Audax Theatre Co To Present 'Monsterface' At Irish Arts

 The Audax Theatre Group will present Daniel Roberts' latest play, MONSTERFACE, directed by Alex Lippard. Performances will be at the Irish Arts Center, located at 553 West 51st Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues.  Performances will begin on Thursday, May 29th, continuing through Saturday, June 28th. Opening night is scheduled for Saturday, May 31st.

After Melanie Crane, a beautiful but middling actress suffers a mental breakdown, her husband Paul brings her to her childhood home of New Hope, PA to heal.  On the night of a snowstorm and after an unspeakable secret is revealed, can the historical town of New Hope, where George Washington staged his famous Delaware crossing, help the Cranes save their marriage and their lives? Will it be Victory or Death for this troubled, modern couple?

Playwright Daniel Roberts has also written for television, and his poetry and fiction have been published in various national periodicals including PRESS, THE HUDSON REVIEW and POETRY.  Previous productions of his plays include The Beginning of the And, The Gold Standard, Frankie and Brando.  Currently, he is developing a project for HBO based on his award-winning, one-act play Ost, teaching poetry at Harlem's PS 101, and is a possible candidate for Congress in New York's 8th District.

Director Alex Lippard re-teams with Audax after directing the critically acclaimed, world premiere of Frankie.  Most recently he directed Emmy-Award winning actor Daniel J. Travanti in The Last Word. He has also received an Overall Excellence in Directing Award for his direction of Moonchild in the 2004 NY International Fringe Festival.  Other credits include Hecuba with Kristin Linklater at 45 Bleecker, All We Can Handle starring Raul Esparza at Joe's Pub, Hedda Gabler at the Century Center Ibsen Series, and The Sun Also Rises at the Director's Company, which he also adapted.

The designers for Monsterface are Michael Moore (sets), Kirche Zeile (costumes), and Graham Kindred (lighting). The cast includes Margot White (Drama Desk nominee for The Traveling Lady), Lee Roy Rogers (Drama Desk nominee for Orson's Shadow), Stuart Rudin (the memorable character Multiple Miggs in "Silence of the Lambs"), Jason Blaine (Pippin at Goodspeed Musicals), Davis Hall (Edward II with Red Bull Theater), Frank Liotti (The Frugal Repast at Abingdon Theatre Company), and Liz Morton (3 versions of "Law & Order").

Audax ("Bold" in Latin) Theatre Group was founded in 2000 by two members of the Atlantic Theater Group's 24-Hour Play festival, Daniel Tisman and Daniel Roberts.  Dedicated to audacious plays that add spice to the available stock of reality, Audax productions have been mentioned for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, won OOBR awards, and have helped establish the careers of countless theatre professionals who dared to be bold.

MONSTERFACE will begin performances on Thursday, May 29th and will continue Saturday, June 28th. The schedule is Thursday through Saturdays at 8pm. Tickets will be $18.00 and may be purchased by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444, or online at smarttix.com.

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