SUNKEN LIVING ROOM Plays Theatre 80 9/14; Macleod Andrews, Brian Miskell To Star

Renowned Italian director Enrico Maria Lamanna to helm New York premiere of David Caudle's award-winning comedy "The Sunken Living Room" at Theatre 80

THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM by David Caudle, author of FringeNYC hit "South Beach Rapture" and
award-winning "Legs"

"Unsettling, funny, and poignant... Caudle's writing is full of humor, compassion, keen observation, and period-perfect language." - Christine Dolen, Miami Herald

"A rarity... funny, touching and disturbing!" - David Cuthbert, Times-Picayune

Howl! Arts Project presents the New York premiere of THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM - David Caudle's comic portrait of an awkward teenage boy and his family in 1970s Miami - helmed by famed Italian director Enrico Maria Lamanna, with performances set to begin September 14 at Theatre 80
(St. Marks Place).

Set in suburban Miami, Florida in November 1978, THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM is the story of Wade (Brian Miskell), an effeminate and studious sixteen-year-old who is trying to finish a book report for school, and the dysfunctional family who won't leave him alone. His seventeen-year-old brother Chip (MacLeod Andrews), a coke-snorting jock, shows up with his possibly pregnant girlfriend Tammy (Laura Ramadei). Chip hits up Wade for some cash then takes off, leaving Tammy behind. Wade never gets his homework done, but he learns a thing or two about himself from Tammy, and about compassion from Chip, when that fearless facade finally cracks.

MacLeod Andrews, seen Off-Broadway in Daniel Talbott's SLIPPING at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and in David Caudle's The Common SWALLOW at last year's HOWL! ARTS PROJECT, is set to play Chip. Joining Andrews in the cast are Brian Miskell as Wade and Laura Ramadei as Tammy and Karen Giordano as the boys' mother Lynnette.

Following two postponements in 2005 -- one due to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where the play was supposed to debut at Southern Rep; and another due to Hurricane Wilma in Miami -- THE SUNKEN LIVING had its world premiere in April 2006, as a co-production of Southern Rep and
Miami's New Theatre.

"When the stormy drama, with a stormy history finally opened," wrote the Miami Sun Post, which named it the season's Best Drama, "audiences were treated to a gem." In her review for the Miami Herald, Christine Dolen called the play "unsettling, funny, and poignant... full of humor, compassion, keen observation, and period-perfect language." Times-Picayune critic David Cuthbert, called THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM " a rarity... funny, touching and disturbing." In the Sun Sentinel, Jack
Zink wrote that the play is "a drama with much to say about growing up too soon in a world that's moving too fast."

THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM features lighting design by Stefano Pirandello and costume design by Makoto Takada. Additional designers are to be announced.

Playwright David Caudle is the award-winning author of several screenplays and plays, including SOUTH BEACH RAPTURE, currently running as part of the 14th Annual New York International Fringe
Festival. The Common SWALLOW premiered in last year's HOWL! Festival and is published in the acclaimed online literary magazine, Blackbird. IN DEVELOPMENT and LIKENESS premiered at New Theatre in Miami. Next spring, Toybox Theatre Company will present the world premiere of THE
SHORT FALL. VISITING HOURS was a finalist in last year's New Plays Festival at Premiere Stages. Other new plays include LEG MAN, DAMSEL, and DOWNWARD FACING DEBBIE. Mr. Caudle is a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, where he developed SOUTH BEACH RAPTURE and other plays. Other development includes the New Harmony Project, Downstage Miami and the Sewanee Writers Conference. His short film, "Feet of Clay," directed by Carrie Preston, is based on his award winning one-act (Samuel French).
Mr. Caudle recently wrote a screenplay adaptation of the book "Major Conflict: One Gay Man's Life in the Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell Military," by Retired US Army Major Jeffrey McGowan. For more information, visit www.davidcaudle.org

Samuel French has published THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM. Additionally, monologues from the full-length play are featured in two "Best Of..." anthologies published respectively by Smith & Kraus and Samuel French. The Drama Bookshop has featured the "Play of the Week."

Enrico Maria Lamanna is an award-winning director of theatre, film and television residing in Rome, Italy. He has directed many national and world premieres throughout Italy. The national premiere of SISTER CITIES by Colette Goodman opens in July. Mr. Lamanna recently directed national premieres of L'EBREO by Gianni Clemente (with Ornella Muti) and ASSUNTA SPINA by Salvatore Di Giacomo, in national tours throughout Italy. Over the years, Mr. LaManna has directed the Italian-language premieres of THE LARAMIE PROJECT by Moises Kaufman; THE LAST HOURS OF HENRY MOSS by Sam Shepard; HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH by John Cameron Mitchell; LOVE, VALOUR, COMPASSION and CORPUS CHRISTI by Terrence McNally; THE GOAT by Edward Albee; THE FULL MONTY;
NUNSENSE by Dan Goggin; PROOF by David Auburn; and many other works by such authors as Arthur Miller, Woody Allen and Andre Gide. He has also directed Italian and world premieres by many Italian authors including Paolo Logli, Adriano Bennicelli (RADICE DI DUE), Carmelo Bene, and
Francesco Appolloni. For television, he directed NOTTURNO DI DONNA CON OSPITI, by Annibale Rucello. For film, he won a Golden Globe in 2006 for Samuel Beckett's ATTO SENZA PAROLE. Mr. Lamanna won Jury First Prize for ANGELO COME TE, which he also wrote. He has studied in the
Lee Strasberg Institute in New York, and has worked with U.S. talents such as Joel Schumacher, Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler. In Italy, he studied privately with masters from the Conservatorio di S. Cecilia. Mr. Lamanna is a member of the Actors' Studio since 1984, and a member of Tribe Hollywood since 2007. He will direct the Italian-language premiere of THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM in Rome in 2011.

A month-long series of non-stop music, film, theater, performance art, burlesque and drag entertainment, Howl! Arts Project was conceived as a series of events taking place at a variety of downtown venues throughout September to benefit H.E.L.P. (Howl! Emergency Life Project). HELP is an emergency assistance fund, administered through The Actors Fund, supporting East Village artists. Howl! Arts Project presents wildly diverse programming at affordable costs to the whole
family. Artists of all disciplines impart talent and pleasure galore as they showcase developing and finished work in traditional and experimental theatrical productions, gallery offerings and more.

Performances of David Caudle's THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM run Tuesday, September 14 at 8:00pm; Saturday, September 25 at 8:00pm and Sunday, September 26 at 8:00pm, as part of the HOWL! ARTS PROJECT 2010 at Theatre 80 (80 St Marks Place, between 1st and 2nd Avenues). Tickets
are $10. For reservations, visit www.brownpapertickets.com or call 800-838-3066. Cash only at the door.

For more information, visit www.howlfestival.org

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