John Montgomery Theatre's CIRCLE Kicks Off 7-City Tour in NYC Tonight

John Montgomery Theatre Company (JMTC) & Dutch Girl Productions presents a new two-actor production of acclaimed New York playwright Suzanne Bachner's award-winning hit Off Broadway play, CIRCLE, in its 7-City, 6-Festival Summer Tour, starring award-winning performers, Christel Bartelse & Bob Brader. Suzanne, Christel & Bob will debut this exciting new production with NYC previews and six fantastic international Festivals, May 15-August 25, 2013.

Sex. Power. Intimacy. Desire. 3-Time Canadian Comedy Award Nominee Christel Bartelse (ONEymoon) and 5-Time Best in Fest Winner Bob Brader (Spitting In The Face Of The Devil) play 8 characters - gay, straight and bi - linked in a hilarious daisy-chain of sexual encounters from New York to LA and back in this award-winning comedy. This new production unites two lauded veteran Fringe solo performers, one Canadian, one American, one male, one female in a unique comedic duet. The Greenwich Village Gazette raved about the show: "White Hot, Screamingly Funny!"

CIRCLE is written and directed by Suzanne Bachner and stars Christel Bartelse & Bob Brader. Lighting Design and New York Rehearsal Stage Management is by Katie Chai, Toronto Rehearsal Stage Management is by San Diego-based Samuel Sherman and Graphic Design by Michael Koch. Photography is by Adam Brick and Video Production by Shar Adrias.

JMTC & Dutch Girl Productions take CIRCLE on tour following three NYC preview performances at the Producers' Club Theaters tonight, April 14 at 7pm, Monday April 15 at 7pm and Tuesday April 16 at 7pm. The show runs 60 minutes. Tickets are $20 and are available online at www.SmartTix.com or by calling SmartTix at 212-868-4444. The Producers' Club Theaters are located at 358 West 44^th Street, between 8^th & 9^th Avenues. For more information visit www.circletheplay.com.

Following April previews in New York City, JMTC and Dutch Girl Production's 2013 Summer Tour includes the Orlando International Fringe Festival (where in addition to CIRCLE, Christel will also be performing her latest solo show, Significant Me, a sequel to her hit show, ONEymoon (A Honeymoon for One), May 15-25, www.orlandofringe.org; the London Fringe Theatre Festival (where Bob, Suzanne & Christel originally met in 2010 while touring their solo shows), June 5-16, www.londonfringe.ca; Festival St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe, June 17-22, www.montrealfringe.ca; the Regina International Fringe Theatre Festival, July 10-14, www.reginafringe.com, the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, July 17-28, www.winnipegfringe.com; and finishing off their tour in the largest fringe festival in all of North American, the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, August 15-25, www.fringetheatreadventures.ca. Suzanne, Christel & Bob will be driving 8,000 miles together through their 6-city tour.

Suzanne Bachner: The original production of Suzanne's award-winning play, CIRCLE, ran for five months Off Broadway, was performed nationally, optioned for production in Australia and called "ingenious" by The New York Times. Playwriting and directing in New York City: a six month run of her cult hit, Icons & Outcasts; a five month run of her choose-your-own adventure comedy, BITE, as well as her celebrated kaleidoscopic memoir play, We Call Her Benny, which Broadway World called "the future of theatre". Her plays have been seen at PS NBC@HERE, The Duplex, the National Arts Club, the Michael Weller Theatre, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, the Raw Space, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, Zeitgeist Stage Company, Mercury Players Theatre, Arena Stage in Portland, OR and 20th Century Fox at the Coronet Theater in LA, among others. Other plays include Screwdrivers & Sunday Brunch, Alexandra Triptych, Don't Let Destiny Push You Around, Jump Start, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Temptation, Twin Studies, Flirting with Reality and Sex Ed. Directing: Frank D. Gilroy's The Subject Was Roses at the Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles and the short film, Jennifer Monroe, P.I., a finalist in Flicks on 66. She is the proud director and developer of Bob Brader's acclaimed solo shows, including the multi-award-winning Spitting In The Face Of The Devil. Suzanne studied playwriting with Romulus Linney and Adrienne Kennedy and holds an MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School at the New School. Suzanne's recent 15-month writing and directing commission and artistic residency for New Village Arts Theatre in San Diego culminated in the world premiere of her new play, Brilliant Mistake, which the Coast News called "A work of pure genius!" She is a four-time OOBR Award winner, a Madeline Sadin Award winner, Resident Playwright Emeritus at the Actors Institute and a member of the Dramatists Guild. Some of her plays are published on Indie Theater Now. For more, go to www.jmtcinc.com.

Christel Bartelse: Writer, producer, clown, teacher and comedian, Christel got her start in comedy with her work in the physical comedy duo, The Burnt Marshmallows, in which she co-created and performed in over five feature length shows including U-Haulywood (A Canadian Comedy Award Nominee) and STUCK directed by Michael Kennard. She can be seen performing comedy all over Toronto and is a regular feature at Lunacy Cabaret at Zero Gravity Circus and has participated in the Toronto Festival of Clowns, Clown Chowder, March of Dames, Cheap Queers, Buskerfest, the Hysteria Festival and Chicago Improv Festival. As a solo performer and writer, Christel garnered critical attention for her single hander CHAOTICA. The show premiered at the 2008 London Fringe Festival, winning the Best in Venue, Impresario Award and a nomination for the Brickenden Award for "Outstanding Touring Production". It played Toronto twice, self produced, and dates followed in Ottawa, Wakefield and Saskatoon, and in Edmonton, Canada's largest and most competitive fringe festival, she had sold out performances. In 2010 CHAOTICA was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award "Best One Person Show" and recently played at the Toronto Fringe Festival for a sold out run. ONEymoon (A Honeymoon for One), her second solo show, has toured to over ten fringe festivals as well as having played New York in February 2010, and was invited to Diva Fest in Indianapolis. In 2011 ONEymoon was nominated for a "Canadian Comedy Award in the category of "Best One Person Show". Last summer she toured her third solo show, Significant Me (the sequel to ONEymoon) to London, ON, Edmonton and Victoria. Other favorite theatre credits include the role of Pugg in Mump & Smoot in Something for Edmonton's Westbury Theatre and Tifulbeau in the The Hollow for CanStage. Christel is a graduate of the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts, the Second City Conservatory and has studied clown and physical theatre extensively with Michael Kennard and John Turner (Mump & Smoot) Francine Cote, Philippe Gaulier and Sue Morrison. Christel was a faculty member of the Toronto Film School for 5 years, has taught for Second City Education Program and currently teaches physical comedy at Humber College. www.christelbartelse.com

Bob Brader: Spitting In The Face Of The Devil, Bob's acclaimed monologue, won "Best Show of the London Fringe" from The Beat, Art in London, "Fringe Hit" in the Atlantic Fringe and "Best Script" in the Inaugural United Solo Theatre Festival, NYC. It was also presented in The 2009 New York International Fringe Festival, where it was picked up for The Garage Theatre Group's SoloFest 2010. It was the featured theatrical event and a crowd favorite, sold-out show in the InaugurAl Woodstock Memoir Festival, which was headlined by the McCourt Brothers-Frank, Alphie and Malachy. Previously, Spitting In The Face Of The Devil ran for three months at the Red Room and played to a standing room only crowd at the Fletcher Gallery in Woodstock, NY. Bob made his international debut at the London Fringe Festival with his 2^nd solo show, Preparation Hex, a hemorrhoid tale and love story, which premiered in the 2^nd annual FRIGID New York Festival. Bob played Teddy Roosevelt in Bryan Enk and Matt Gray's supernatural theatrical serial, Penny Dreadful, at the Brick Theater. He was in the original cast of We Call Her Benny, the revival of Sex Ed and played Parker Lyman in the five-month run of BITE with the John Montgomery Theatre Company. Other New York Theatre credits include numerous DMTheatrics' productions: Girls School Vampire, Bitch Macbeth, Who in the Hell is the Real Live Lorelei Lee? and Antony and Cleopatra (Caesar, OOBR Award). Bob trained with the Stella Adler Conservatory at The Tisch School of the Arts and is a member of AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild. For more information, visit www.bobbrader.com.

John Montgomery Theatre Company (JMTC) is a NYC-based international collective of actors, writers, directors and designers creating original dramatic work with an emphasis on the collaborative process. Founded in London, England in 1994 by Patrick Hillan, JMTC has produced over 50 productions in New York City, worked with over 100 incredible theater artists and consumed 1,000's of post-show pints! Past productions include Suzanne Bachner's original award-winning Off Broadwayhit, CIRCLE; Thom Fudal's daring production of Shakespeare's Othello starring Patrick Hillan and Geoffrey Owens; Bob Brader's acclaimed solo show, Spitting In The Face Of The Devil and Suzanne Bachner's celebrated memoir play, We Call Her Benny. JMTC has presented work at PSNBC@HERE and 20th Century Fox at the Coronet Theater in LA, The Duplex, The National Arts Club, Flicks on 66 Wild West Digital Shootout (Finalist), the first-ever and 2nd annual FRIGID New York Festival, the Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival (Best of the Fest) and The London Fringe Festival, among many others. JMTC ran its own unique white box theater space in Chelsea for four years, has received four OOBR Awards, seven Best in Fest Awards and is a Resident Company Emeritus at Pulse Ensemble Theatre and the Actors Institute. For more information, visit www.jmtcinc.com, www.spittinginthefaceofthedevil.com or www.circletheplay.com.

Photo Credit: Adam Brick

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