DROP DEAD PERFECT with Everett Quinton Begins Next Month Off-Broadway

Hot on the high heels of last year's acclaimed sold-out production, the madcap comedy DROP DEAD PERFECT, starring the legendary Everett Quinton returns to the Theatre at St. Clements (423 West 46 Street - between 8th and 9th Avenues) for a limited 8-week engagement Off-Broadway with an opening set for Sunday, August 23rd. Previews begin Wednesday, August 19th. With overwhelming rave reviews, critic picks, and audience accolades, DROP DEAD PERFECT is directed by Joe Brancato and written by Erasmus Fenn. The comedy is produced by Penguin Rep Theatre, Morton Wolkowitz, Barbara Freitag and Jamie deRoy. Tickets are $69 and can be purchased by visiting www.dropdeadperfect.com or calling 845-786-2873.

DROP DEAD PERFECT is the ideal vehicle to showcase the talents of the Everett Quinton. The show's Off-Broadway run coincides with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Theatre of the Ridiculous, the wildly creative theatrical genre that led to the establishment of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company.

DROP DEAD PERFECT follows Idris Seabright, played by Quinton, a wealthy, eccentric mistress of a Key West cottage who runs her estate with a zany flair. When her beloved ward Vivien decides to abandon the Florida Keys to pursue art in Greenwich Village and Idris' lawyer becomes alarmingly interested in her investments, Idris' life begins its outrageous downward spiral. After she receives a visit from a mysterious stranger bearing an undeniable resemblance to her long-lost love, she becomes unhinged and her life erupts into over-the-top comic mayhem. The running time for this comedy is 90 minutes with no intermission.

About his role as Idris Seabright, the Drama Desk and Obie Award winning actor says, "She's a gargoyle of a gal who is murderously psychotic. I can bring so much to the role." Director Joe Brancato describes DROP DEAD PERFECT as "a madcap romp that celebrates and satirizes movie melodramas, with a nod to both Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Burnett."

The adults-only show is laced with double-entendres and homages to 1950s television and Hollywood melodramas. With absurd situations, this over-the-top production is recommended for those who possess a slightly twisted sense of humor and appreciation of slapstick TV comedies such as I Love Lucy and camp horror such as Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte.

Jason Cruz, Jason Edward Cook, and Timothy C. Goodwin will join Everett Quinton in DROP DEAD PERFECT.

Choreography is by Lorna Ventura. Sets are by James J. Fenton, with lighting by Ed McCarthy, costumes by Charlotte Palmer-Lane and sound by William Neal.

The playing schedule for DROP DEAD PERFECT is as follows: Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 3pm.

Everett Quinton is the recipient of Drama Desk and Obie Awards for Charles Ludlam's The Mystery of Irma Vep. He was a long-time member of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, where he was an actor, director and costume designer and also appeared in more than 75 productions. Most recent credits include: 'Tis A Pity She's A Whore for the Red Bull Theater, The Fickle Mistress at LaMama for The Theater Askew and Antony and Cleopatra at McCarter Theatre Center. Mr. Quinton also performed in Macbeth for The Shelter Group, Sabrina La Caprichosa at Dixon Place, The Emperor and The Queen's Parisian Wedding at Here Arts Center, Travesties at McCarter Theatre Center, Twelfth Night at The Arizona Theatre Company, Shakespeare in Hollywood (Helen Hayes Award) at Arena Stage, Women Beware Women (Callaway & Off-Broadway Alliance Awards), The Witch Of Edmonton for Red Bull Theater, The Etiquette Of Death at LaMama, And Now the Cat's with Jeweled Claws at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival and the national tour of Cinderella (2000 Carbonell Award). He also appeared in his own one-person show, Bitch Slapped By God, at London's Drill Hall Arts Centre.

DROP DEAD PERFECT is novelist-turned-playwright Erasmus Fenn's first dramatic work. He credits "an overexposure to early television sitcoms and Alfred Hitchcock's Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Tell on TV, along with a passionate curiosity in the real "Little Ricky" and the tales his father told him about his early years lawyering in South Florida," as inspirations for the play.

Joe Brancato (Director) Off Broadway credits include Tryst (Outer Critics nomination for Best Play) at the Promenade Theatre and Irish Repertory Theatre; Cobb (Drama Desk winner) produced by Kevin Spacey in NYC and LA; The Devil's Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Off Bway Alliance & Audelco Award nominee), which he also staged at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Cleveland Play House and Hartford Stage; Tom Dudzick's Miracle on South Division Street (St. Luke's Theatre); Fall to Earth and Freed (Audelco Award nominee) at 59E59; From Door To Door at the Westside Theatre; and One Shot, One Kill at Primary Stages. As founding artistic director of Penguin Rep he has directed nearly 150 productions including premieres by Arthur Laurents, Lanie Robertson, William Mastrosimone, James Sherman, Steven Dietz, Richard Vetere, Allan Knee and Tom Dudzick.

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