Actors Theatre TRIPLE ESPRESSO extended to OCT 11

TRIPLE ESPRESSO broke all box office records for Actors Theatre last season. Now this season’s remount has extended to October 11^th. The “highly caffeinated comedy” tells the story of three showbiz guys reunited long after their national television debut ended in humiliation. Bobby Bean (musician), Buzz Maxwell (magician), and Hugh Butternut (slapstick comedian) recount their near miss at fame and fortune, but the skeleton plot is really a vehicle for the considerable talents of the three performers. And all but a few performances of this production feature the authors and original cast, Michael Pearce Donley, Bill Arnold, and Bob Stromberg.

These three creators opened TRIPLE ESPRESSO in Minneapolis in the mid-nineties. It ran there for twelve years and found multi-year runs in several other markets. The highly specialized abilities of the performers forced them to form a training school to replace them in Minnesota and to send the show all over the world. The TRIPLE ESPRESSO website claims the show has been seen by 1.5 million people world-wide.

Word-of-mouth marketing has been a huge contributor to the success of TRIPLE ESPRESSO. And Phoenix seems to be following that trend. Many audience members saw the show last spring and have returned with friends and family. The crossover appeal to non-theatergoing people is unprecedented by Phoenix standards. TRIPLE ESPRESSO’s executive producer, Dennis Babcock, explains it thus, "The non-theatergoer gets dragged there saying, 'A play? I'm going to see a play?'

 ‘No – you're going to have a good time."

TRIPLE ESPRESSO continues through October 11^th at the Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix. www.actorstheatrephx.org

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