Ars Nova Presents Matt Sax & John Dixon's SAX & DIXON: We Thee Wed 6/10-27

Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jon Steingart and Jenny Wiener Steingart, Executive Producers) proudly present Sax & Dixon: We Thee Wed, performed by John Dixon and Matt Sax, written by John Dixon, Peter McNerney and Matt Sax, and directed by Peter McNerney. After a development process that began a year ago with a night in Ars Nova's comedy series Tragedy Tomorrow, these innovative and boisterous sketch fusioneers present their most ambitious show to date.

Families collide, exes surface and even the wedding band doesn't escape unscathed in this world premiere that melds fast-paced comic thrills with an expansive collection of intricately interwoven characters. Boldly braving the wicked gravitational pull of matrimony, this high-octane duo takes sketch comedy to a new frontier. Come sneak into the hotel ballroom for the kind of excitement only a couple of vows can provide.

The creative team includes costume design by Ars Nova Designer-in-Residence Emily Rebholz (Jollyship the Whiz-Bang) and lighting design by Jeff Croiter (Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway).

Matt Sax and John Dixon met at a Roots concert as freshman theatre majors at Northwestern University in the fall of 2002. Their common love for hip-hop and making a scene in public quickly inspired a sketch writing partnership. They spent half a year writing, improvising, free styling and beat boxing various forms of insanity. They then asked Peter McNerney, a sophomore theater major, to help clean up and shape some of their weirder ideas. By the end of the year they had a little sketch show that made a surprising amount of sense. The next year - highly inspired by long-form improvisation and armed with a blind faith that accompanies such an art form - McNerney, Sax and Dixon starting "writing" a show without pen or paper. Matt and John would improvise until Peter saw something that made him laugh, cry, or think. He then would make them go back and repeat the good stuff. The result surprised audiences expecting another quirky sketch show by delivering a full blown story-complete with 20+ characters, fully realized relationships, comedy, and heartbreak-with nothing more than two dudes and an empty space.

Following their 2008 performance in Ars Nova's comedy series, Tragedy Tomorrow, Dixon, McNerney and Sax teamed up with Ars Nova and have been developing the show there over the last eighteen months. Sax & Dixon: We Thee Wed is the culmination of that developmental process and is the team's fifth and most ambitious "written without paper or pen" production to date.

John Dixon (Writer/Performer) was born in Atlanta, GA. After teaching and acting in and around Chicago for some years, he moved to New York in 2008. In addition to Sax & Dixon, he performs with the rap group Southern Mothers (southernmothers.com), improv team The Bombs Away (Magnet Theater), and in a mischievous duo called Bad Guys. John is also a company member with the Striking Viking Story Pirates.

Peter McNerney (Writer/Director) Peter is a director, actor and improviser living in Brooklyn. Aside from directing and co-writing Sax & Dixon (Ars Nova, Montreal - Just for Laughs) Peter is an instructor at the Magnet Theater, where he performs every Saturday night in the three-man improv show Statues of Liberty (Time Out New York Critic's Pick). He is also a company member of the Striking Viking Story Pirates (storypirates.org), New York's premier absurdist children's theater company, and is a scout for Ars Nova.

Matt Sax (Writer/Performer) is thrilled to be working with Ars Nova on this Sax & Dixon show. In addition to Sax & Dixon, he is the writer and performer of the one-man hip-hop musical, Clay, and has performed versions of the show at Lincoln Center Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Lookingglass Theatre/About Face Theatre in Chicago, KC Repertory Theatre and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He won a Joseph Jefferson Award for best solo performance and has been nominated for a Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Ovation Award. He has also been involved with the improvisational theatre troupes One Group Mind and The Titanic Players. He is currently working on Venice, a hip-hop musical commissioned by Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

As New York's premiere hub for emerging artists and new work, Ars Nova is committed to developing and producing eclectic theatre, comedy and music to feed today's popular culture. To that end, Ars Nova strives to create daring collaborations, meld disciplines and give voice to a new generation of artists. Past productions include Two Girls for Five Bucks and the Ten Dollar Heartbreakers, Playlist, Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, Boom, From Up Here, Dixie's Tupperware Party, At Least It's Pink, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, Holy Cross Sucks!, Freestyle Love Supreme and The Wau Wau Sisters. In addition to its featured productions, Ars Nova supports and develops new work from the most promising emerging artists through its alternative comedy series (Tragedy Tomorrow), music series (Uncharted), public play-reading series (Out Loud), writer's group (Play Group), artist-in-residence program, and ANT FEST, a five-week festival of craziness showcasing fresh material from today's most exciting emerging artists. Ars Nova was founded in memory of Gabe Wiener.

Sax & Dixon: We Thee Wed will begin its three-week limited engagement on Wednesday, June 10, and run through Saturday, June 27, with an official opening on Wednesday, June 17.

Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are $20.

Tickets are on sale at www.arsnovanyc.com, 212-352-3101, or the Ars Nova box office starting 30 minutes prior to each show.
Ars Nova

511 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 489-9800
www.arsnovanyc.com

 

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