STUNNING NEW PIECE BY PAUL ELLIOTT

Gentle Passage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeffrey Wylie
Producer/Fierce Backbone
Phone: 323-445-1029
Email: [email protected]

FIERCE BACKBONE
DOES THE
HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL

GENTLE PASSAGE is one of 7 productions being produced by Fierce Backbone in the Hollywood Fringe Fest this June.

GENTLE PASSAGE
Written by Paul Elliott with Ed Joswick
Directed by Paul Messinger

Anna is a no-nonsense psychologist going for tenure, but to be granted tenure she must be published. Spearheading an ADHD research program was going to be her way to success. But due to her abrasive personality, she is removed from that project and put on a small Alzheimer’s research program, testing the effects of a new drug. Her job is to interview patients and measure their cognitive powers.

It’s a real step down for her and she hates everything about the project, until she meets Joseph, an argumentative, sixty-five year old gay man, who isn’t yet ready to die. Journeying back into his past and what he’s had to endure to just survive, forces Anna to finally step out of her own limiting universe to care for someone other than herself, but it may already be too late for both of them.

GENTLE PASSAGE
Artworks Theater — 6585 Santa Monica Blvd
Thursday 6/7 @ 6pm Thursday 6/14 @ 8pm
Friday 6/15 @ 6pm Saturday 6/16 @ 6pm
Sunday 6/17 @ 6pm Monday 6/18 @ 6pm
Tuesday 6/19 @ 6pm Wednesday 6/20 @ 6pm
Thursday 6/21 @ 6pm Friday 6/22 @ 6pm
Saturday 6/23 @ 8pm Sunday 6/24 @ 4pm

www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/812

PAUL ELLIOTT (Playwright) is an accomplished director, producer and writer on over sixty syndicated and network shows as well as live entertainment spectaculars for theme parks and stadiums around the world. Published works for the stage include Legacy; Perspective; Ledge, Ledger and the Legend; Mind Games; The Door and the Mind Games Anthology. Finding the Burnett Heart just completed its Hollywood premiere. His musical, Dula, is scheduled to premiere this summer at Northwestern University and his new novel, The Riverton Project, should hit stands by the end of the summer. Gentle Passage is the first play he’s written with his husband, Ed Joswick.

PAUL MESSINGER (Director) After attending The Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, Paul moved to New York City to study with Lee Strasberg. While in New York he managed to graduate from NYU and begin his career by starring with Elaine Stritch in the Papermill Playhouse production of Suite in Two Keys. In LA he appeared at The Taper in Stuff Happens. Some of his television credits include two years as Oscar on All My Children, The Practice, The Gilmore Girls, Part of Five, Life, and Close to Home. Paul also has an active career in commercials.

ED JOSWICK (Playwright) worked for many years as a greensman for the movie and television industry, specializing in scenic Christmas trees and floral arrangements for most of the daytime dramas and game shows produced in Los Angeles. It was only after marrying his husband, Paul, that he decided to take off the rose-colored glasses and delve into some lost chapters in his life to finally come to grips with what it was like to be a child in his family. Those memories are the basis for Gentle Passage. While the premise of Gentle Passage is entirely false, the stories and memories are entirely true.

RACHEL BOLLER (Anna) Gentle Passage marks Rachel’s debut to the LA stage, and she can’t thank both Pauls enough for this incredible opportunity. Originally from Chicago, Rachel has grown up doing theater- favorite roles include Catherine in Proof, (Independent Players of Elgin), Roz in Moon over Buffalo (Steel Beam Theatre), Grace in Annie (Schaumburg Onstage), and Desiree in A Little Night Music (Millikin University). She holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theater from Millikin University, and sends all her love to her family back home: Mom, Dad, Craig, Amanda, and Marge- wish you were all here to see me! I miss you!

GARY RUBENSTEIN (Joseph) Gary’s credits include the Untitled Karyn Usher Pilot directed by Brett Ratner, Parks and Recreation, Scrubs and a recurring role on Better Off Ted. Of his many theater credits he is most proud of his workshop musical version of the movie Sideways. Gary has been a member of Fierce Backbone for 3 years.

“The art of writing has for backbone some fierce attachment to an idea.” Virginia Woolf
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Show times and individual press releases for other Fierce Backbone productions are available at www.hollywoodfringe.com and search Fierce Backbone.