ACTS OF POSSESSION - PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Paul Michels (310) 204-4883
Email: [email protected]

Sewer Socialist Productions present:
The World Premiere of

Paul Hoan Zeidler’s
ACTS OF POSSESSION

Starring: Charles Pacello, Tara Norris, Dominic Rains and Kelly Elizabeth

as part of
THE HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL
at
THE ELEPHANT THEATER
June 17th – 26th
Tickets: $10. For tickets visit:
www.hollywoodfringe.org

(Los Angeles) — Sewer Socialist Productions is proud to present the world premiere of Paul Hoan Zeidler’s ACTS OF POSSESSION, a comedy about art and marriage, as part of the Second Annual Hollywood Fringe Festival.

ACTS OF POSSESSION is directed by it’s author, Paul Hoan Zeidler (the pen name of Paul Michels), and stars Charles Pacello (Time’s Scream and Hurry, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings) as Ryan, Tara Norris (Asleep on a Bicycle, Tooth & Nail) as Angela, Dominic Rains (Desert Sunrise, Love Bites) as Reginald Thanatos, and Kelly Elizabeth (Supernova) as Wyfe.

About ACTS OF POSSESSION

Ryan is desperate to show his paintings in the coolest gallery in town. His wife Angela humiliates herself to get them a private viewing with Reginald Thanatos, the gallery’s owner. After a lot of thought, Thanatos gives Ryan a choice: He’ll display the paintings in an upcoming show, but only if Ryan smears them with his own excrement. A comedy about art, marriage and what it means to own the moment.

Sewer Socialist Productions

Sewer Socialist Productions was founded in the belief that a new play needs to do at least one of the following things: Tell a story no one in the audience has ever heard. Show them a scene they have never experienced. Dramatize characters or relationships they aren’t overly familiar with. Or explore conflicts and themes the audience has never or rarely considered. The company casts a wary eye on the familiar and seeks to find “the new.”

ACTS OF POSSESSION is the second play mounted by the Sewer Socialists. Their previous play, TIME’S SCREAM AND HURRY, had two Los Angeles productions before a successful run at the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival. A European production is currently under consideration. For reviews and more information on that show, please visit its website, www.timesscream.com.

Biographies

Paul Hoan Zeidler (writer, director). A Milwaukee native, Paul moved out to Los Angeles to attend graduate school at the University of Southern California where he studied with Hubert Selby, Jr. (Last Exit to Brooklyn), John Rechy (City of Night), Paul Zindel (The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds), and Jerome Lawrence (Inherit the Wind) who taught him Eleventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not commit television on a theater stage.” It’s something he’s taken to heart ever since. Paul directed his play, TIME’S SCREAM AND HURRY, in two Los Angeles productions before taking it to the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival for a successful run at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Another full-length play, NUDENAKED, was honored in March at the 2011 Stanley Drama Awards and was a 2009 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist. L.A. stagings of his shorter work include: “The Enchanter Disappears” with the Jerome Lawrence Quintet, and “Your Mind Breathes Water” with the Elephant Theater Company. He’s currently working on two new plays: WOOF-WOOF and (BOUNCE) LIKE YOU WANT IT. Paul is the founder and Artistic Director of Sewer Socialist Productions.

Charles Pacello (Ryan). Born in Denver, CO, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Charlie studied at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles and attended the Midsummer in Oxford program, a summer-long Shakespeare intensive workshop at Oxford, England. Los Angeles theatre credits: Waiting for Godot (Pozzo); Time’s Scream and Hurry (L.A. and New York Fringe); One Fell Swoop; In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings; Hamlet; What the Butler Saw; Betrayal; The Bear. Film credits: Blind Man’s Curse; Prom Queen: The Homecoming; Separated; Child Invisible; Project America; Sam Has Seven Friends (Emmy nominated); Prom Queen (Emmy nominated)

Tara Norris (Angela). Born and raised in Alaska, Tara Norris studied acting and directing at University of Alaska in Anchorage and performed onstage in several theatre venues there, most notably with Kokopelli Theatre. Upon moving to Los Angeles, she studied and performed with A Noise Within and Patrick Pankhurst’s The Lab. Tara has been a member of the Elephant Theatre Company since 2004, where she has performed onstage, assistant directed, produced and now proudly serves as a member of its cabinet. Tara most recently produced the West Coast Premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Little Flower of East Orange (Ovation Recommended and part of the LAByrinth Theater Company/Elephant Theatre Company Partnership), other producer credits include associate producing the Elephant’s World Premiere of Tim McNeil’s Supernova (Ovation Recommended and Critic’s Pick for LA Times, Backstage and LA Weekly; LADCC and 3 LA Weekly Award Nominees for Performance, Ensemble and Playwriting). Tara has also co-produced, directed and performed in The Lab’s productions of Sam Shepard’s Icarus’ Mother, George F. Walker’s Suburban Motel, and Harold Pinter’s Celebration. At the Elephant, Tara assistant-directed the West Coast Premiere of Parasite Drag by Mark Roberts (Mike & Molly; Two and a Half Men) (Ovation Recommended, Winner of LADCC Award, LA Weekly Award, Garland Award and 2 LA Weekly Award Nominees for Performance), and the World Premiere of Idea Man by Kevin King (LA Weekly Critic’s Pick and Ovation Award for Best Play). Her favorite Elephant acting credits include the most recent anthology Best of Love Bites: 10 Years Together…Still No Ring; Love Bites Vol. VI (Backstage Critic’s Pick), Love Bites IX (love you RiRi), the world premieres of Tony Foster’s Asleep on a Bicycle (Backstage West, LA Times & LA Weekly Critic’s Pick) and Gena Acosta’s Tooth & Nail, which had a second production at the Little Fish Theatre that she also performed in.

Dominic Rains (Reginald Thanatos). Dominic grew up in London, England and Dallas, Texas. He studied at The University of Texas at Dallas with an emphasis in Criminology. He’s a member of The Elephant Theater Company where his credits include: Block Nine (LA Weekly Theater Awards production of the year), Love Bites 2011, and Desert Sunrise (The Lillian Theater). His short play “Empowerment” premiered in the Elephant’s Love Bites 2010. Other theater credits: Much Ado About Nothing (LA Shakespeare Company). Dominic’s TV credits include: Saving Jessica Lynch, LAX, 24, NCIS, Courting Alex, Flight 93, General Hospital, GH Nightshift, Flash Forward, etc. Film credits include: The Taqwacores (Sundance 2010. Best Actor Ourense, Spain IFF), JINN (Exxodus Pictures, release Fall 2011). Dominic would like to ask: “Now, what does all this mean? Nothing, he’s broke and jobless, so help a brotha out and tell someone who knows someone who knows some people who could use this man, given you enjoyed his dilly dallying. Well, on with the show.”

Kelly Elizabeth (Wyfe). Kelly is a Los Angeles native and currently a student at The Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre in Hollywood. She was last seen in The Elephant Theatre Company’s production of Supernova and is thrilled to be a part of Acts of Possession, as it marks her second play at the Elephant.

Synopsis of ACTS OF POSSESSION

Ryan Luskin is a destitute painter desperate to show his work in the coolest gallery in town. His wife Angela humiliates herself to get them a private viewing with Reginald Thanatos, the gallery’s owner. After a lot of thought, Thanatos gives Ryan a choice: He’ll display the paintings in an upcoming show, but only if Ryan smears them with his own excrement. Ryan refuses to defile his art, but Angela has no compunction about it. At the opening night of the gallery show, Ryan is swayed by Thanatos’s charisma, the acclaim he begins to receive and the possibility of selling his paintings for a great deal of money. When it is revealed who really finished the paintings, the final confrontation between Ryan, Angela and the Thanatos Gallery is set.

Production at a Glance

Sewer Socialist Productions present

ACTS OF POSSESSION
Written and directed by Paul Hoan Zeidler

Starring: Charles Pacello, Tara Norris, Dominic Rains and Kelly Elizabeth

TICKETS $10, online at: www.hollywoodfringe.org

Where:
The Elephant Theater
6322 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90038

When:
Fri., June 17 — 11 pm
Sat., June 18 — 11 pm
Sun., June 19 — 4 pm
Wed., June 22 — 8 pm
Fri., June 24 — 11 pm
Sat., June 25 — 11 pm
Sun., June 26 — 4 pm

presented as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival

For more information please see the ACTS OF POSSESSION Facebook page: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165574840170148