Shut Up Martha to Premiere At The CAPITAL FRINGE This Month

"Shut Up Martha" will premiere at the CAPITAL FRINGE opening July 13 dramatizing the historic Watergate scandal.

Shut Up Martha introduces contemporary audiences to Martha Mitchell, the wife of John Mitchell, President Richard Nixon's attorney general. Known as the "Mouth of the South" for her tendency to listen in on her husband's conversations, she would then call reporters to dish what she had overheard.

Martha and John were campaigning for Nixon's re-election in June 1972 when five men were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee's offices in the Watergate complex. When Martha called her journalist friend, Helen Thomas, Martha revealed two surprising things: that she was being kept against her will in a hotel room in California and that she knew one of the burglars. When Helen Thomas reported this call, it set off a political firestorm, leading to the historic downfall of an American president and the men around him.

Shut Up Martha is an official selection the Capital Fringe festival. Creator Jake Lipman stars as Martha Mitchell. She notes, "Martha was a big deal in her time - she was alarger-than-life presence in American politics. But sadly, few people knowabout her now. The more I learned, the more I was convinced her story wouldmake for compelling theater."

The cast features Matt Gibson (Wonka, I Am Harvey Milk), Jake Lipman (The Inn at Lake Devine, Relentlessly Pleasant), Jaya Tripathi (Mud), William Douglas Turner (Plot Device), and Loralee Tyson (The Deuce,Caught, Hometown) with understudies Santa Claire and Peter Kendall. The show is written and directed by Jake Lipman and Olivia M.Ragan, with lighting design by Camille Kashaka and sound design by Philip Rothman.

A New York/Washington Collaboration: The cast and crew of Shut Up Martha hail from both NYC and the DC metroareas, and the rehearsal process took place virtually and in both locales. The company reunites in DC this week to stage the world premiere of this limited run.

Shut Up Martha runs at the Capital Fringe's Squirt Theatre, 1050 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Tickets are $15 and available HERE. Performances are Thursday eveing July 13 at 6:00 pm, Saturday morning, July 15 at 10:55 am, and Sunday eveing July 16 at 7:45pm. The play is under an hour.

Contact info@jaymichaelsarts.com for press information and reservations. For further information including cast bios and directions to the venue, visit www.shutupmartha.com

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