Theater for the New City Presents The Inventor, The Escort... 1/6-29/2011

Theater for the New City will present "The Inventor, The Escort, The Photographer, Her Boyfriend and His Girlfriend," the newest comedy by Matt Morillo ("Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans with High Class Issues") from January 6 to 29, directed by the author. In this funny, sexy new comedy, five people are barricaded in one apartment building, with a fierce snowstorm outside, looking for love in all the wrong places.

The play skillfully entwines two comic scenarios. In a downstairs apartment, Julia, a call girl, arrives for an appointment with Jeffrey, a nerdy young man who has gotten rich by inventing best-selling sexual devices. Both are in the sex business, but being young, lonely, open-hearted and without guile, naturally they fall in love. What starts as a routine "trick" with trimmings (fake palm trees, suntan lotion and lots of margaritas) ends up with Jeffrey and Julia helping each other uncover the wounds that led them to who they are, getting considerably more than they bargained for on this "first date."

They are juxtaposed with the upstairs neighbors, everyday folks John and Karen, an estranged couple, settling in for a sweet reconciliation after an agreed-upon break. John's a flagrant philanderer Karen's a secret one; she had allowed him an outside affair, knowing his nature. Their plans go awry when Molly, a nubile young modern dancer whom John had dallied with, arrives to take refuge from the blizzard with him. The reconciliation between John and Karen turns into an outrageous evening of drunkenness, accusations and revelations.

The play comedically juxtaposes the wholesomeness of the couple in the sex businessness with the seaminess of the "normal" people upstairs. Playwright Morillo states, "It's about what lurks beneath. In our society, the majority of the population, at first glance, would see Jeffrey and Julia as freaks or criminals and John, Karen and Molly as ordinary people. But how will they feel after getting to know them a little?"

Originally a filmmaker, Matt Morillo made an auspicious theatrical debut in 2006 with "Angry Young Women In Low Rise Jeans With High Class Issues," which is being revived by Theater for the New City December 2 to 12, 2010. The comedy was presented by TNC in 2007, an Off-Broadway run in NYC, multiple engagements in Hollywood and Sydney (Australia) and a TNC return engagement in 2009, but it never seems to exhaust its audience. It was followed by a thoughtful comedy, "All Aboard the Marriage Hearse" (TNC, 2008), and Morillo's first serious play, "American Soldiers" (TNC, January 2010), a family drama about a woman war veteran's return to her home in Long Island. Morillo returns to the comic form with "The Inventor, The Escort, The Photographer, Her Boyfriend and His Girlfriend." The play was partly inspired by Eliott Spitzer's imbroglio with an escort service, which gave Morillo the idea of writing a call girl character. He relates, "When the Sptizer scandal broke, I didn't see his call girl as an awful slut who took down the governor. I saw a pretty girl who provided a service to a consenting adult and got paid for it. Perhaps she had her reasons. So good for her!"

Morillo's "Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans with High Class Issues," "All Aboard the Marriage Hearse" and "American Soldiers" have all been published by Samuel French Inc.

Prior to his theatrical shift, Morillo was a fixture on the New York independent film scene for ten years. He debuted at 23 with his romantic comedy, "The Pretenders," a film with a cast of unknowns and a non-existent budget that became an enjoyable, funny and ultimately touching film about twenty-somethings struggling with life's ups and downs. His next project, "Good Tidings," was a fifteen-minute short film about a young girl suffering through her parents' divorce. It received great praise at film festivals for its realism and honesty. Morillo's third film, "Maid Of Honor," was a true breakthrough. A twenty-five minute comedy about a simple guy trying to hook up with the maid of honor at a wedding, it was a hit on the festival circuit, winning three awards, playing to sold-out theaters and leaving audiences laughing and begging for copies of the film. In 2010, Morillo returned to the short film world with "Rocky Vs. Adrian," a comedy about a young man with an unhealthy Rocky Balboa obsession. Upcoming is "Angry Young Women in the Dollar Store with the Long Island Meatheads," a short film spin off from "Angry Young Women In Low Rise Jeans With High Class Issues."

Theater for the New City has been Morillo's creative home since 2007. He writes, "TNC has afforded me the opportunity that is the dream of every artist. To be able to hone my abilities in an environment where they support, promote, nurture and inspire you to push, grow, and stretch all of your abilities to levels that perhaps even you yourself do not think are possible. Without concern for commercialism or conformity, TNC creates an environment that cannot possibly be described in one word. But I will try to describe in four: creative, daring, progressive and passionate. Actually, I think I can describe TNC in one word: Art!"

"The Inventor, The Escort, The Photographer, Her Boyfriend and His Girlfriend" is written and directed by Matt Morillo and features David R. Doumeng, Jessica Durdock Moreno, Tom Pilutik, Emily Campion and Maria Rowene. Set design is by Mark Marcante. Lighting design is by Amith A. Chandrashaker. Producers are Jessica Durdock Moreno, Tom Pilutik and Matt Morillo.

 

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