SPONGEBOB's Ethan Slater Signs on for BAGHDADDY Off-Broadway

Ethan Slater will join the cast in the role of Jerry Samuel in the well-reviewed, NY Times Critic's Pick Baghdaddy (formerly known as Who's Your Baghdaddy?) as it returns to Off-Broadway this April.

Baghdaddy is written by Marshall Pailet and A.D. Penedo and will return to NYC beginning April 6, opening on Monday, May 1, 2017 and have an initial run through June 18, 2017 at St. Luke's Theatre (308 West 46thStreet).

"We are thrilled that Ethan was available to join our cast as we bring this entertaining and important musical back to New York. He makes an excellent addition to our a-list cast so we cannot wait for audiences to experience this production," said Baghdaddy producer Charlie Fink.

A NY Times Critic Pick in its NYC non-profit run in the fall of 2015, Baghdaddy returns to NYC at the St. Luke's Theater on April 6. The show begins in a church basement, where disgraced spies, along with the unwitting audience, gather for a support group meeting. The action soon shifts to Frankfurt Airport, where a mysterious Iraqi defector claims he built secret Iraqi bio-weapons labs. At CIA headquarters, our other characters are contending with their own ambitions, rash decisions, inflexible bosses, unrequited affections and unremitting boredom, when a fax arrives from Germany, and with it a golden opportunity. If the defector's story holds up, it will be the ticket out of the basement and into a corner office. It's all fun and games until the looming cataclysm changes everything.

Ethan Slater is an actor and writer living in Brooklyn, NY. Recently starred as SpongeBob in the world premiere of The SpongeBob Musical in Chicago (and soon on Broadway). Other credits include: Diner (Delaware Theater Company). New York/Off-Broadway: PEMDAS (59e59), Claudio Quest (NYMF), What We Know (Teatro Circulo), Independents (SoHo Playhouse). Film: Lightning Bugs in a Jar (Cannes 2015), EVOL. Web Series: "Redheads Anonymous", "New Mayor of New York". Vassar graduate and company member of OYL

Slater will join Brennan Caldwell (Regional: Urinetown. NBC's "The Sing-Off"); Jason Collins (National Tour: Annie; NYC: Signs of Life); Bob D'Haene (The Three Times She Knocked), Brandon Espinoza (Broadway: Tuck Everlasting, Gypsy); Joe Joseph (Regional: Kiss of the Spiderwoman);; Claire Neumann (NYC: Triassic Parq) and Larisa Oleynik (TV: "Mad Men," Nickelodeon's "The Secret World of Alex Mack" Film: 10 Things I Hate About You).

Baghdaddy is written by Marshall Pailet and A.D. Penedo directed by Marshall Pailet with musical direction by Rona Siddiqui, orchestrations by Charlie Rosen and choreography by Misha Shields, based on a screenplay by J.T. Allen, creative team includes: Kaite Heavner (Set Design), Jennifer Schriever (Lighting Design), Summer Lee Jack (Costume Design), Courteney Leggett (Production Stage Manager), Daryl Eisenberg (Casting), Edmund Gaynes (General Manager), Sean Springle (Company Manager). Baghdaddy is produced by Charlie Fink and co-produced by Jan Brandt, Abigail E. Disney and Tim Disney.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Marshall Pailet (Music, Book/ Director) is a director, writer and composer for theater, plays, and animated films. Off Broadway: Who's Your Baghdaddy (New York Times Critics' Pick); Triassic Parq (Chance Theater '13; Ovation Award, Best Musical; Ovation Nom; Best Director). Other Theater: Claudio Quest (winner of six 2015 NYMF Awards for Excellence); Loch Ness (Chance Theater '15; Best Musical, OC Weekly); Shrek the Halls (DreamWorks Theatricals); The Chocolate Tree (NAMT). Film: VeggieTales: Noah's Arkstarring Wayne Brady (Original Songs). He is also on faculty at Molly College, Cap 21, and the Broadway Dreams Foundation. Graduate Yale University. www.marshallpailet.com.

A.D. Penedo (Book and Lyrics).? Musicals (lyrics, co-book): Loch Ness (Chance Theater '15, Best Musical; OC Weekly); The Chocolate Tree (ACE Theater, Eugene); Where It's At (New Haven); Cratchett Farm (Dillons, NYC). Plays include: The Three Times She Knocked (Best Playwrighting, FringeNYC); Off the Record (NewYork); Thursday (New Haven); Dance of the Fireflies (Payan Theater, NYC). BMI Lehman-Engel Musical Theater Workshop; ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop. www.adpenedo.com.

Rona Siddiqui (Music Director)2014 ASCAP Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award, 2011 ASCAP Foundation/Max Dreyfus Scholarship, 2010 Best Musical Direction - Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle SF. Musicals: One Good Day - ASCAP/Dreamworks Musical Theatre Workshop. The Tin - Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival. Featured songwriter: Sondheim Remix - NY City Center, Broadway's Future at Lincoln Center.

Misha Shields (Choreography) dance & aerial circus choreography credits: Off-Broadway's interactive dance party, The Orion Experience (XL Nightclub), Merrily We Roll Along (APAC), Rocky Horror (Yale), Follies (TheaterWorks), The Travels (NYMF), Hey, You Know What Movie Would Make A Good Musical? (Julia Miles/Zipper Factory), Company (Fordham), Cabaret and Sunday In The Park... (Boston Conservatory), Perks of Writing A Musical: Web-Series (DIGGSY Productions), Victory Drill: Music Video (Threefifty Duo). www.mishashields.com.

Charlie Fink (Producer) since 2006, Charlie has produced over 30 readings, workshops, and festival productions. He is the Producing Artistic Director of the not-for-profit New Musical Foundation, and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the New York Musical Theater Festival. Charlie's passion for new work began at Disney in 1986, where he supervised the development of the historic animated musicals Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, which was based on his original idea, "Bambi in Africa". www.charliefink.com.