SAN DIEGO THEATRE COMPANY PREMIERS WITH SAM SHEPARD’S EARLY ONE-ACT ROCK SHOW

Cowboy Mouth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HUNGRY RIVER THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS SAM SHEPARD’S COWBOY MOUTH AT THE HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL JUNE 16-26

LOS ANGELES, CA – San Diego’s Hungry River Theatre Company presents 12 performances of Cowboy Mouth at the second annual Hollywood Fringe Festival. Cowboy Mouth is the premier production of the Hungry River Theatre Company.

Cowboy Mouth explores Desire. A Desire for a human companion. A Desire for a god we can all understand. A Desire to fulfill the myth of the lone cowboy wandering the open plains, or the Rock and Roll icon whom everybody loves but nobody knows. A Desire to simultaneously reject and absorb everyone. It explores a Desire to be everything all at once. Or a Desire to create something so perfect it will tell us who we are so we can stop dressing up in ourselves.
Cavale has kidnapped Slim with the dream of making him the Rock and Roll Savior, but something is getting in his way. Is it his wife and child? Cavale? Himself? The Lobster Man? Written in 1971 by Sam Shepard, and based on his affair with Patti Smith, this one-act play that borders on rock opera asks if we can really be everything we are all at once, or if our stage personas are the whole package.

The Hungry River Theatre Company is a group of recent graduates from UC San Diego dedicated to spreading empathy in a world where technology allows us to shut everyone out. Hungry River aims at affecting awareness through artistic integration into community conversation in a four phase model of unraveling issues: curiosity, conversation, misinformation, education. The goal is create public discourse through educational and interactive theatre by addressing the current issues confronting the communities reached. Cowboy Mouth is Hungry River’s first work as a company.

Cowboy Mouth performs at the Theatre Asylum Lab, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd.
June 10, 9:00 pm (preview) June 23, 8:30 pm
June 11, 4:30 pm (preview) June 24, 5:30 pm
June 16, 10:00 pm (opening) June 25, 5:30 and 11:30 pm
June 18, 2:30 pm June 26, 4:30 and 8:30 pm (closing)
June 19, 5:30 pm

Cowboy Mouth also performs at Fringe Central Annex, 6567 Santa Monica Blvd.
June 11, 8:00pm (preview)

For more information, visit us at http://www.hungryriver.wordpress.com
Contact [email protected]
We will provide complimentary reservations for industry and members of the press.

BIOGRAPHIES
Sam Hunter (Director) graduated from UC San Diego in 2011 with a B.A. in Theatre and a B.S. in Psychology. He directed and produced many new plays and devised works including The Death of John Keats, Olympia, Stop/Go, This Thing, Come, Moon!. He also directed and produced Samuel Beckett’s What Where and Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Sam has assisted many great directors including Roger Rees, Kim Rubinstein, Gabor Tompa, and Tom Dugdale. He is a founder and current artistic director of Hungry River Theatre Company.

Justin O’Neill (Slim) graduated the UC, San Diego in 2011 with a B.A. in both Theatre and Political Science in addition to studying with the British American Drama Academy. He has worked as an actor, manager and producer as an undergraduate. Currently, he is Managing Director of Hungry River Theatre Company and Development Assistant at La Jolla Playhouse. UCSD acting credits include: The Misanthrope (Officer), Woyzeck (Captain), Sexual Selection: A Love’s Labours Lost Adaptation (Berowne), Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick) La Mandragola (Messer Nicia), Come, Moon! (Caligula/Ensemble), Muttnik (Yazdovsky), Animal Animal (Kuert).

Claire Kaplan (Cavale) is a recent graduate of UCSD. Some favorite roles there include Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing), April Green (Hot L Baltimore), and Marie (Woyzeck). She was a member of the Long Beach Shakespeare Company for five years; roles include Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Miranda (The Tempest), and The Courtesan/Aemelia (A Comedy of Errors). Claire has also worked with Triad Productions (Lonesome West, Sexual Perversity in Chicago) and the San Diego Shakespeare Society (Romeo and Juliet: Deconstructed). Besides being a founding Member of Hungry River Theatre Company, she helped found Moving Parts Theatre Company, which premiered the original show Pagan Play at the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival

Spencer Howard (Lobster Man) is a filmmaker and actor. Last year he was a participant in the Hollywood Fringe Festival as an ensemble member of Moving Parts Theatre Company’s Pagan Play. Other roles include Charles Darwin in Sexual Selection: Darwin and Shakespeare Ponder Love, Ligurio in La Mandragola, Thomas Paine in Danton’s Death, Carson Drew in Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock, and the Carnival Barker in Woyzeck. With his comedy group Interrobang, Spencer directs and edits sketches and short films. Recently he finished French Cuff III, a near-full-length feature, which will have its world premiere at this year’s Hollywood Fringe [Film] Program. He studied theatre at UC San Diego and is a founding member of Interrobang Ltd., Moving Parts Theatre Company, and Magpie Theatre Company. www.interrobangltd.com

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Fact Sheet: Cowboy Mouth

WHAT: Cowboy Mouth
By Sam Shepard

WHEN: June 10, 9:00 pm (preview) June 19, 5:30 pm
June 11, 4:30 pm (preview) June 23, 8:30 pm
June 11, 8:00pm (preview) June 24, 5:30 pm
June 16, 10:00 pm (opening) June 25, 5:30 and 11:30 pm
June 18, 2:30 pm June 26, 4:30 and 8:30 pm (closing)

WHERE: Theatre Asylum Lab, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd.
Fringe Central Annex, 6567 Santa Monica Blvd. (June 11, 8:00 pm preview)

WHO: Director/Designer: Sam Hunter

Cast: Justin O’Neill
Claire Kaplan
Spencer Howard

BACKGROUND
Cavale kidnaps Slim, dreaming of making him the Rock and Roll Savior, but something is stopping him. Is it his family? Himself? The Lobster Man? This Sam Shepard one-act that borders on rock opera asks: can we really be everything we are all at once, or are our stage personas the whole package?

CONTACT: www.hungryriver.wordpress.com
[email protected]
http://hollywoodfringe.org/projects/431

We will be more than happy to provide complimentary tickets to the press.