Collider Theater's LOVE, SEX AND DEATH IN THE AMAZON Opens Tonight

Collider Theater presents the world premiere production of LOVE, SEX AND DEATH IN THE AMAZON opening tonight, October 10 at The Paradise Factory at 64E4 in the East Village.

The complete company includes: Julie Fain Lawrence as "Emily," Mike Hodge as "Pai José," Zachary Infante as "Marcos," Ron Moreno as "Jack," Chance Mullen as "Tom," Carmen Roman as "Dona Ines," Debargo Sanyal as "Fabio," and Max Wolkowitz as "Walter."

LOVE, SEX AND DEATH IN THE AMAZON by Robert Murphy will be directed by Jean Randich and features Scenic and Lighting Design by Jiyoun Chang, Costume Design by Chip Schoonmaker, Video & Projection Design by Sue Rees, Sound Design by Deniz Akyurek, Music by Michael Evans, and is Stage Managed by Karen Oughtred.

When Walter's Brazilian partner passes away from leukemia, he knows that Ines, his superstitious mother-in-law, will be a handful. But when they travel to the Amazon to perform religious rituals to put Marcos' spirit to rest, they get far more than they bargained for - eccentric birders, botched rituals, bisexual tour guides, poisonous spiders, and loads of Brazilian maternal drama. LOVE, SEX AND DEATH IN THE AMAZON is about learning how to let go when the past refuses to leave. The story is based on true events.

LOVE, SEX AND DEATH IN THE AMAZON opens tonight, October 10, and plays Thursdays - Mondays at 7:30pm through October 31 at The Paradise Factory at 64E4 (64 East 4th Street New York, NY 10003). Tickets are $18 and are on sale now via Brown Paper Tickets: lsda.brownpapertickets.com.

BIOS:

Julie Fain Lawrence (Emily) is an actress, director, audiobook narrator and an Assistant Professor in BFA Acting at the Pace School of Performing Arts - Pace University. She is thrilled to be working with Jean Randich again! Past productions with Jean include J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation (En Garde Arts), Quartet and The Baltimore Waltz (Yale Cabaret). Julie has worked Off and Off-Off Broadway and Regionally at Yale Repertory Theatre, Denver Center Theater Co., Old Globe Theatre, City Theater Co., Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and The Hollywood Bowl. Film and Television credits include Concussion (Sundance 2013, 2014 GLAAD Media Award), the upcoming Happy, Yummy, Chicken (with Taryn Manning and Diane Guerrero), Honey Flood (short with Julian Sands), Emunah (short), Wreck (short), Road Kill (short), Fare Well Miss Fortune, Bruises, Law & Order-SVU, Law & Order-CI, All My Children, Kidnapped, Six Degrees, Third Watch, Bull (pilot). MFA-Yale School of Drama , BA-UCLA Dept. of Theatre, Film and TV.

Mike Hodge (Pai Jose?) is very happy to reunite with director Jean Randich for a third time. The first time Mike played Elvis, the second time a biblical character. He has also been fortunate enough to have worked on Broadway in Fences, A Few Good Men, Search and Destroy, King Headly and the national tour of The Color Purple, quite a few night time television shows including all the "Law and Order"s and the daytime soaps when they were still around as well as a few movies over the years. His bread and butter has always been on camera commercials and voice-overs.

Zachary Infante (Marcos) extends his gratitude to Jean, Bob, and the entire Collider Theatre Company community for presenting LSDA as its inaugural production. Theatrical experiences include A Midsummer Night's Dream (Dir, Julie Taymor, TFANA), Tamburlaine the Great (Dir. Michael Boyd, TFANA), Somewhere by Matthew Lopez (Dir. Giovanna Sardelli, Hartford Stage), and he welcomes you to join him February 14th -March 27th for Trevor Nunn's production of Pericles at TFANA. Film/TV: School of Rock (Dir. Richard Linklater), A Midsummer Night's Dream, "Alpha House," "GOTHAM." Let's boogie at www.ZacharyInfante.com

Ron Moreno (Jack) is an actor who has performed in film, theater and commercials. His Off- Broadway credits include The Controversy of Valladolid (The Public Theater), School of the Americas (The Public Theater), Night Over Taos (INTAR), Screech Owl (Actor's Studio). His film credits include My Friend Vijay, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and A Winter's Tale. He is excited to be a part of the The Collider Theatre Company's first production. Many thanks to Jean and Robert. Much love to August Brasco. Visit www.ronmoreno.com.

Chance Mullen (Tom) has performed in New York at the Flea Theater (Offending the Audience w/ Jim Simpson and Los Angeles w/ Adam Rapp), Studio 42/Playwrights Horizons (The Most Lamentable and Tragical Historie of the Barber Surgeons w/ Moritz von Steulpnagel), the Abingdon Theater (Midtown Int'l Theater Festival) and regionally at the Guthrie and Seattle's Children's Theater. Notable film credits include Sun Belt Express (actor/writer/co-producer), starring Tate Donovan and Rachael Harris and The President's Staff w/ Tomas Arana. National commercial credits include Netflix, Progresso, AT&T, McDonald's, Lending Tree, Frito Lay, Toyota and many more. A graduate of the Upright Citizens' Brigade training center, Chance earned his MFA from the prestigious University of Washington Professional Actor Training Program and is a proud, long-standing member of SAG- AFTRA and Actors Equity.

Carmen Roman (Dona Ines) National Tour: Angels in America. Off-Broadway: The Iphigenia Cycle (Theater for a New Audience from The Court Theatre, Chicago), The Mysteries (Classic Stage Company), Paradise (Gary Allen productions), Regional: Collected Stories, Tobacco Road, Orpheus Descending, (American Blues Theater, Chicago), Lost in Yonkers (Coconut Grove, Walnut Street Theater) Sonia Flew (The Huntington Theatre), According to Goldman (Philadelphia Theater Company) Electra (Hartford Stage Company), Big Love (The Wilma), Side Man (Steppenwolf, The Galway Festival, Galway, Ireland and The Melbourne Arts Festival, Australia) Wit, Black Snow, Brutality of Fact (The Goodman Theatre), Master Class (Northlight Theater and Columbia Artists Tour), Shadowlands (The Alliance Theater), Fen (Empty Space Theater), The Falcon (ACT, Seattle) Film/Television: Connie Mrozek on ABC's "Betrayal," "Savages, The Falcon," (a co-production shot in Soviet Georgia), Dr. Gabriella Reyes on "Boss," "All My Children," "Early Edition," "Law and Order," (Judge Einhorn, recurring), "Law and Order SVU," and "Criminal Intent." Company Member: American Blues Theater, Chicago and The Actors' Center, New York. Awards and Honors: 2002 Fox Fellow, Sarah Siddons Award, Florence Herscher Award, Joseph Jefferson Awards for Master Class and Wit.

Debargo Sanyal (Fabio) NYC Stage: When January Feels Like Summer (Ensemble Studio Theatre/Page 73 Productions/Women's Project Theater), Love/Sick (Royal Family Productions), Invasion! (The Play Company), Bunty Berman Presents (The New Group), Queens Boulevard (Signature Theatre Company), Bird in the Hand (Fulcrum Theater), Telethon (Clubbed Thumb), Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary (The Management), After (Partial Comfort Productions), Women of Trachis (Target Margin), Port Authority Throw Down (Working Theater). [Regional Stage] An Intervention (Williamstown Theatre Festival '15), Disconnect (Victory Gardens Theater). [Film] The Magic of Belle Isle, Everybody's Fine, Detours, The Normals, Today's Special, 3rd Street Blackout, Bert and Arnie's Guide to Friendship, Made for Each Other, Drawing with Chalk, Red Hook, Fort Tilden, West 32nd, Sita Sings the Blues. [TV] "The Americans," "Nurse Jackie," "Person of Interest," "Law & Order," "Blue Bloods," "Damages," "NYC 22," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "The Sopranos," "Running Wilde," "All My Children," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "The Unusuals."

Max Wolkowitz (Walter). N.Y./Regional: Ivanov (Trinity Rep); Indian Summer (Brown/Trinity Playwrights Rep); The 25th...Spelling Bee (The Secret Theatre). Brown /Trinity: In The Next Room (Dr. Givings); The Tooth of Crime (Crow); Twelfth Night (Sir Andrew); Much Ado About Nothing (Borachio); In The Blood (Trouble/Doctor). Max is a recipient of the WISE Foundation Emerging Artist of the Year Award in 2015 and a proud graduate of the Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Acting Program.

Robert Murphy (Playwright) has been writing for ten years. LOVE, SEX AND DEATH IN THE AMAZON was a semi-finalist for the 2014 O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference. Other plays include a biography of Lola Montez, and a prequel to the characters portrayed here. Robert is also a Sound Designer and composer, and has collaborated with Jean Randich on numerous Theatre Projects. He spent a week in the Southern Amazon in 2011, though his time there was not nearly this eventful. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and Yale School of Drama, and is a native of Iowa.

Jean Randich (Director) has been creating new work and reinventing the classics for almost thirty years. Her collaborations with New York-based writers include: The Floating Box, an opera by Hwang/Filloux (Asia Society); Drawn to Death by Art Spiegelman and Phillip Johnston (St. Ann's, NYC); Girl Under Grain by Karen Hartman (Winner: Best Drama, NY International Fringe Festival 2000); J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation by Jeffrey M. Jones and Jonathan Larson (En Garde Arts); Dog and Wolf by Catherine Filloux (59 E 59 Theaters); Leah's Train by Karen Hartman (NAATCO); Killing the Boss by Catherine Filloux (Cherry Lane Theatre); Lemkin's House by Catherine Filloux (McGinn Cazale Theatre); The Unknown by Allard, Randich & Rettig (P73 Productions & NYMF 2005); Gum by Karen Hartman (P73 Productions); A World Apart by Susan Mosakowski (Flea Theater); and Commedia dell Smartass by Sonya Sobieski (New Georges). Ms. Randich, Ana Asensio, and Paloma Bravo adapted Ms. Bravo's Spanish bestseller, "Mica's Skin," for the 2013 United Solo Festival, and won the festival's award for Best Adaptation. In productions such as Six Characters Looking for an Author, Antigone, Measure for Measure, Cabaret, The Constant Couple, and The Dispute, Ms. Randich has reimagined the classics. She has also directed in Germany and Norway, and served as the American Juror at the 15th session of the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theater. Ms. Randich was commissioned by the Dallas Opera to write the libretto for a chamber opera, The Miraculous Phonograph Record. She has received an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship, a Fox Foundation Grant to work at the National Theatre in Oslo, Norway, and a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Grant. Training: BA and Masters, Brown University; MFA, Yale School of Drama. Ms. Randich writes reviews for truthdig.com, and was a finalist for the 2013 LA Press Club's National Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Online Critic. She and Robert Murphy cofounded Collider Theater Company and Love, Sex, and Death in the Amazon is their inaugural production. She teaches at Bennington College and at NYU. www.jeanrandich.com

Collider Theater is a new theater company led by Co-Artistic Directors Robert Murphy and Jean Randich dedicated to telling stories that celebrate the collision of cultures around the world. Collider Theater aims to explore the bridges that connect us while also investigating our points of difference, disconnect, and incomprehension.

Pictured: Mike Hodge, Debargo Sanyal, Zachary Infante. Max Wolkowitz, Chance Mullen, Julie Fain Lawrence, and Ron Moreno. (Carmen Roman is not in the picture.)

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