The 2017 FRIGID Festival Presents An EXIT Theatre Production DENIAL IS A WONDERFUL THING

One woman, three continents, six decades, and a lusty affair: from Mumbai to the Outback, New York to the Haight, and naïve schoolgirl to free spirit, Christina reveals all in this one-woman "talk story". Join her as she relives the highlights and laughs at the mistakes.

DENIAL was first workshopped at EXIT Theatre in April 2016. After further development it makes its premiere at the FRIGID Festival in New York City and then returns to the EXIT as part of TALK STORY, a festival of storytellers in June.

"Talk Story" is a Hawaiian expression, used as a noun or verb, meaning "an informal chat" or "to chat informally."

Christina Augello (Performer/Playwright) has been performing since grade school. Her favorite roles are complicated, independent women who make their own choices, good or bad! Some of these include the Baroness Elsa von Freitag-Loringhoven, the Mama of Dada, in LAST OF THE RED HOT DADAS, the grifter turned social worker Bertha in BOXCAR BERTHA, Grace O'Malley, the Irish Pirate Queen in A MOST NOTORIOUS WOMAN, the courageous and outrageous actress Betty Hutton in RAT GIRL, the salty Regina Fredrickson in CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC CHILD and most recently Elizabeth I in Clive Barker's PARADISE STREET where one critic compared her performance to that of Judi Dench, Bettie Davis and Flora Robson. In DENIAL IS A WONDERFUL THING Christina presents the most complicated woman she knows - herself! Christina is also the founder and artistic director of EXIT Theatre and the San Francisco Fringe Festival.

John Caldon (Playwright) is a San Francisco based playwright and director. His work has been seen in the National Queer Arts Festival and the New York International Fringe Festival, as well as at The EXIT Theatre, Bindlestiff Studio, The SF Playhouse, The Thick House, Mama Calizo's Voice Factory, Albuquerque's The Box, New York's Manhattan Theatre Source and Boston's The Theatre Offensive. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University's Creative Writing program and the Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA. His upcoming play "#femmemasculine" will premiere at Brava Theater Center in fall 2017.

Ryan Marchand (Director) is an actor and director in San Francisco. he completed his BA in French, with a minor in Theater Arts at San Francisco State University. Recent directing credits include They Came Like a Fire by Roy Conboy for Theatre of Yugen's Yugen in Action series, Playwright's Foundation Flash Plays 2017, Guerrilla Rep's Mommy Queerest (movement director), produced by The Theatre Offensive in Boston, and now Denial is a Wonderful Thing, which he is thrilled to be presenting to New York audiences. Ryan also works as Artistic Director of Handful Players, a free musical theater program that supports underserved children in San Francisco.

Gregory Scharpen (Sound Designer) is a Bay Area-based Sound Designer, film editor, radio DJ, and musician. He has been the resident designer for Berkeley's Central Works Theatre Ensemble for two decades, and has contributed sonic augmentation to productions by Shotgun Players, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, TheatreFIRST, and numerous others. His work has garnered a Bay Area Theatre Critic's Circle award, and several Theatre Bay Area Award nominations. He edited the Emmy-winning documentary series "Have You Heard From Johannesburg", "Al Helm: Martin Luther King In Palestine", and the forthcoming features "The Whistleblower of My Lai" and "Buchla." Under the name Thomas Carnacki he records and performs vaguely unsettling music, and has performed as part of festivals and organisms like the Illuminated Corridor, the Whitney Biennial, Activating The Medium, and Project Soundwave. He produces a number of programs on KALX 90.7fm, including "Artsinreview", "Film Close-Ups", "Discourse on the 8th & 9th", as well as a weekly DJ program. He was a co-founder of the Oneiromantic Ambiguity Collective, but very few people particularly care.

Curtis Overacre (Light Designer) has been a resident lighting designer at EXIT Theatre for the past 10 years. He has worked with the FRIGID Festival for the past eight years and has worked with the San Francisco Fringe Festival for the past 14 years, the sister festival of FRIGID. He is excited to work on this production with Christina and John.

EXIT Theatre (Producer) is a 34 year old theater company that operates five storefront theaters in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. The company commissions, develops and produces new plays, provides production support and low cost theater rentals to indie theaters, and annually produces the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the largest grass roots theater festival in the Bay Area. The local alternative press has named EXIT Theatre "Best Local Venue", "Best (3,000 miles) Off-Broadway Theater", "Best Off-Beat Theatre" and the artistic director has been named "Best Producer" and "Working Woman of the Year."

The 2017 FRIGID Festival presents

An EXIT Theatre production:

DENIAL IS A WONDERFUL THING

Written by Christina Augello & John Caldon

Directed by Ryan Marchand

February 13th - March 5th, 2017

Thursday February 16 @ 7:10 PM; Saturday February 18 @ 2:10 PM; Tuesday February 21 @ 7:10 PM; Sunday February 26 @ 5:10 PM; Wednesday March 1 @ 7:10 PM & Saturday March 4 @ 8:50 PM

Tickets $10-15

www.horseTRADE.info (on sale 1/15)

UNDER St. Marks

94 St Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A

Basement level of building (no elevator or wheelchair access)

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