The Dirty Blondes to present Staged Reading of Mae West's SEX 9/29-10/2

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade in association with The Dirty Blondes will present a staged reading of Mae West's infamous stage play, SEX, directed by Courtney Laine Self for a limited engagement September 29-October 2 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A) with performances Thursday through Sunday at 7pm. Tickets ($17) may be purchased in advance at www.horseTRADE.info.

During its Broadway run, SEX by Mae West, about a sharp-witted prostitute looking for true love, was shut down and West was jailed for lewdness and the corrupting of youth. The Dirty Blondes will examine this play to find out just how extreme it was then, and how it's still relevant today.

The cast will feature Alan Dronek, Stephen Elrod, Travis Emery, Alexandra Frost, Lauren Riddle, and Susannah Jones, in the role originated by Mae West.

COURTNEY LAINE SELF (Director) has previously directed for the Dirty Blondes on their 2014 Fringe show The Tunnel Play, Hallowed Ground at the Brick, and their play festival Detroit NY. Recent NYC credits: Anything Goes (Village Light Opera Group), Bonnie and Clyde (Fordham University),Thoroughly Modern Millie (Five Angels Theatre), along with new musicals In Kharms' Way, The Memory Lanes, and This Life. She recently finished a 6-month lab with Everyday Inferno Theatre Company, attended Director's Lab West in LA, and directed/choreographed The Little Mermaid at Millbrook Playhouse. She is currently developing a full-length dance theatre piece with 92Y. MFA: Directing, Southern Illinois Univ. courtneylaineself.com

MAE WEST (Playwright) Mary Jane "Mae" West was an American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. Born on August 17, 1893, in Brooklyn, New York, Mae West hit her Hollywood stride in her late 30s, when she might have been considered in her "advanced years" for playing sexy harlots, but her persona and physical beauty overcame any doubt. The blunt sexuality of her films aroused the wrath and moral indignation of several groups, but this sexuality is what she is remembered for today.

THE DIRTY BLONDES The Dirty Blondes' mission is to produce theater that furthers the right conversation at the right time with the right people. Through this mission, artists are responsible for using their work to participate in a dialogue that bears on their experience and pushes the conversation further - creating stark, challenging and emotional truthful pieces of theater.

Founded in Brooklyn in 2012, The Dirty Blondes have produced 15 works of new theater featuring the talent of more than 340 artists (through mainstage productions, beta readings and Play in a Day Festivals) willing to use the stage to create visually stunning and emotionally truthful pieces of theater and to highlight the importance of political and social advocacy. Winners of Overall Excellence in Playwriting at FringeNYC (2015) for THE AMERICAN PLAY, which was also extended Off-Broadway at SoHo Playhouse. Productions by The Dirty Blondes have been declared "A phenomenal, important piece of theatre" by the Fringe Review (THE TUNNEL PLAY), and "Raw, contemporary and edgy" by StageBuddy (THE AMERICAN PLAY).

FRIGID NEW YORK is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.

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