NO PAROLE Returns to the Bay Area at The Marsh San Francisco

In this wry, energetic semiautobiographical adventure play, No Parole takes the audience on a kaleidoscopic journey through the life a flamboyant, live-for-the-moment con artist mother, who has no trouble posing as an attorney, professor, daycare worker, or nun --- as seen through the eyes of the young son who acts as her look-out, bail, partner-in-crime, and follows her across borders, into jail, and finally to the end of the road. Performer Carlo D'Amore plays all the characters, from his mother as a vibrant, young woman, to her 60 year-old stroke-battered self, as well as himself as a child, teenager, and adult, his brother, father, various law enforcement officials, doctors, and others taken in by his mother's imaginative schemes -which run the gamut from shoplifting to international smuggling.  Traveling from their native Peru, bypassing Mexican border officials without legal Visas, and into the promised land of the U.S., from the Hollywood Hills to an illegal New York City walk-up, No Parole provides a vivid, and hilarious look into the life of an extraordinary woman who saw the world as her playground, and the children she dragged along with her.

No Parole won over critics when it played at the San Francisco Playhouse in July, 2007 (the current production contains significant revisions). Rob Avila of the San Francisco Bay Guardian wrote, "It's anyone's guess just how semi this 'semi-autobiographical' story is, but its theatrical chronicle, deftly conjured by the skillful and charismatic D'Amore comes over in great cinematic images like a black-box blend of Martin Scorsese and Pedro Almodóvar." Richard Dodds of the Bay Area Reporter declared D'Amore "has a quirky, wry sense of humor that suggests a Latino Eddie Izzard with a little bit of Pee Wee Herman" and lauded the show as "expert storytelling… enchanting; a funny and poignant ride." He went on to select No Parole as one of the year's top ten productions.  The revised production, which is playing at the Sacramento Theatre Company this month before coming to The Marsh, was recently reviewed by the Sacramento Bee as an "exemplary piece, funny, touching and true – as true as art can be."

An actor, playwright, director, and educator with over twenty years of experience in the theatre, Carlo D'Amore has been involved in groundbreaking productions across the country. D'Amore filled seven roles in the Cheech Marin-directed Latinologues at the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway, as well as being featured in Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke for the Roundabout Theater Company. Regional acting credits include roles with San Diego Repertory Theatre, two seasons with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival (Shakespeare in the Park), and three productions at the legendary Magic Theater, including two collaborations with Pulitzer-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. His work in film and television includes collaborations with Spike Lee, Anjelica Huston, and OZ director Tom Fontana.

No Parole will play The Marsh San Francisco (1062 Valencia Street – near 22nd Street in the Mission) Thursday, November 13 through Saturday, December 13, 2008.  The performance schedule is Thursday - Saturday at 8 PM, with no shows on Thursday, November 27, Thursday, December 4, and Friday, December 5. Ticket prices for performances are $15 – $50, with reserved seating for $50 and $100.

Tickets are on sale now at The Marsh San Francisco box office, by phone at (800) 838-3006, and at brownpapertickets.com.  For more information, visit http://themarsh.org.

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