Tickets:  http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/144622


The Washington Rogues arrive to make trouble! Presenting David Johnston’s Busted Jesus Comix as part of the 2008 Capital Fringe Festival

 

    Hilarious, touching, and just a little depraved, Busted Jesus Comix tells the story of Marco, a gay teenager brought up on felony obscenity charges in his home state of Florida … for publishing his amateur comic book.  Based on true events, Marco’s sentence is the stuff of which First Amendment legends are born. Three years probation.  Fines. Mandatory psychiatric counseling.  But worst of all for Marco, he is banned from drawing. Cut off from his creative outlet, estranged from his family, hounded by religious crusaders, and caught up in the Ex-Gay movement, Marco struggles to adapt to his new infamy as a censored artist and societal outcast. Newly arrived in New York City, Marco awaits an interview at mega-size coffee chain Dazzle Cups, an interview that will expose the secrets of his past, and offer him a chance at a new life.

       In Busted Jesus Comix, David Johnston has fashioned a hilarious comic fantasia about art, politics, free speech, sex, drugs and horrifying childhood trauma.  At once unflinching and compassionate, Busted Jesus Comix is a pitch-black comedy The New York Times says “belongs to a rich dramatic tradition of turning dirty-minded artists into First Amendment heroes.”

    Twenty-year-old University of Maryland student and DC metro area native Matt Reckeweg gives a heartfelt and hilarious performance as Marco.  Reckeweg has previously been seen in productions of Seussical with the Port Tobacco Players and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.  At the University of Maryland, Reckeweg was directed by Jeremy Skidmore in The Physicists. Reckeweg’s Marco is guided through the interview, and through the mysteries and tragedies of his past, by the stern but compassionate Manager, a willful woman with secrets of her own, played by actress Ja’nelle Taylor.

      The cast also features a strong, mercurial ensemble of actors, tasked with multiple roles, bringing to life Marco’s world and art, including Rachel Manteuffel (star of the 2007 Fringe hit A Most Notorious Woman), Greg Anderson, D. Grant Cloyd, Nicholas Jordan and Aidan Hughes.

      Director Ryan S. Taylor has worked in Washington theater since 2004. He recently directed staged readings of The Flags and A Cry from Heaven for Solas Nua. He was also the assistant director on the Rorschach Theater Company production of Rough Magic, and the Forum Theater and Dance production of Valparaiso. Ryan graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and has received additional training at The Studio Theater Acting Conservatory.

    David Johnston was named one of Time Out New York’s Playwrights to Watch 2006.  Busted Jesus Comix was performed in New York City by the Blue Coyote Theater Group, where it was a 2006 GLAAD Award nominee (Outstanding New York Theater: Off-Off Broadway).   Johnston’s other New York Productions include Happy Endings, an adaptation of The Orestia; A Bush Carol or George Dubya and the Xmas of Evil; and The Standards of Decency Project (Blue Coyote Theater Group) ; also Candy & Dorothy (GLAAD Award Winner) and The Eumenides with director Kevin Newberry.  Playwriting awards include Berrilla Kerr Foundation Grant, Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, Theatre Oxford, Turnip Festival and the Arch & Bruce Brown Foundation. Education: College of William and Mary, Circle in the Square. Member: Dramatists Guild, Charles Maryan's Playwrights/Directors Workshop, America in Play Project, Actors Equity, and a Blue Coyote Repeat Offender. Upcoming productions: YES YES YES with Rude Guerrilla (Santa Ana, CA) and The George Place with Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre.

 
    Busted Jesus Comix is the debut production of The Washington Rogues, a company devoted to making art on the edge of respectability and good taste, with a focus on risky, bold, daring, (and maybe just a little bit geeky) productions of new and contemporary plays. 

     Presented as part of the Captial Fringe Festival: “unjuried, risk-taking, independent performing arts”.  http:// www.capitalfringe.org

 

Busted Jesus Comix contains explicit language and graphic content and is not appropriate for children.

 

BUSTED JESUS COMIX information:

Location:  FLASHPOINT - MEAD THEATRE LAB. 916 G Street, NW  20001

Tickets: $15.00, available at the Fringe Box Office:  607 New York Avenue, NW or online at

http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/144622

 

Performance Dates and Times:

Friday, 7/18/08, 10:30pm

Sunday, 7/20/08, 12:00pm

Wednesday, 7/23/08, 6:30pm

Saturday, 7/26/08, 8:00pm

Sunday, 7/27/08, 4:30pm

 

Playwright: David Johnston

Director: Ryan S. Taylor

Cast:  Matt Reckeweg (Marco), Ja’nelle Taylor (Manager), Aidan Hughes (Psychiatrist), Ensemble rolls: Greg Anderson, D. Grant Cloyd, Rachel Manteuffel, Nicholas Jordan

Set Design: Betsy Haibel

Costume Design: Lynly Saunders

Graphic and Character Design: Sako Davis of Psycho Sako Studios http://saikosako.com/

Music Provided by Exotic Fever Records: http://www.exoticfever.com