ME LOVE ME – A WORLD PREMIERE COMES TO FRINGE!
Me Love Me
Helmed by the Associate AD from Second City, this new work about a girlfriend’s struggle, a clone and bad decisions presents a hero that will make audiences squirm.
LOS ANGELES – Tuck Whitney loves himself, cocaine, and his girlfriend…in that order. Me Love Me, a new comically twisted dramatic work presented by Be Flat Productions premiering at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival, explores why in seven shows from June 7-29 at Open Fist Theater.
Tuck is a narcissistic libertine with a middling acting career. Gemma is a Xanax-addicted performance artist with a side career as a celebrity-liaison in a fancy Hollywood hotel. On the eve of their seventh anniversary, Tuck accidentally over-indulges at a party in the Hollywood Hills and misses Gemma’s show. Early the next morning, he’s interrupted by a knock on the door. It’s his fresh-faced, puppy-eyed biological clone, newly released from a laboratory in Westwood. As Tuck and Tuck embark on a tear of booze, drugs and clone-sex, Gemma is left to pick up the pieces of their relationship and try to move on…or maybe…
“When I started writing the play, it was a commentary on a particular brand of Hollywood narcissism,” said Brandon Baruch, the show’s playwright. “I have known a number of people who live utterly hedonistic lifestyles, and the worst part is there never seem to be any negative ramifications. I decided to create a contemptible lout, give him his own clone, and see how far he could take his own self-love. But as the cast and I continued to workshop the script, it transformed into a story about damaged people just trying to survive and find some semblance of happiness.”
Baruch is a professional lighting designer for theatre in L.A. as well as a playwright whose works include The Defamation of Helen Keller, Penguin Pan, Deicide: A Sorta Musical and Top That! Baruch workshopped this script over a seven-month period along with his cast. He was then fortunate enough to have his script attract the eye of Marc Warzecha, the associate artistic director of Second City. Warzecha, who has appeared on Mad TV and Reno 911 as well as countless stage productions, agreed to direct the piece.
The show is tough to categorize as either a comedy or a tragedy as it highlights elements of both. However, the most interesting aspect of the play is Tuck, a “hero” audiences may have trouble rallying behind.
“I think the essential game of this play is tricking the audience into falling in love with someone who they know is not a good person,” Baruch said. “I hope that it’s a messy experience enjoying this character, even though you know you shouldn’t like him. I think a lot of us have a friend or family member like Tuck. As a playwright, I’m bringing the conflicting emotions of pity, disdain, horror, and hope that we feel all of them at once for the characters, especially Tuck.”
Calendar Listing Request:
Me Love Me
Written by Brandon Baruch
Directed by Marc Warzecha
Produced by Be Flat Productions
SYNOPSIS:
Tuck is a narcissistic libertine with a middling acting career. Gemma is a Xanax-addicted performance artist with a side career as a celebrity-liaison in a fancy Hollywood hotel. On the eve of their seventh anniversary, Tuck accidentally over-indulges at a party in the Hollywood Hills and misses Gemma’s show. Early the next morning, he’s interrupted by a knock on the door. It’s his fresh-faced, puppy-eyed biological clone, newly released from a laboratory in Westwood. As Tuck and Tuck embark on a tear of booze, drugs and clone-sex, Gemma is left to pick up the pieces of their relationship and try to move on…or maybe…
DATES AND TIMES:
June 7, 9:30 p.m. – Preview
June 14, 7:30 p.m.
June 15, 2 p.m.
June 18, 9 p.m.
June 23, 6:30 p.m.
June 26, 10:30 p.m.
June 29, 3 p.m.
LOCATION:
Open Fist Theater
6209 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
TICKET PRICES:
$15 for general admission
INFORMATION:
www.hff13.org/1146
PRESS CONTACT:
Jim Martyka
(818) 497-3701
[email protected]
