Mink Stole and Penny Arcade Star in THE MUTILATED by Tennessee Williams, Now thru 11/24

Like nearly all of Williams's later, more experimental plays, The Mutilated was met with stinging reviews, disappointment and even anger when it premiered on Broadway in 1966 (with The Gnädiges Fräulein, under the collective title Slapstick Tragedy). "I know Mr. Williams is trying to do something ambitious and ambiguous but, gee, I wish he would just give something old and square like A Streetcar Named Desire," wrote John McClain in the New York Journal-American. Directed by Cosmin Chivu, legendary avant-garde performers Mink Stoleand Penny Arcade will star in the first New York revival of The Mutilated in 38 years. The production features original music composed byJesse Selengut, performed by the three-piece combo Tin Pan.

Performances of The Mutilated will take place November 1-24 (see schedule above) at the New Ohio Theatre. Critics are welcome as of Thursday, November 7 for an official opening of Sunday, November 10 at 7pm. The running time is 90 minutes with no intermission. New Ohio Theatre is located at 154 Christopher Street in Manhattan. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by visiting newohiotheatre.org or calling 888.596.1027.

This production will also be presented September 26-29 as part of the 8th annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in a site-adapted space.

The Mutilated is one of the funniest, strangest, most neglected and most moving of Tennessee Williams's later plays. In a 1965 article inEsquire, Williams said of The Mutilated, "The style is kin to vaudeville, burlesque and slapstick, with a dash of pop art thrown in," and called it an "allegory on the tragicomic subject of human existence on this risky planet."

The Mutilated takes place on Christmas Eve in New Orleans in the late 1940s, and centers on Trinket Dugan (Stole), a Texas oil heiress and cancer survivor, who is hiding away at the Silver Dollar Hotel with a painful secret; and her buxom buddy Celeste Delacroix Griffin (Arcade), a vagrant, shoplifter, and over-the-hill (though always hopeful) prostitute who is Trinket's only real friend and the only person who knows her secret. But their friendship has been pushed to the limit; Celeste wants money, a free meal, a jug of California tokay wine, and takes anything she can bully, bribe or blackmail from Trinket. When Trinket finds out Celeste has humiliated her by broadcasting her secret around the Quarter, the battle is on and they fight cruelly among the singing "Quarter Rats" - con men, hookers, cops, freaks, sailors, and drunks - until they find a way to resuscitate their friendship just in time to share a mystical experience that changes their lives.

Additional cast members of The Mutilated include Warren Bub as Henry, Beth Bartley as the Bird Girl, Tom Drummer as Bernie, Niko Papastefanou as Bruno, Jack Dilday as Slim, Jesse Selengut as Jack in Black, and Alec Funiciello, Latoya Edwards and Jonelle Rheubottom as members of the chorus.

The creative team includes Anka Lupes (Sets), Angela Wendt (Costumes), Graham Kindred (Lights), Lauren Gaul (Choreographer),Laura Malseed (Production Stage Manager), Dana Greenfield (Assistant Director), Augustin Correro (Assistant Director) and Thomas Keith (Creative Producer). Produced by Beth Bartley, Beth Bartley Productions.

Mink Stole AND Penny Arcade IN THE MUTILATED, BY Tennessee Williams, NOVEMBER 1-24 AT NEW OHIO THEATRE

First New York Revival in 38 Years of Tender Black Comedy is Directed By Cosmin Chivu

Mink Stole and Penny Arcade in
The Mutilated by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Cosmin Chivu
Original music composed by Jesse Selengut and performed by Tin Pan

Preview Performances: Tonight, Nov 1, 2, 6-9 at 7:30pm; Nov 2, 3, 9 at 3pm
Opening: Sun, Nov 10 at 7pm
Regular Performances: Nov 12-16, 19-23 at 7:30pm; Nov 16, 17, 23, 24 at 3pm

New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street)
$35; newohiotheatre.org; 888.596.1027
90 minutes with no intermission

About Mink Stole

As an original Dreamlander working with John Waters, Mink Stole has portrayed some of the more outrageous characters in independent film history, including Connie Marble in Pink Flamingos, Taffy Davenport in Female Trouble, Peggy Gravel in Desperate Living, and Dottie Hinkle in Serial Mom. Stole has often played "mother/aunt of the 'gay'" as in such films as Jamie Babbitt's But I'm A Cheerleader, Lee Friedlander's Girl Play and Out at the Wedding, and the second, third, fourth and fifth installments of Ariztical's Eating Out series. In 2009, Stole appeared as Esther in Steve Balderson's filmed-in-Macon women-in-prison film Stuck!, and she is also carving out a place for herself in the horror genre, with major roles in Michael Frost's unusual still-photographed 3 Faces of Evil, Robert A. Masciantonio'sNeighbor and Joshua Grannell's recently released bloody homage to the single-screen theater All About Evil. She is currently featured in Jeffrey Schwarz's lovely documentary I Am Divine as herself.

On stage, Stole has worked with director John Vaccaro, as well as the late, great Charles Ludlam. She performed the role of Autolycus in the L.A. Women's Shakespeare Company's production of The Winter's Tale. In 2011, she appeared as Madge in the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival production of Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws, which also opened La MaMa's 50th Anniversary season in New York.

For the last few years, both in Los Angeles and Baltimore, Stole has been producing and performing her one-woman show Do Re MiNKwith her Wonderful Band, which is also the title of her recently released CD. Visit minkstole.com to learn more.

About Penny Arcade

Born Susana Carmen Ventura to an immigrant Italian family in the small factory town of New Britain, CT, she became Penny Arcade at age 17 while on LSD in an effort to amuse her mentor and patron, openly gay photographer/artist Jaimie Andrews. It was Andrews, a member of The Playhouse of the Ridiculous, who introduced the young Arcade to legendary director John Vaccaro. Vaccaro, then directing Kenneth Bernard's potent play The Moke Eater, subsequently gave Penny her theatrical debut in the groundbreaking production. Soon after, Arcade became a teenage superstar for Andy Warhol's Factory with a featured role in the Morrissey/Warhol film Women In Revolt but quickly found the life of an upcoming pop tart too one dimensional and fled to Amsterdam.

In 1980, La MaMa's Ellen Stewart and Vaccaro invited her to recreate her 1970 New York role in Ken Bernard's play Nite Club. She returned to New York after nearly a decade of globe hopping and international intrigue to resume her apprenticeship with many of the greats of American experimental theatre including Jack Smith, Jackie Curtis and Charles Ludlam. In 1985, Arcade began creating her own improvisational and unscripted solo work. In 1989 she began to create group work, beginning with her commission from Engarde Arts for whom she created A Quiet Night for Sid and Nancy at the Chelsea Hotel.

1990-91 was a prolific period for Arcade during which she wrote four full length shows, including the core of her autobiographical trilogy:Based on A True Story, Invitation to The Beginning Of The End Of The World and La Miseria. It was also in 1990 that she created her most famous work, her sex and censorship show, BITCH!DYKE!FAGHAG!WHORE! A blend of political humanism, freedom of expression and erotic dancing, BITCH!DYKE!FAGHAG!WHORE! toured the world twice both as an international festival as well as a commercial hit in 20 cities around the world.

In the time since BITCH!DYKE!FAGHAG!WHORE!, Arcade premiered Bad Reputation, her all girl show (with a few gay men who wanted their own dance number!) at PS122 in 1999 and later in Manchester and Glasgow. New York Values, an autopsy on the death of Bohemia and the commodification of rebellion, premiered at PS 122 in 2002 as a group show and has been performed as a solo show in Los Angeles, Austin, Frankfurt, Heldelberg and the Royal Festival Hall in London. Visit pennyarcade.tv to learn more.

About Cosmin Chivu

Cosmin Chivu is a Romanian born theater artist, currently based in New York City, with an international career of award-winning productions. He has directed over 50 professional and university productions in America, Austria, England, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania and Thailand. His most recent projects include Beautiful Province by Clarence Coo (LCT3), winner of the 2012 Yale New Drama Series, Something Cloudy Something Clear by Tennessee Williams at The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival and a stage adaptation of Williams's A Recluse and His Guest as part of the Drama League's New Directors New Works. Chivu has directed over 30 plays in New York City, Massachusetts, California and New Jersey. He is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, an alumnus of The Old Globe's Jack O'Brien fellowship and the founder of InterArt Theatre Group. Chivu is currently the Head of B.A. Acting/Directing Program, International Performance Ensemble at Pace University Performing Arts in New York City. He holds a Masters in Theatre Directing from The Actors Studio Drama School, New School University, NYC and a B.A. in Acting from the G. Enescu Art Academy, Romania. Visit cosminchivu.com to learn more.

About New Ohio Theatre

New Ohio Theatre strengthens, nurtures and promotes a vast community of independent theater companies and artists by developing, curating and presenting new work in the West Village. We believe the best of New York's independent theater community operates at the core of the Contemporary Theatre conversation and acts collectively to expand the boundaries of the public imagination. As a two-time OBIE Award-winning performance venue, New Ohio Theatre provides a professional, high-profile platform for downtown's most mature, ridiculous, engaging, irreverent, gut-wrenching, frivolous, sophisticated, foolish and profound theatrical endeavors.

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