MY FAVORITE ANIMAL to Premiere at 45th Street Theatre 11/12

Joe & Sandi Black and The Modern Stage will present the New York premiere of Tom Sime's new comedy MY FAVORITE ANIMAL. Performances will be at the 45th Street Theatre, 354 W. 45th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues).  The opening date is scheduled for Wednesday, November 12th and performances will continue through Sunday, November 30th.

MY FAVORITE ANIMAL is a wild adult comedy about Jerry, a startup psychotherapist in his 30s. Jerry lands a much-needed new client, Randi. But he finds himself in over his head when this beautiful young woman claims she’s really Randy, a man who wondered what it would be like to be a sexy girl and woke up one morning with his wish granted. Even as Jerry tries to decide if she’s delusional, a prankster, or a cross-dresser, he finds himself bonding with, and attracted to, both Randi and Randy. But she proves to have brought along a much bigger problem than dissonant gender: Devin, an overbearingly persistent suitor who crashes the session. And is that a pistol in his pants, or is he just happy to stalk her? Jerry must turn a hostage crisis into group therapy, with two others—his outspoken mother and an abrasive client---along for the wild ride.

MY FAVORITE ANIMAL ran successfully in Dallas to rave reviews.  Lawson Taitte of the Dallas Morning News wrote, "The twists and turns of the plot, and the characters' quips, are often explosively comical. Thanks to director Phyllis Cicero, the actors stay well-grounded even in the most far-fetched moments."

Tom Sime (Playwright & Co-Producer) is a native of Hinsdale, Illinois who grew up in California, Illinois and Texas. His most recent productions (in collaboration with Joe and Sandi Black) include the workshops of My Favorite Animal and the horror/comedy hybrid Bloodletters, both presented at Teatro Dallas in Summer 2008. Before venturing into producing and playwriting, Tom was a theater critic for 16 years, including 10 at The Dallas Morning News. From 2005 to 2008, he was managing director of Contemporary Theatre of Dallas. His play All of the Above won the Peterson Emerging Playwright Competition at Catawba College in North Carolina in 2005, and was produced there in 2006, and by Risk Theater Initiative, in association with Tom's company, The Modern Stage, in July 2007. His romantic comedy Klutz Theory won the first Stage West Texas Playwriting Competition in 2007, and was presented by that Fort Worth company as a staged reading. Tom's short plays include the one-act Ex’s Exes, produced at Attic Theatre in Los Angeles; the one-act Sexy Commie, produced for Louisiana State University's "Outworks" festival in 2007; and the ten-minute Queen Bee Syndrome, performed at Theatre Inspirato in Toronto in 2007 and Pavement Productions in Portland, Oregon, in 2008. Tom’s short play Soon was produced in the Out of Ink Festival in Austin in April 2008. His play Oculus was given a staged reading by Modern Stage at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas in 2007. Tom attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied painting and filmmaking, and graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BFA with honors in cinema. Tom is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

The cast for MY FAVORITE ANIMAL includes Matt Lyle (Chicago's Bootstraps Comedy Theatre), Catherine DuBord (Pegasus Theatre, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas), Sylvia Luedtke (films “My Mom Smokes Weed” and “The Name of God”), Nicholas Venceil (Theatre Three, Kitchen Dog Theater) and Ben Mayer.

Phyllis Cicero (Director) is an actor, director and voice-over talent with over 20 years of stage and film experience. Previous directing credits include Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas; the national tour of her one-woman show Aesop in My World; The Colored Museum at Jubilee Theatre; Blues for an Alabama Sky at Stage West; and Hershey With Almonds, produced by Dallas Drama Company at the Majestic Theater. Acting credits include roles at Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Children’s Theater, Addison Center Theatre, Theatre Three, Stage West, Jubilee Theatre and Teatro Dallas. Phyllis has received DFW Critics Forum Awards for acting, directing and ensemble work. She is most often recognized as Stella the Storyteller, her recurring TV role on "Barney and Friends." Other TV credits include "Walker, Texas Ranger" and the ABC movie "Muhammad Ali: King of the World". Look for Phyllis at myspace.com/phylliscicero. She most recently appeared on stage in I Hate Hamlet at the Labyrinth Theater, and Look What's Happened to Pixie de Costa at Theatre Three.

Joe Black (Co-Producer) appeared in 40 theater and TV productions, in New York, London, Los Angeles and Dallas.  He is a decorated Vietnam combat Marine and a graduate of Montclair State University (Who’s Who), where he produced six plays, including Theatre of the Imagination.  Black then booked bands and produced boogie rock for Ruby & the Dykes. He produced and directed An Element of Shadow: Edgar Allan Poe, created and co-produced The Third World (Harte-Hanks Communications) and Bluegrass Sundae (with Post-Newsweek) for TV. He also created and directed the Children’s Theater of Jacksonville. In 1985, Joe began developing audio-visual methods to help children break through into reading (phonics); a year later, he moved to Las Colinas and created Video Reader Company. VR tapes and “Magic Flashcards” helped about 250,000 remedial students in the U.S. and Canada learn to read (one patent).  During this work, his first musical, Kris Kindl, was produced at Bath House Cultural Center and Greenhill School.  In 1996, he joined the DFW Regional Film Commission. By 2000, Joe was back in theater, winning “Best of DFW” honors for producing and directing Inside Bonnie Parker, which had NYC runs off-off and Off Broadway. Upcoming collaborations with Sime are My Favorite Animal, Bloodletters and Kris Kindl in New York, and two plays by Jan Buttram.

Sandra Schneider Black (Co-Producer) was born in San Francisco, earned a B.S in Psychology at San Francisco State College, did graduate work at U. C. Berkeley, and obtained her Master of Social Work from University of Texas, Austin. She was supervisor of the very first Head Start Program, then Group Therapist for Psychiatric Hospitals in DFW. She was a psychotherapist in private practice like Jerry, but didn't counsel anyone quite as colorful as Randi. Sandi trained lay counselors for Family Outreach, a child abuse prevention center, and worked on a Dallas crisis hot-line.

The schedule for MY FAVORITE ANIMAL will be Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 3:00pm and 7:00pm (no evening show Nov. 30th), November 12th through the 30th.  Tickets will be $ 35.00, $29.50 for seniors, for all performances.  Tickets may be purchased by calling 212-352-3101,or online at www.theatermania.com.

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