THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP Resumes Performances On 1/21

JV Katipunan and Jon Santos

The Marie Eugenie Theatre of the Assumption (METTA) resumes its production of fast-paced and campy Off-Broadway comedy THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP on January 21 to 23, 2010 at the newly-opened Assumption Black Box Theater, 5/F Marie Eugenie Building, Assumption College, Lorenzo Village, Makati City in Manila.  The show features popular celebrity impersonator Jon Santos and screen and stage actor JV Katipunan. 

The play in two acts, written by Charles Ludlam, is a parody of several stage productions and American films including Victorian melodrama, Alfred Hitchcock's classic noir films, post-modern cinema, among others. Featured actors Santos and Katipunan will essay 10 different roles that demand quick costume and set changes in a nearly two-hour high voltage performance.

Directed by Juilliard-educated Ana Valdes-Lim, this production of THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP will also showcase seven students from Lim's Technical Theater Class at Assumption College.  Lim has established METTA in 2004 as its artistic director.  Under her tutelage, she leads METTA, which is composed of young female students and professional actors, in mounting theatrical productions that would help raise artistic consciousness of the school community as well as the public. 

THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP was originally produced by the playwright's Ridiculous Theatre Company.  It opened at an Off-Off Broadway theatre in Greenwich Village, New York City on September 1986 and ran for two years.  It starred Ludlam and Everett Quinton.  The original production won a Drama Desk Award while its actors received an Obie Award for ensemble performance. 

The camp comedy was later produced on Off-Broadway's Westside Theatre in 1998 to 1999 with Quinton and Stephen DeRosa.  It has received Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Revival of a Play, Best Lighting Design and Best Costumes.

THE MSTERY OF IRMA VEP became America's most popular play in 1991. 

METTA's production in Manila will highlight a lecture by the director on "Rehearsal Techniques" for students and teachers.

For ticket information, contact Czarene Revilla at (632) 817-0757 loc. 1162, (63) 917 - 7516434 or e-mail: czarene@gmail.com. Ticket Price:  PhP 150.00.

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