INTACT PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS THE CONTROVERSIAL MY BROTHER AT THE 2014 HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL

My Brother

May 11 – June 28, 2014

LOS ANGELES, CA (May 7, 2014)—The Hollywood Fringe Festival takes a second look at American History this year with the controversial new play “MY BROTHER” from playwright / director Brendan Russo. The provocative new work, which examines the life and motives of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin JOHN WILKES BOOTH, premieres as part of the Fringe at Theatre Asylum & Lab’s LILLIAN THEATRE (1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood) on June 8th (7:30 PM), June 14th (3:30 PM), June 18 (8:30 PM), June 22 (5:00 PM) and June 28 (10:00 PM).

ADAM WYLIE, long past the days of playing the young boy on CBS’s PICKET FENCES, and who now spends his time performing on Broadway (the TONY-Winning Revival of INTO THE WOODS, WICKED) and on Television (VERONICA MARS, GILMORE GIRLS, and as PETER PAN in Disney’s wildly successful JAKE AND THE NEVER LAND PIRATES franchise) takes center stage as romantic matinee star/Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth, who is torn between his devotion to his family, and to the war-torn South. The play chronicles his life and his relationships, mainly with his writer-sister, Asia (Eryn Guyton) who lives stuck in a dead-end marriage with a sycophantic actor trying to milk the Booth family name for his career, and his much more famous brother, actor Edwin Booth (Vince Major), whose life devolves into alcohol and hedonism as he becomes one of the most famous men in the world.

The play, written by Russo as a reaction to his experience being a high school student in downtown New York City during the 9/11 terror attacks, examines the reasons why a person with all of the love and potential in the world would embark upon violent, long-lasting means to achieve the end they claim is peace.

Meticulously researched, and taken from the diaries of both Booth and his sister, MY BROTHER takes a hard, emotional, complicated look at Booth, his life, his passions, and the people he affected both in the lead-up to, and the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination.

During its nascency, MY BROTHER received a private reading at the JOSEPH PAPP PUBLIC THEATRE in New York. As the script was workshopped, it opened the door for Russo to gain acceptance to the Dramatists Guild, where then-president and playwright JOHN WEIDMAN (writer, PACIFIC OVERTURES, ANYTHING GOES, BIG, ASSASSINS) gave Russo guidance in the structure, and development of the piece, bringing it to the form in which it exists today.
   
MY BROTHER will have its WORLD PREMIERE as one of the most controversial and highly anticipated shows in the 2014 HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL on June 14th with a special preview performance on June 8th at 7:30 PM. Tickets are on sale at www.hollywoodfringe.org.

MY BROTHER is an INTACT PRODUCTION Written and Directed by Brendan Russo; Starring Adam Wylie, Eryn Guyton, Vince Major, Steve Phelan, Erin McIntosh, Bianca Hali Doria, Steve T. Bartlett, Radek Antczak, and Aleksander Ristic; Produced by Alexa Berry, Javier Sepulveda, Brendan Russo & Juan Carlos Moreno Rangel; The Lillian Theatre, 1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood, CA 90038.