Performance Space 122 Presents CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT Starting 11/22

Performance Space 122 will present CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT, written by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, on November 22nd through December 7th, 2008.

CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT will be performed by HANNAH BOS, PAUL THUREEN, Michael Cyril Creighton and Pamela Payton-Wright.

A decaying drive-in comes to life with stories of lighthouses, naughty little girls and places you imagine remembering.  So please sit back, relax, refrain from loud talking and rough-housing, turn off your headlights, enjoy some tasty popcorn, put litter in its place, keep an eye on your children, think about how happy we could be, and remember that this country is full of dark, dark places along dark, dark roadways where dark, dark things can happen.

The Debate Society's fourth full-length play transforms the upstairs space at P.S. 122 into their own version of a drive-in theater to present an intimate and absurd perspective of classic Americana.  The Brooklyn based play-makers invite audiences to experience the Feature Presentation from the comfort of their own private 4-seater, equipped with a cooler, speaker box, and a close-up view of the action.  Like an evening at the drive-in, Cape Disappointment starts with a "cartoon" and proceeds to the feature: a road-trip epic populated by characters racing across the crumbling landscapes of bygone hey-days.  There's even an intermission tossed in just long enough to grab some popcorn.

Joining co-writers Hannah Bos (Best Actress of 2007, Gothamist) and Paul Thureen (Hostage Song) onstage is actor Michael Cyril Creighton (The Vietnamization of New Jersey) and acclaimed New York actress, Drama Desk and two-time Obie Award winner, and Emmy nominee Pamela Payton-Wright, who is also the mother of Cape Disappointment director Oliver Butler.  The acclaimed The Debate Society design team returns to create the vivid world of the play with lighting design by Mike Riggs, costume design by Sydney Maresca, and sound design by Nathan Leigh (Best Sound Design of 2007 for The Eaten Heart, Gothamist).

Cape Disappointment was developed with the support of chashama, the CUNY Prelude Festival, Dixon Place and The Fusebox Festival and made possible in part by grants from The Puffin Foundation, The Mancini Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation and public funds from the Fund for Creative Communities, supported by the New York Stage Council on the Arts and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

The Debate Society is a Brooklyn based company that creates new plays through the collaboration of Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen (writer/performers) and Oliver Butler (director/developer).  The trio's plays include A Thought About Raya, The Snow Hen, You're Welcome (Dixon Place), and The Eaten Heart (Ontological-Hysteric Theater).  The company's past tour destinations include Portland, OR, Austin, TX, Hartford, CT, Martha's Vineyard, MA and Syracuse, NY.  The work of The Debate Society has been supported by grants from NEA/chashama, The Greenwall Foundation, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Puffin Foundation, The Sons of Norway Foundation, Fractured Atlas and The Mancini Foundation.

Hannah Bos (Creator/Performer) is a founding member of The Debate Society, co-writing and starring in A Thought About Raya, The Snow Hen, The Eaten Heart, and You're Welcome.  Recent performances include Hostage Song, Andrei Serban's Lysystrata with Cherry Jones, The Pumpkin Pie Show, Ringside Seats (The Belt), Cardiac Shadow (P.S. 122), and Junta High (P.S. 122).  Regional: Three Farces and a Funeral, and Janos Szasz' Marat/Sade (The American Repertory Theatre).  She is also the co-creator/writer of The Mimi and Flo Show, a choose-your-own-Web-venture web series.  She holds a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.F.A. from the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theater.

Paul Thureen (Creator/Performer) is a founding member of The Debate Society and has performed and toured extensively with the company, co-writing and starring in A Thought About Raya, The Snow Hen, You're Welcome, and The Eaten Heart.  Recent New York and international performances include Hostage Song, Clay McLeod Chapman's The Pumpkin Pie Show at P.S. 122, One Year Lease's tour of Oresteia in Athens and Milan, and Tango 'til They're Sore at The Flea.  Regional: The Description of the World, Facade, and Pulcinella (Theatre de la Jeune Lune).  TV: The Late Show with David Letterman and The Revolution (History Channel).

Michael Cyril Creighton (Performer) was seen Off-Broadway as Father McGillicutty in the NY Premiere of Christopher Durang's The Vietnamization of New Jersey.  He co-wrote and performed in Rip Me Open (Galapagos/Dixon Place, co-written with Desiree Burch and OBIE winner Kyle Jarrow) and The Hermitage of An Exiled Chain Smoker (FringeNYC).  Other theater work includes You're Welcome (The Debate Society at Dixon Place), Lend Me A Tenor with Mary Testa & Alison Fraser (George Street Playhouse), An Octopus Love Story (Center Stage), Sequins For Satan (Galapagos Art Space), 365 Days/365 Plays (Public Theater).  On the Web, MCC can be seen as a host for VH1's Best Night Ever and I Like To Watch video podcasts and in webisodes of The Mimi & Flo Show and The Burg.  MCC is currently working on a web sitcom and solo show.  He is an alumni of The NY Neo-Futurists and holds a BFA from Emerson College.

Pamela Payton-Wright (Performer) began her career with three years of resident rep, culminating in a Broadway season with APA Phoenix Repertory Company in The Show-Off with Helen Hayes, Exit the King with Eva Le Gallienne, and The Cherry Orchard with Uta Hagen.  Subsequent Broadway credits include Jimmy Shine with Dustin Hoffman; The Crucible; All Over Town, directed by Hoffman; M. Butterfly; and six productions at Circle in the Square: the 1972 inaugural production of Mourning Becomes Electra with Colleen Dewhurst (Drama Desk Award), The Glass Menagerie with Maureen Stapleton, Romeo and Juliet, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Night of the Iguana, and Something Unspoken.  Off Broadway credits include The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Obie Award, Clarence Derwent Award, Variety Critics' Poll Citation), Jessie and the Bandit Queen (Obie Award), The Seagull, Hamlet, The Replacements, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Richard III, 'Til the Rapture Comes, What You Get and What You Expect, Fifth of July (Lucille Lortel nomination), Duet, and The Day Emily Married.  Her extensive regional credits include A Touch of the Poet with Brian Dennehy at Goodman Theatre, directed by Robert Falls (Joseph Jefferson Award); Long Day's Journey Into Night at American Conservatory Theater and Goodman Theatre; The Glass Menagerie and Ghosts at Baltimore Centerstage; and the world premiere of The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue at Hartford Stage, directed by Michael Wilson.  Her film work includes In Dreams, The Freshman, My Little Girl, Ironweed, Starlight, Going in Style, Resurrection, and At the Dark End of the Street.  Her television credits include The Prodigal, Brother to Dragons, The Adams Chronicles (Emmy nomination); Look Homeward, Angel with Geraldine Page for Playhouse 90; Addie Cramer on One Life to Live; and guest appearances including Law & Order and Homicide.  Education/Training: BA, Birmingham-Southern College; Fulbright Scholar, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Special Medal, Edmund Gray Prize for High Comedy); 1999 Fox Fellowship for work in 17th & 18th century court dance.

Oliver Butler (Director) is a founding member of The Debate Society and has directed and toured extensively with the company.  In New York Mr. Butler has directed the world premieres of The Eaten Heart, The Snow Hen, Red-HairEd Thomas, Hostage Song, A Thought About Raya, You're Welcome, Christmas with the Flamingos, and Sold Out: The Rock Musical.  He was the Assistant Artistic Director of The Berkshire Theatre Festival where he directed The Einstein Project  and This is our Youth.  Mr. Butler has assisted directors including Jo Bonney, Pam Mackinnon, and John Rando.  In 2004 and 2005 he was a participating director in Lincoln Center's Directors Lab.

More about Performance Space 122

Performance Space 122 is New York's ultimate destination for cutting-edge theatre, dance, music, live art and cross-media.  Founded in 1979, Performance Space 122 is dedicated to supporting and presenting artists whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theatre, music, and performance.  Committed to exploring innovative form as well as material, P.S. 122 is steadfast in its search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures and points of view.

Cape Disappointment runs Saturday, November 22 – Sunday, December 7 on the following schedule:  Monday – Saturday at 8:00pm/Sunday at 6:00pm.  No performance on Wednesday, November 26; Thursday, November 27; Monday, December 1.  Additional performance on Saturday, December 6 at 10:30pm.  Tickets from $18, $15 (students/seniors), $10 (P.S. 122 members).  Tickets may be purchased online at www.ps122.org or via phone at (212) 352-3101.  Performance Space 122 is located at 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street, New York, New York 10009.  www.ps122.org.

Photo of Pamela Payton-Wright by Ben Strothmann

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