FOR CLOSURE! Cast Announced At Freefall Theatre

Rehearsals start this week for the world premiere of For Closure! by acclaimed playwright Hannah Benitez. This contemporary farce set in Florida's Gulf Coast is a hilarious and satirical look at the foibles and hypocrisies of modern life.

Lesbian couple Raven (Renata Eastlick) and Amanda (Sara DelBeato) are trying to keep the family real estate agency afloat in trying times. When a nefarious local politician threatens to bring even more disruption to their lives, they must join forces with the enigmatic psychic, Camille Chevalier Milk (played by Tampa Bay favorite Matthew McGee) to expose the true nature of this threat to the town before it's too late. With the help of a wild cast of Florida characters including a handyman, a rapper, an oligarch's mistress, a bird lady and an exotic dancer, they just might pull it off.

Matthew McGee (Camille Chevalier Milk) was recently selected by Creative Loafing Tampa as Best Actor in their 2024 Best of the Bay Issue (Reader's Pick) for his work in Jobsite Theater's smash hit production of The Rocky Horror Show at the Straz Center. McGee also won a Theatre Tampa Bay Award as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as The Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show. For many years, he was a cast member at Walt Disney World and has appeared in numerous plays, musicals and commercials. Renata Eastlick (Raven) is no stranger to Tampa Bay audiences after appearing with American Stage, Tampa Rep and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. She received a Theatre Tampa Bay Award for her work in Good People with American Stage. Eastlick works both nationally and internationally and has appeared Off-Broadway at The Public NYC in for colored girls as well as feature films, television, commercials and as a sought after voice over artist. Sara DelBeato (Amanda) most recently appeared as Mama Mizner in freeFall's Road Show and is a busy character actress, comedian and singer with extensive touring and regional theatre experience. DelBeato originated the role of the incomparable Belle Barth in Raunchy Little Musical.

Rounding out the cast is freeFall favorite Kelly Pekar, Glenn Girón and Francine Wolf. Pekar recently appeared in freeFall's holiday hit, Ken Ludwig's Moriarty as Irene Adler. The acclaimed actress calls Brooklyn, NY home and has appeared in numerous regional and international venues. Glenn Girón traveled the country as Patsy in the national tour of Monty Python's Spamalot and has appeared Off-Broadway and regionally in a variety of musical productions. Both Pekar and Girón play numerous roles in For Closure! 35 year showbiz veteran, Francine Wolf (Cheryl) is an actress, comedienne, writer and performance artist. Wolf has worked in film, television, commercials, regional theatre and has created her own one-woman shows in various venues throughout the Tampa Bay area. 

Costume, property and sound design is by freeFall AD Eric Davis with lighting design by Trenten Szabo and set design by Tom Hansen. The production will feature sound engineering by Nathan Doyle. 

Since its founding, freeFall has presented numerous world-premiere plays including The Buffalo Kings by Natalie Symons, Wolf's Blood by Jethro Compton, American Monkey by Mikhel Raud, The Tempest: Esta Isla Es Mia by Eric Davis OZ: A New Musical by Eric Davis & Michael Raabe, and Fable by Doug DeVita.  

Hannah Benitez is a screenwriter, playwright and fiction writer, who got her start as an actor/musician in over 20 AEA productions, including six at freeFall. Original cast of Here There Are Blueberries by Moisés Kaufman/Tectonic Theater Project and White Fang by Jethro Compton/freeFall Theatre. Her produced plays include: GringoLandia (Zoetic Stage), Adaptive Radiation (Denizen Theatre, AADA and Clarence Brown Theatre), Ashe In Johannesburg (Burning Coal Theatre), Dike (Urbanite Theatre, Hofstra University, New York Theater Workshop 29-hour reading) and an upcoming commission for Island City Stage. Dike was originally developed for The New York Theatre Workshop's 2050 Fellow Tatiana Pandiani's culminating project. The sequel to Dike, Saint Brigid, was selected to be part of the inaugural Pride Plays at Rattlestick Theater in NYC to a sold out house. Benitez made the Kilroy's List with her bilingual play, GringoLandia. She is a finalist for American Shakespeare Center's Shakespeare's New Contemporaries Prize with her comedic adaptation of Henry 6 titled, The 6th, Or, The Patriots. She's had workshops and readings with The Playwrights' Center, Artists' Repertory Theater, The Maltz Jupiter Theater and others. She was most recently in the TV writers' room for the new limited streaming series, La Joconde, directed by Jodie Foster, currently in pre-production. She also recently adapted one of her plays with Universal Television and wrote the pilot for NBC. Represented by WME (Bash Naran) for film/tv and managed by Michael Claassen (Writ Large). Member of the Dramatist Guild and AEA. 

Located in West St Petersburg, freeFall Theatre Company is one of Tampa Bay's most exciting professional theater companies. freeFall was founded in 2008 and moved into its current space at 6099 Central Avenue in 2011. freeFall presents a varied range of classical and new works that are bold, daring, and presented in ways that invite, entertain, and challenge audiences. All freeFall productions are produced and presented locally using acclaimed theater professionals from across the country including many that make Tampa Bay their artistic home. In addition to a full season of shows, freeFall also presents an award-winning series of cabarets, concerts, and special programming as part of their Tandem Series.

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