Dreamcatcher Rep to Present MONOLOGUES AT MONDO, 7/30-8/20

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre, professional Theatre in Residence at Oakes Center in Summit presents the series Monologues at MONDO on Thursdays from July 30 through August 20 at 8 pm at MONDO, the cultural gathering place in downtown Summit (www.mondosummit.com).

Monologues at MONDO is an annual event where Dreamcatcher's actors perform solo works as readings in the intimate performance space at MONDO, a brownstone that houses numerous arts and culture programs in the heart of Summit. The series provides audiences with an opportunity for casual entertainment at an affordable price, while also introducing them to highly personal works performed by professional actors.

On Thursday, July 30, 2015 at 8:00 pm, Laura Ekstrand will perform 2.5 Minute Ride by Lisa Kron. In this play, the audience takes a roller coaster ride through the writer's family album. Rising and falling between high hilarity and deep disquiet, the play demonstrates with disarming simplicity that humor and horror can share the same human moment. The play switches back and forth between Kron's journey to Auschwitz with her septuagenarian father, a Holocaust survivor; her Michigan family's annual pilgrimage to a Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park; and her brother's marriage to his Internet bride. The Sunday Times of London called the play "an unexpectedly powerful evening... hilarious...clever...and moving."

The following Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 8:00 pm, Scott McGowan will perform Buyer & Cellar by Jonathan Tollins. In this Off-Broadway hit, Alex More has a story to tell. A struggling actor in L.A., he takes a job working in the Malibu basement of a beloved megastar. One day, the Lady Herself comes downstairs to play. It feels like real bonding in the basement, but will their relationship ever make it upstairs? The playwright ruminates with wit and creativity on the solitude of celebrity, the love-hate attraction between gay men and divas, and the melancholy that lurks beneath narcissism. NY Newsday called it "a fantasy so delightful you wish it were true."

On Thursday, August 13, 2015 at 8:00 pm, David Lee White will perform his own memoir, Panther Hollow. The play tells the story of how the writer found a dead guy hanging from a tree in Panther Hollow when he was 25. He spent the next year finding solace in therapists, psychiatrists, psychotropic drugs, Tom Stoppard, skinheads, Satanists, Elizabeth Wurtzel, and a CD of Nordic death metal. Also, there was a second dead guy. Panther Hollow is the new, autobiographical one-man show from the playwright that brought Dreamcatcher Blood: A Comedy several seasons ago. It displays White's characteristic neurosis, insight, and wild flair for comedy against a highly personal backdrop.

Last in the series on Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 8:00 pm, Janet Sales will perform High Dive by Leslie Ayvazian. In this play, an American woman about to turn fifty is standing on a high dive at a pool in a hotel in Greece. She, being terrified of heights, has managed to climb to the platform and now clings to the railings, trying to summon the will to leap. As she struggles, she considers her life. Through a series of stories about harrowing natural and personal disasters that take place during past family vacations, the woman draws the audience into her decision whether to take this moment's risk or to reconsider. "High Dive is well worth the plunge. This brief and light-hearted look at Ayvazian's misadventures...is an engaging and often hilarious show from beginning to end," said The New York Daily News.

Tickets for all Monologues at MONDO are $20 when reserved in advance and $25 at the door. All shows begin at 8:00 Advance reservations are strongly encouraged because space is limited. To reserve you can email info@mondosummit.com or call 917-969-4534. MONDO is located at 426 Springfield Avenue in Summit. Parking is available in the lot behind the building. The facility is wheelchair accessible. For information on any of Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre's programs, visit www.dreamcatcherrep.org or contact Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre at Oakes Center, 120 Morris Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901, 908-514-9654.

Dreamcatcher was founded in 1994, and is a non-profit professional ensemble of actors who build community with the audience by sharing life-affirming stories in an intimate environment. We seek to expose theatregoers to ideas and lives like and unlike their own, to awaken their imaginations and create empathy for others. The company focuses on deepening the experience of our patrons by supplementing the performances with personal contact through receptions, talkbacks, and interactive programs.

Dreamcatcher's core company of professional local actors performs contemporary work that entertains and challenges, and has at its heart a belief in the essential goodness of people. The company's activities include mainstage productions, improvisational comedy and cabarets, new play readings and a variety of educational and senior outreach programs.

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