Immersive, Limited Engagement Of William Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT Comes To Long Island City This January

Queens-based Rude Grooms (www.rudegrooms.com) announced details for their production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, led by actor-manager Montgomery Sutton (Twelfth Night at Shakespeare's Globe; Much Ado About Nothing with Rude Grooms), produced in partnership with Long Island City Artists at the Plaxall Gallery and sponsored by Mikkeller Brewing NYC. The show runs January 4-6 at the Plaxall Gallery (5-25 46th Avenue, LIC) at 7:30pm, with a Twelfth Night Party beginning at 6:30pm each night for VIP ticket holders featuring a variety of musical guests to be announced in the coming days. Tickets are limited and on sale now at rudegrooms.com.

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies, where a cast of misfits are thrust into chaos by love, lust, and loss. In this play where "nothing that is so, is so," assumptions and aspirations about identity are flipped on their heads as the whirligig of time brings in its revenges.

In this immersive limited-engagement, the play itself erupts out of a Twelfth Night Party inspired by the structure of an Elizabethan Twelfth Night Festival -- live music, refreshment, games, and other performances begin at 6:30pm for VIP ticket holders, culminating in the cutting of a Twelfth Night Cake just before the performance. The tradition of the Twelfth Night Cake emerged during the time of Henry VIII: in the cake are hidden a dried bean and a dried pea; one audience member will cut the cake into slices and give them to the actors. Whichever actor discovers the dried bean will play the Duke Orsino in that evening's performance, and whichever actor discovers the dried pea will play the Countess Olivia.

In addition to Sutton, The Acting Company includes Dhruv Iyengar (The Taming of the Shrew at Ithaca Shakespeare Company; Rude Grooms' Much Ado About Nothing), Rachael Jenison* (With Love From at Origin Theatre), Anjili Pal (The Two Marys at The Studio Theatre; HBO's Girls), Laura Piccoli (Unhealthy at Battalion Theatre Co; Rude Grooms' Much Ado About Nothing), Deb Radloff* (Caucasian Chalk Circle at Classic Stage Company; Rude Grooms' Much Ado About Nothing), Basit Shittu (HAIR European Tour; Rude Grooms' The Ingenue Project), and Teddy Yudain* (The Apple Boys at HERE).

The production team includes Andrea Lynn Miller* (Stage Manager), Brian Demar Jones (Assistant Director), Bridget Bose (Dance Choreographer), Laura Piccoli (Costume Design), Basit Shittu (Original Music), and Calley Luman (Associate Producer).

The extremely limited engagement opens on Friday, January 4 and plays through Sunday, January 6 at the Plaxall Gallery (5-25 46th Avenue, LIC). For tickets or more information, visit rudegrooms.com.

* These actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. Equity approved Showcase.

ABOUT RUDE GROOMS

Rude Grooms is a Queens-based Startup Theatre Experiment rooted in the Elizabethan Tradition: we build cutting-edge theatrical experiences to provoke, inspire, & entertain, and we train Actor-Creators to tell their stories more clearly, bravely, & impulsively.

ARTIST BIOS

Bridget Bose (Dance Choreographer) RUDE GROMS: Much Ado About Nothing & The Witch of Edmonton; the American Dance Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Beacon Theatre, the international TV channel Star Plus, the circus show RED at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, and an international tour of the Bollywood show Mystic India. Bridget founded Guilty Pleasures Cabaret, which she directs/produces/choreographs for regular bookings in NYC and domestic/international tours. bridgetbose.com

Dhruv Iyengar (Actor) RUDE GROOMS: Much Ado About Nothing. REGIONAL: The Taming of the Shrew (Ithaca Shakespeare Company); This is Our Youth, Boy (Ithaca College); Othello (Shakespeare Dallas/Junior Players).

Rachael Jenison (Actor). RUDE GROOMS: debut. OFF-BROADWAY: With Love From (Origin Theatre) REGIONAL: From Up Here (Forward Theatre), Opus (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Richard III (The Old Globe). FILM/TV: The Digressions.

Brian Demar Jones (Assistant Director). RUDE GROOMS: debut. DIRECTING: Sweet Eros (OSF Midnight Project), Captives (American Theater of Actors), ShakeBEER (NYSX), Happy Days The Musical, Brand New Ancients, The Last Box, Golden Girls Live!. MFA Acting, University of Washington. Website: www.bdemarjones.com IG: bdemarj

Calley Luman (Associate Producer) RUDE GROOMS: The Ingenue Project, Much Ado About Nothing. NEW YORK: A Dream Play (Egg & Spoon). REGIONAL: Hamlet (Seven Stages Shakespeare). INTERNATIONAL: A Midsummer Night's Dreame (Wales). VISUAL ART: Reveries: An Immersive Theatrical Experience (The Tank); The Place in Brooklyn; and PHREAKOUT_ (The Nursery); WRITING: Cracking Patterns: A Journey thru Codependency, a 3-part poetry series self-published and hand-bound, Invisibility, One Hundred Voices Anthology. Co-Founder of the NYC Women's Art Collective which provides performance and networking opportunities for femme artists in the city. You can follow her creative efforts on Instagram at @calley_at.

Rachael Jenison (Actor). RUDE GROOMS: debut. OFF-BROADWAY: With Love From (Origin Theatre) REGIONAL: From Up Here (Forward Theatre), Opus (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Richard III (The Old Globe). WEB: The Digressions. MFA: The Old Globe.

Anjili Pal (Actor). REGIONAL: The Two Marys (The Studio Theater), Anton in Show Business (Live Arts), Discovery Theater. NEW YORK: The Taming Of The Shrew (Manhattan Shakespeare Project), Caucasian Chalk Circle, La Casa De Bernarda Alba, Hamlet (Columbia Stages), Medea, The Phoenician Women (Riverside Theater), Insomnia (Antimatter Collective), Margaret I (Playroom Theater), Amios Theatre Company. FILM: Time Out Of Mind, Five Flights Up, St. Vincent, Savage Sisters. TV: For Justice (CBS),Girls (HBO), Feed the Beast (AMC). Twitter: @Anjili IG: @minagear.­

Laura Piccoli (Actor, Costume Design) RUDE GROOMS: Much Ado About Nothing. NEW YORK: The Tempest (Seven Stages Shakespeare Company), Tape (Bridge Theatre), Unhealthy (Battalion Theatre). REGIONAL: The Shrew (Seven Stages Shakespeare Company). Film/TV: Law and Order: SVU (dir. Mariska Hargitay), Samantha Moonley's Greatest Feeling (dir. David Light and Garrett Kennell, Audience Award NFFTY). BFA, NYU: Stella Adler Studio and RADA. www.lauracpiccoli.com

Deb Radloff (Actor) RUDE GROOMS: The Witch of Edmonton, Much Ado About Nothing. OFF-BROADWAY: The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Classic Stage Company), A Brand New World (Three Act Theatre). OFF-OFF-BROADWAY: Much Ado About Nothing (M.O.D theatre), "Mother Knows Best" (Best Emerging Solo Artist at the United Solo Theatre festival), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Classic Stage Company), Brewed (NYC Fringe) REGIONAL: Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Northern Stage), The Yiddish Are Coming: The Chosen Musical (world premiere, Denver Civic Theatre), Richard III, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Inherit Wind, Amadeus, As You Like It, and Death of a Salesman (The Old Globe). NEW MEDIA: Micro musical show: The New Peggy, The Pulp Tales Of Gwendolyn Gween. MFA, The Old Globe/USD. Rep. by the amazing folx at Professional Artists.

Basit Shittu (Actor, Original Music). RUDE GROOMS: The Ingenue Project. INTERNATIONAL: HAIR the Musical (European tour); Miss Evers Boys (National Arts Festival, South Africa). OFF-BROADWAY: PILLOWTALK (The Tank); The Demise (NYMF); Baby fat (La Mama); Next Faggot Nation (HERE). Twitter & IG: @basitshittu

Montgomery Sutton (Actor-Manager) RUDE GROOMS: Much Ado About Nothing, The Witch of Edmonton. LONDON: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare's Globe); OFF-BROADWAY: A Midsummer Night's Dream (New York Classical Theatre); Regional: Henry V (Cape Fear Regional Theatre), The Winter's Tale (Seven Stages Shakespeare Company), Love's Labours Lost, King Lear, Richard III, Measure for Measure (Trinity Shakespeare), Florida Studio Theatre, Second Thought Theatre, Theatre Three, Uptown Players, Circle Theatre. Film/New Media: Trouble with Women, 1865. Playwright: Advent (O'Neill semi-finalist); Antigone (Gilbert Theatre); Your Colonel (Metropolitan Playhouse). BFA, NYU: Atlantic Acting School. www.montgomerysutton.com | @montgomerysutto.

Teddy Yudain (Actor) RUDE GROOMS: Debut. OFF-BROADWAY: The Apple Boys: A Barbershop Quartet Musical (HERE). NEW YORK: Madama Butterfly (The Metropolitan Opera, dir. Anthony Minghella); El Gato Con Botas (Gotham Chamber Opera and Tectonic Theatre Project, dir. Moisés Kaufman). REGIONAL: The Little Match Girl (US Premiere; Improbable and Blind Summit Theatre at Spoleto Festival USA, dir. Phelim McDermott), One Man, Two Guvnors (Florida Studio Theatre, dir. Joe Discher), and many summers at the Hope Summer Repertory Theatre. BFA (Acting), University of Connecticut. www.TeddyYudain.com

Long Island City Artists, Inc. is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) arts advocacy organization with a mission to increase the development and visibility of professional and emerging artists in Long Island City, New York. We are based out of The Plaxall Gallery, a 12,000 square foot fine art community center in LIC. www.licartists.org

Mikkeller Brewing NYC. In 2006 Mikkel Borg Bjergsø was a math and physics teacher that started experimenting with hops, malt and yeast back home in his kitchen in Copenhagen. Today, he exports his micro brewed beer to 58 different countries and is internationally acclaimed as one of the most innovative and cutting-edge brewers in the world. To date he has created over 1000 distinct & distinctive beers. Opened in March 2018 at Citi Field in Flushing, Queens, Mikkeller NYC is the Danish parent's 1st U.S. location outside of California, and the 1st location connected to a professional sports venue anywhere in the world. In these first several months, Mikkel has created over 50 never-before-produced Mikkeller NYC beer recipes. www.mikkellernyc.com

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