Theater For The New City Premieres Bebop Influenced Play THELONIOUS!

THELONIOUS! by award winning multidisciplinary artist Peter Welch is a dark, syncopated comedy about the American Dream told through the nightmare of a failing marriage. The play's world premiere will be presented by the legendary downtown performance staple Theater for the New City (TNC) from February 7th to March 3rd, 2019. The production will feature a diverse cast consisting of Nicholas Santasier, Sly Augustus, David F. Slone Esq., Courtney Torres, Xiren Wang, Jaine Ye and Remington Moses (the great granddaughter of Ozzie & Harriet Nelson, granddaughter of Ricky Nelson and daughter of prolific television actors William Moses and Tracy Nelson). The production will be directed by TNC's Administrative Director Jonathan Weber, and is being produced by PRIME Stage to Screen, who brought the highly praised GREAT KILLS starring EMMY winner Joe Pantoliano to TNC in 2015.

THELONIOUS! tells the story or Carl (Nicholas Santasier) and Sandy (Remington Moses), a young couple who appear to be on track to having it all. Not quite thirty, they have great jobs, a healthy infant daughter and a two bedroom co-op in Brooklyn. But then something happens that throws a wrench into this perfect universe- a guy named Thelonious (Sly Augustus) enters their lives. The problem with Thelonious is that nobody can actually see him except Carl, who is harassed by this bizarre presence, especially when his wife is around. Not wanting to accept that his upwardly mobile lifestyle could be the cause of anything wrong mentally, Carl keeps Thelonious enough at bay to maintain his comfy existence.. But then one day Carl and Sandy decide to go on a picnic in the Catskills to get away from it all, and when Thelonious shows up here too all hell breaks loose. What follows is a strange journey where Carl tries to put the pieces of his shattered psyche back together; and Sandy tries to understand why her husband went so askew even after she gets married to a guy named Jeff.

THELONIOUS! was first workshopped at Dixon Pplace, another downtown staple, where it had a fully staged reading in their main stage theater during the summer of 2015. Individual scenes from the play were also performed at The Lower East Side Festival of the Arts in 2014, and TNC's annual Halloween Ball in 2015. Since that time Welch has done numerous rewrites to the manuscript, and looks forward to seeing what this new cast and director will bring.

WHERE AND WHEN:
February 7th to March 3rd, 2019
Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street)
Presented by Theater for the New City
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm, Sunday at 3:00 PM.
Tickets Available at Smarttix.com
Box office (212) 254-1109, https://theaterforthenewcity.net/?vh_show=thelonious
Runs : 80 minutes.
Reviewers are invited on or after Saturday 2/9.

BIOS:

Peter Welch (Playwright):
Is a New York based multidisciplinary artist. His plays and theatrical directorial efforts have been seen in such notable downtown venues as The Players Theater, LaMama, HERE Arts Center, The Nuyroican Poets Cafe and Theater for the New City. His popular short film, THE PILES PROJECT, featured downtown luminary Taylor Mead and art star Mark Kostabi. His feature film, THREE LONG YEARS was distributed internationally and is now available on YouTube for free. Recently he completed AFTER LIFE 2016, an experimental travelogue that will be released later this year. Peter is also an award winning fine art photographer. Examples of his photographic work can be seen on his website www.peterwelchphoto.com

Jonathan Weber (Director):
Credits include: "Great Kills," by Tom Diriwachter (featuring Emmy Award-winner Joe Pantoliano); "Two Alone/Too Together" by Peter Welch; "Age Out, " "Guaranteed to Never Lose Suction," "Shock Therapy," "Bear!" "The Professor and the Whore," "The Irish Goodbye" by Tom Diriwachter. He has also directed two plays by Oliver Thrun and six plays by Walter Corwin. He has written two plays, "9J" and "The Red Sox Monologues." He is currently the Administrative Director for TNC, returning in September, 2018 to a position he previously held for 12 years. He was Managing Director of TACT/The Actors Company Theater for three years.

Remington Moses (Sandy) is a graduate of Tisch School of the Arts. Theatre credits include- The Tempest, Rhinoceros, Othello, Dog Sees God, Consent, The Student Body, Oedipus Rex, The Gnome. Film and TV credits include- upcoming feature film The Mental State, Lifetime Original Movie A Fatal Obsession, and CBS' Murphy Brown. Remington proudly comes from a family of actors and is the great granddaughter of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and the granddaughter of Ricky Nelson. She recently worked as Candice Bergen's stand in on the most recent season of Murphy Brown.

Nicholas Santasier (Carl) - has appeared in various NYC stage productions over the years. Roles include Arcadia (Ezra Chater), Dracula (van Helsing), Any Which Way Thou Wouldst Have It (Monsieur Opinion-Publique). Film/TV appearances include Get Happy!, Redwood, Shadow of Doubt, and various new media projects. He is also a VO artist with over 45 audiobooks under his belt. All my love to Alix. www.nicholassantasier.com

David F. Slone, Esq. (Dr. Lawrence):
David is best known as the emcee and co-producer of theatrical dance variety troupe The Love Show (Nutcracker: Rated R, SEVERED: The Tragic Loves of Frankenstein's Monster, Boomstick Ballet, & Grindhouse: The Ballet). As a singer, actor, and variety performer, he has shared the stage and screen with such stars of cabaret, circus, film, television, radio, and Broadway as F. Murray Abraham, Sarah Rice, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, Rob Base, Jonathan Ames, Phoebe Legere, Constantine Maroulis, Tammy Grimes, Luba Mason, Ervin Drake, André De Shields, Michael Musto, and Randy Jones. He is pleased, as always, to be back at Theater for the New City. www.davidslone.com

Courtney Torres (Nina):
Courtney's credits include TRUMPETS: Will the Walls Come Down. and CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN lll, both premiering here this past fall; STARS OUT OF BALANCE, awarded by Planet Connections Festivity for best production of a staged reading, Summer of 2018; SENTIENT BEINGS, EAT's New Works Series, Spring 2018; THE DECAY OF A ROSE, The Spring Forward Festival; And independent work at The Kraine and Under St. Marks Theaters. Courtney has worked with independent Theater companies in and out of New York City such as, Fengari Ensemble, The Vyuga Project, Locked in the Attic Productions!, and Poor Mouth Theater Company.

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