Seattle to Workshop New Comedy About Melania Trump To Make American Theatre Great Again!

Jacques Lamarre's hilarious new comedy MY VHITE HOUSE* CHRISTMAS SPASHIAL VITH MELANIA (*LIVE FROM TRUMP TOWER) will be receiving a three-performance public workshop at the Jewel Box Theatre at the Rendezvous located at 2322 Second Avenue in Seattle. Performances are Saturday, April 22nd at 5pm and 7:15pm and Sunday, April 23rd at 7:15p.m. Tickets can be obtained by visiting www.mamches.com. Tickets are $10 for general admission or $60 for a "VIP Premium Reserved Gold Mar-A-Lago Double Medallion Insider's Table" for six.

Join Melania Trump (Ian Hill) as she shares Trump Family Christmas traditions and her "vonderful" journey from Slovenia's top Slovenian supermodel to reticent First Lady of the Once-Again-Great United States. With the help of her no-nonsense Russian maid Ludmilla (Kinzie Shaw), Melania might even provide some secret intel on her relationship with The Donald or do a pitch for her sparkly QVC jewelry collection. The play, which had a previous reading at Hartford's HartBeat Ensemble, will be workshopped under the direction of acclaimed director Fiely Matias and produced by Mamches Production's Brad Cerenzia.

Playwright Jacques Lamarre? has written numerous stage plays including the hit comedy I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti (Asolo Rep, George Street Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Florida Rep, Hangar Theatre, among others) ; Born Fat (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2016 winner, Best Solo Show); Gray Matters (Emerson Theatre Collaborative, nominated for Outstanding Playwriting at MITF); and Stool (finalist at NYC's 15 Minute Play Festival). He is a contributor to the comedy Christmas on the Rocks (TheaterWorks Hartford) along with such noteworthy playwrights as Jonathan Tolin, Jeffrey Hatcher, and Theresa Rebeck. Lamarre has co-written thirteen shows for international drag chanteuse Varla Jean Merman including the screenplay for her feature-length film comedy Varla Jean and The Mushroomheads (2011). His newest play Raging Skillet will premiere at TheaterWorks Hartford this summer.

Ian Hill (First Lady Melania Trump) received his BFA in Theatre Studies with an emphasis on directing and acting from Southern Methodist University. A native to Houston, he worked with such companies as the Texas Repertory Theatre and the Houston Grand Opera. Hill moonlights as a club kid/drag queen, and will be appearing as a featured performer at the Austin International Drag Festival later this year. He can be seen as his drag persona Irene Dubois at Seattle's Kremwerk every second Saturday of the month.

Kinzie Shaw (Ludmilla) is a company member at Unexpected Productions and can be seen most weekends performing at The Market Theater. She has worked and performed with The Second City Hollywood, The Blue Door Theater, Jet City Improv, and The Pocket Theater. Her greatest achievement is being one half of the duo, FEELINGS. FEELINGS is a queer intersectional feminist improv duo that has been featured in the Los Angeles Diversity in Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot, and festivals across the country.

The workshop will be helmed by Off-Broadway director Fiely Matias?, best known for his directorial work on the hit Off-Broadway musical Disenchanted! (nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical and an Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Musical). Matias has also directed professional productions that have toured the USA, Canada, and abroad to venues in Sydney, Prague, Singapore, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Photo credit: Erin Kolmodin-Ewing

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