PURE SHOCK VALUE BY MATT PELFREY

Pure Shock Value

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:
James Waterman
[email protected]
213-503-4165

HOLLYWOOD,CA -Composed of acclaimed Artists from New York and Los Angeles, PS Taper Co. has announced that it will present the Los Angeles premier of the dark comedy PURE SHOCK VALUE by Matt Pelfrey at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, 2014. The production will open on Tuesday June 10th at the Underground Theatre Annex during the Fringe Festival preview period and run through June 21st.

PURE SHOCK VALUE offers a bold new take on the Hollywood satire. It tells the story of Ethan, Tex and Gabby, three struggling, passionate filmmakers in Hollywood desperate for success. When their chance at a production deal for their nuanced flatulence comedy “Barking Spiders” falls through they are left with a choice: do they finally give up their dreams or do they double down on their commitment? It is at that moment that their biggest filmmaking hero serendipitously crosses their path and presents them with a savage opportunity to prove themselves worthy. Beneath its dark and hilarious comic exterior, PURE SHOCK VALUE asks the question: Where is the line between impassioned and misguided, dream and delusion?

This scathing dark comedy features Donald Rizzo, Jeffrey Addiss, Kristen Nielsen Schrass, and Adam Mervis. Donald Rizzo won acclaim in the L.A.D.C.C. award nominated and Best of Hollywood Fringe 2012 production “Tape” as well as opposite Sam Rockwell in Fox Searchlight’s “Choke” at the Sundance Film Festival. Jeffrey Addiss has worked at Center Theater Group, and The Atlantic Theater Company and recently appeared in the film “Light Years” with Allison Janney and Chris Lowell. Kristen Nielsen Schrass is an improv and stand-up comedian performing at IO West, Second City, and The Comedy Store, has performed at the American Latino Theatre. Adam Mervis has starred the off-Broadway play “The Revolutionaries” and the the film “The Philly Kid”, produced by Joel Silver.

The production is directed by J.B. Waterman, who’s co-direction of Harold Pinter’s “The Lover” (which he also starred in) won critical praise at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival. The Huffington Post’s James Scarborough wrote that Waterman’s production "feels so damn real” and “rivets us to our seats”.

PURE SHOCK VALUE received world premiered at the Exit Theatre in San Francisco, produced by Killing My Lobster, and the San Francisco Chronicle wrote glowingly, “Think the Hollywood satire has been done to death? Think again….SHOCK pulls off the rare feat of becoming funnier and more acute the more over-the-top it goes”. Matt Pelfrey is the recipient of the Heideman Award (National Ten-Minute Play Award) and has had his work produced at the Actors Theater of Louisville, Furious Theatre, Roadworks and many others. He has been nominated for an American Critics New Play Award and Los Angeles Ovation Award.

PURE SHOCK VALUE will run at the Underground Theatre Annex Tuesday June 10th at 8pm, Friday June 13th at 8pm, Saturday June 14th at 8pm, Sunday June 15th at 3pm, and Saturday June 21st at 8pm.

Members of the press may arrange complimentary tickets through the press contact.

The Underground Theatre Annex is located at 1314 N. Wilton Pl. in Hollywood, CA 90028. Street parking is plentiful on the surrounding streets.