Erin Markey to Star in GOD HATES THIS SHOW, Running 10/16-20 at HERE

GOD HATES THIS SHOW: Shirley Phelps-Roper In Concert, Live From Hell, written and directed by John J. Caswell, Jr. runs October 16-20, 2013, in Dorothy B. Williams Theatre at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue).

The "tangled mash-up of humor, horror, brains and balls" (New York Press) known as Erin Markey (Our Hit Parade) stars as the infamous Westboro Baptist Church matriarch Shirley Phelps-Roper. She is joined by a trio of demonic back-up singers, including Adam Enright (Hedwig and the Angry Inch - LA), Allison Guinn (Broadway's HAIR), Anna Marquardt (Walmartopia!) and equally devilish dancersCarolyn Barry and Kristina King, both of Roschman Dance.

In this World Premiere musical play by Progressive Theatre Workshop Founder John J. Caswell, Jr., Shirley Phelps-Roper is imagined as recently deceased and damned to Hell for all eternity where she is forced to perform songs from the Westboro catalog in an outrageously offensive fire and brimstone cabaret act for an audience of "fag-enablers."

Accompanied by a full rock band, Shirley croons hellish hits like "Death in Your Window" (a parody of Melissa Etheridge's "Come to My Window"), "Stinky Freak" (better known as "Super Freak") and "Satan's Lair" (a parody of "Scarborough Fair").

GOD HATES THIS SHOW features choreography by Sean Roschman, musical direction by Mark Fifer,and musical arrangements by Kurt Gellersted and Brooke Fox (Williamsburg! The Musical). The design team for GOD HATES THIS SHOW includes Aaron Crosby (costumes), Wolfram Ott (lighting design) and Olivia Sebesky (projections). The production is stage managed by Maurina Lioce and produced by Progressive Theatre Workshop and Will Brumley.

GOD HATES THIS SHOW: Shirley Phelps-Roper in Concert, Live From Hell will be presented Oct 16-20 at 7pm and Oct 19, 20 at 2pm at HERE, located at 145 6th Avenue (accessible from the C,E,N,R, and 1 trains at Spring Street). The show is part of SubletSeries@HERE, HERE's curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support. For more information visit www.godhatesthisshow.com or www.here.org.

JOHN CASWELL, JR.: John is the Founding Artistic Director of Progressive Theatre Workshop and the author of several original works for the stage including SHOTS: A Love Story, closet.drama: a homo/hetero collision,Britney Spears For President, Eat Your Peas/DIE DIE DIE, Banksy's Bodies, and My Friend the Serial Killer by Ronald Rogers Sixth Grade. His play Arrangements was named a top ten finalist for the 2013 Woodward Newman Drama Award. He is the recipient of awards from organizations such as P.A.V.E. (as funded by The Kauffman Foundation) and The Arizona Commision on the Arts. John has spent time learning from pioneers of American theatre including Anne Bogart and The Siti Company, Circle Repertory founder Marshall W. Mason, and Ontological Hysteric Theater Founder and MacArthur Genius Richard Foreman. John studied performance at Arizona State University and in 2011, hisSHOTS: A Love Story was published as part of Johnny Saldana's text Ethnotheatre: Research From Page to Stage by Left Coast Press. The book went on to earn Saldana The American Education Research Association's 2012 Outstanding Book Award from the Qualitative Research Special Interest Group. www.progressivetheatreworkshop.org

Erin Markey: Erin Markey creates conceptual musical performances for stage and video. Major works include Puppy Love: A Stripper's Tail (P.S. 122), The Dardy Family Home Movies by Stephen Sondheim by Erin Markey (San Francisco Film Society), and, in collaboration with Joseph Keckler, Looking for Limbo(Lincoln Center Director's Lab). She is a featured regular in the critically acclaimed performance seriesOur... Hit Parade at Joe's Pub. In collaboration with comedian Cole Escola, Markey has written and performed in "NIGHT MOTHER" (Dixon Place) and "Check It Out" (Afterglow Festival). She has shown other work at The New Museum, Leslie Lohman Museum, Michelle Tea's Sister Spit Tour, The Sex Workers' Art Show, and Deja Vu Showgirls and Love Boutique. As an actress, Markey is a company member of Half Straddle, has performed with Young Jean Lee's Theatre Company, and starred in the NYC premiere of Tennessee Williams' Green Eyes (Hudson Hotel, Ames Hotel), for which she received Boston's Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress. On television, she was a series regular on Jeffery and Cole Casserole (LOGO Network). She is currently adapting her live showThe Dardy Family Home Movies by Stephen Sondheim by Erin Markey into a musical TV series. She is the recipient of NYFA's 2012 Cutting Edge Artist Fund Grant. New York Press described Erin Markey as "a tangled mash-up of humor, horror, brains and balls." www.erinmarkey.com

Pictured: Erin Markey, Allison Guinn, Adam Enright & Anna Marquardt. Photo by John Keon Photography.

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