams) and Richard E. Harris as the Piano Man.

Vlasak has a storied career in film, television and the stage, having worked with Academy and Emmy Award winning production companies both in the states and abroad. Not surprisingly, he is also the head of the L.A. chapter of the Dorothy Parker Literary Society.

"This show brings the surprisingly modern attitudes of some characters that have been lost to the current generation back to light and life," says Vlasak. "You could make the argument that these journalists' tones and attitudes directly influenced shows like SNL and even TMZ.

In the 20's it was the writers who were the celebrities, with ten daily newspapers in New York City alone, and every morning every citizen checking to see what clever wisecrack Dorothy Parker, and the rest of the Algonquin Round Table, had spouted the day before. The whole show is extremely wacky, irreverent, fast-paced, fun and funny."

More information and tickets are available at: www.AlgonquinWits.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.