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Press Release
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A New Play by DYLAN DAWSON
Co-conceived by DYLAN DAWSON and ANDY DONALD
TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2006
IN DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN
The Charlie B. Theater Company, supported in-part by Bill Cosby, proudly presents two staged industry readings of MOVIE GEEK, a new play written by Dylan Dawson and co-conceived by Mr. Dawson and Andy Donald, on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 in Downtown Manhattan. Directed by Mr. Donald, MOVIE GEEK had its sold-out, awardwinning New York premiere at the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival, where it took the Fringe Award for Outstanding Multimedia Production.
Featuring an acting company and production team of graduates from NYU/Tisch, Emerson College and RISD, MOVIE GEEK is a multimedia satire following the epic rise and fall of the fictional “Geek,” who would grow up to become the world's biggest movie nerd and most powerful Hollywood mogul. His life “inspired” all the great film characters from Chaplin to Rocky to the lovers of Casablanca and Fatal Attraction. MOVIE GEEK is told in the style of Citizen Kane mixed with a Ken Burns-style documentary live on stage. The action is split between onstage spoofs of classic movies and on-screen interviews with film historians, pundits and famous movie star friends.
Real celebrity video cameos by Kathleen Turner, Henry Winkler, Lea DeLaria, Bill Cosby and others testify how the Geek touched their lives and shaped their careers. The play aims to attract both film and theater audiences alike. It is a truly passionate love letter to Hollywood – a reminder of why we escape to the movies and ultimately, a tribute to the “geek” in all of us.
The Charlie B. Theater Company is a 35-member, Los Angeles-based ensemble that was formed in 2001 by Andy Donald and Daniel Hartley. In 2004, the Company introduced their first "Flight Series: A Workshop Festival of Original Plays" where the one-man version of MOVIE GEEK was first performed.
A commercial Off-Broadway production of MOVIE GEEK is currently in development. To request more information, including venue and performance times for the February 28 MOVIE GEEK presentations, or to inquire about complimentary industry tickets, please call Cori Silberman at 646-594-6171 or email corisilberman@gmail.com.
MOVIE GEEK was presented by The New York International Fringe Festival, a production of The Present Company.
Reviews
gothamist.com
nytheatre.com (click and scroll down for review)
curtainup.com
nytheatre-wire.com
From Backstage.com
Movie Geek
Reviewed By David Sheward
Presented by Charlie B. Company as part of the New York International Fringe Festival at Collective: Unconscious, 279 Church St., NYC, Aug. 12-26. Dylan Dawson manages to poke fun at and pay homage to the film-obsessed in "Movie Geek," his clever play and video collage. Dawson stars as the title character, a devoted cinema fan whose wacky life story parallels a parade of Hollywood classics. With "Citizen Kane" providing the foundation, his biography unravels through parodies of "Casablanca," "Fatal Attraction," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and dozens of others.
It's a load of fun as enacted by Dawson and a company of sharp sketch comics who flip genres and eras with ease. Live scenes are augmented with video sequences by Aaron Maurer, Sarah Burgess, and Ana Hurka-Robles that merge stock footage with new material. There are also surprise cameos by real stars such as Bill Cosby, Henry Winkler, Lea DeLaria, and Kathleen Turner, who turns in a wicked parody of her public image as a blowsy harridan. Director and co-creator Andy Donald integrates the live and filmed segments seamlessly.
But the highlight of the production comes toward the end, when Dawson delivers an extended monologue about a visit to a video store and the joys of being passionate about movies. The comedy is halted for a few minutes and Dawson offers us an honest look at the nature of cinema geekdom. The images in the speech are so real and so simply delivered that the play transcends its satiric nature to become a social documentary.
Josh Halloway plays the narrator with charm. Maggie Marion makes a plucky, perky, and nonplussed love interest. In a variety of roles, Adam Lustick, Eric Clem, and Shannon Walker juggle multiple accents and attitudes with aplomb.