MUTATIONS SHOWCASES MILLENIAL VOICES AT HOLLYWOOD FRINGE

Mutations

Young and upcoming playwright offers a humorous and cynical outlook on the shifting topography of the american family and the effect it has had on a generation in the world premiere of Mutations.

LOS ANGELES— Tom Valentine Gelo, 23, is a millennial who has opted to set down his iPhone, step away from Facebook, and take an anthropological look back at the culture that has shaped himself and those around him.

“As a playwright, I was studying a lot of Chekov, and I thought… these Russian bourgeois family dynamics, with all of their fatal pride… they’re not so different from the families dynamics that surrounded me growing up.”

Mutations is a dark comedy from Gelo that follows an upper-middle class teenager as he navigates relationships with a power-hungry father, a pot smoking suicidal brother, and a step-mother just eight years older than himself. The structure of the piece, inspired by that of a Caryl Churchill play, begins in the style of a 1950s sitcom, complete with optimistic life lessons and laugh tracks, but deteriorates into grounded realism by the second act.

“The audience is introduced to this ‘perfect’ traditional family, and then we shake everything up, exposing the issues and flaws that are at the heart of their relationships.”

The issues at play are numerous. From divorce and suicide, to vaccinations and ADHD, Gelo subtly addresses the landscape and vernacular that has come to define his generation. Gelo, who is also directing the play, is a recent graduate of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts with degrees in both Film and Theatre and has experience in multiple areas of entertainment. While Gelo is making his LA theatre debut, he directed an off-broadway show at the historic LaMaMa theatre, placed as a semi-finalist in the Cinestory National Screenwriting Competition, and was awarded a Scholastic Art and Writing Award with American Visions at Carnegie Hall— an honor shared by Andy Warhol and Robert Redford.

“The name of the play, Mutations, comes from the idea of the 1950’s nuclear family. The mold that was assigned to suburban america has shifted personally, politically, and economically, and that is simultaneously frightening and beautiful. My job as the playwright is not to inject opinion, but to spark discussion and ideally promote positive change.”

The play, while bringing to light serious subjects, is nothing short of humorous, peppered with both cheesy sitcom humor and ironically clever observations. The final tone of the piece rings with hope for the future. The character of the house maid, who in true Chekovian fashion serves as the only voice of reason, sums it up best when she tells the main character “do not fear, for a mutation is nothing more than the first step in an evolution.”

For more info contact:
Tom Valentine Gelo
[email protected]
(210) 618-1809

See second page for production dates and times
Mutations
Written and Directed by: Tom Valentine Gelo
Starring: Nicholas Costello, Graham Drake-Maurer, Shannon Hayes, Phil Reznik, Jacki Von Preysing, Alessia Bonacci

SYNOPSIS:
High school valedictorian August Camden, living in the shadow of a successful father, a burn-out brother, and a step-mother just ten years older than himself, discovers that the road to the “American Dream” is filled with potholes.

DATES AND TIMES
June 6- (preview) 7PM Pay what you can
June 12- 7:30PM
June 18- 9PM
June 21- 2PM
June 27- 9PM

LOCATION
Dorie Theatre at the COMPLEX
6476 Santa Monica Blvd. Hollywood, CA
90038

TICKET PRICES
Free admission to all press
Pay what you can Preview
$12 Regular ticket price
$5 for fringe participants
$5 for students at door
*tickets for sale at door if available

For tickets:
http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/2197?tab=tickets