World Premiere of FEEJEE MERMAID by Clay McLeod Chapman to be Presented at The Flea

Drops in the Vase will present the World Premiere of FEEJEE MERMAID, a new play by Clay McLeod Chapman (The Pumpkin Pie Show, Hostage Song) about a taxidermy competition, October 16 - November 2 at The Flea. They will also present 3 special Halloween-themed DOUBLE FEATURE nights that include the 7:30pm performance of FEEJEE MERMAID, followed immediately by selections from these masters of horror:

October 24, 2024

Clay McLeod Chapman
Clay McLeod Chapman digs into the dusty steamer trunk of mono-stories from his cult indie theater fave The Pumpkin Pie Show, resuscitating some old faves to send chills down the audience's spine... along with fresher yarns, to boot. Tales of madness, murder and mayhem are all on the menu, performed in direct address to drag hapless ticket buyers into the campfire.

October 25, 2024

Nat Cassidy
Killer children . . . amorous robots . . . ghostly visitations . . . and tappin' toes. Come join Nat Cassidy and his guitar for a special evening of dark, twisted storysongs.

October 31, 2024

Short Films by Laura Moss and Brendan J. O'Brien
First up is RISING UP, a 'ground-breaking' documentary about the origins of the oft-neglected Zombie Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. This 27-minute short from 2009 won Best Director at Boston International Film Festival. Narrated by Phil LaMarr, it stars Kevin Allison, Kirk Larsen, and Rae C. Wright. It will be followed by FRY DAY, in which an adolescent girl comes of age against the backdrop of serial killer Ted Bundy's execution in 1989. This 16-minute short from 2017 premiered SXSW and is currently featured on the Criterion Channel.

DOUBLE FEATURES are $60, available www.dropsinthevase.com.

FEEJEE MERMAID is set on the eve of the 19th Annual International Taxidermy Championships. Four experts of the trade gather in a hotel room. Fueled by competitive tension and a whole lot of alcohol, they spend the night vying for supremacy. Who can master the act of creation, and achieve perfection? By the end of the night, one of them proves they are willing to push the boundaries of their craft further than anyone ever thought possible.

FEEJEE MERMAID features Niccolò Walsh, Adam Files, Morgan Zipf-Meister, Duane Ferguson, Connor McNelis, Lizzie Roberts, and Colin Godwin. The Production Team includes Sandy Yaklin (scenic design), Ben Philipp​ (costumes), Nina Agelvis​ (lighting), Artemis Zara Gültekin (sound design), Stephanie Cox-Connolly (props & effects), Ariel Pellman​ (props & effects assistant), Emily Edwards (intimacy & violence director), Sydney Prince (production manager), Sarah Lahue (stage manager) and Divya Anantharaman (taxidermy consultant).

FEEJEE MERMAID runs October 16 - November 2, Tuesday - Saturday at 7:30pm, in The Siggy at The Flea (20 Thomas St, New York, NY 10007). Tickets are $30 - $45, available at www.dropsinthevase.com.

Clay McLeod Chapman writes books, comic books, children's books, as well as for film and television. His most recent novels include What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters. You can find him at www.claymcleodchapman.com.

Pete Boisvert is a director, actor, and graphic designer. He has produced and directed dozens of plays in NYC over the last 25 years, including Infectious Opportunity, The Adventures of Nervous-Boy, and The Brokenhearteds. Co-Artistic Director of Nosedive Productions (1999-2013), Co-Creator of The Blood Brothers present... series (2006-2016). Additional work with The One-Minute Play Festival, Gideon Productions, Vampire Cowboys, and Flux Theater Ensemble.

Nat Cassidy's acclaimed horror novels Mary and Nestlings have been featured on best-of lists from Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, NPR, the NY Public Library, Amazon, and more, and he was named one of the "writers shaping horror's next golden age" by Esquire. His award-winning horror plays have been produced across the country, including Off-Broadway and the Kennedy Center. You've also maybe seen Nat guest-starring on shows like Law & Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, Bull, Quantico, FBI, and many others ... but that's a topic for a different bio. His next horror novel with Tor Nightfire, When the Wolf Comes Home, hits shelves in April 2025 www.natcassidy.com

Laura Moss and Brendan J. O'Brien (pictured above) are NYC based filmmakers who have been making movies together since 2009. Their work has been written about in Vulture, Deadline and Filmmaker Magazine, and has been cited in both the Zombie Movie Encyclopedia and the London Review of Books. Their short film, "Allen Anders - Live at the Comedy Castle (circa 1987)" premiered in Narrative Competition at SXSW 2018. "Fry Day", their previous short, enjoyed a lengthy international festival tour, winning awards at SXSW, Tribeca, Palm Springs and Melbourne International Film Festival. Their first feature, "birth/rebirth", a modern reimagining of the Frankenstein story, produced by Shudder, premiered at Sundance in 2023 and was released theatrically by IFC.

Drops in the Vase was founded in 2023 by Stephanie Cox-Connolly, Pete Boisvert, Brianna Sauvage, Morgan Zipf-Meister, Chris Connolly, and Sarah Lahue. It is a not-for-profit production company committed to independent theater and community building. By providing artists with opportunities to create, promoting audience engagement, and producing live theater, we seek to foster the next era of artistic expression while maintaining a connection to our community's past. The company will present the World Premiere of LILITH IN PISCES by Kayla Eisenberg in March 2025 at The Flea.

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