SARAZAD AND THE MONSTER-KING Returns to Canal Park Playhouse, 9/8-30

Canal Park Playhouse and The TRUF today announced the return of SARAZAD AND THE MONSTER-KING, a re-imagining of the story of Scheherazade or The 1001 Arabian Nights, written by E. J. C. Calvert and directed by Justin Lauro. SARAZAD AND THE MONSTER-KING begins performances on Saturday, September 8 for a limited engagement through Sunday, September 30. The performance schedule is Saturday and Sunday at 1 PM & 4 PM. Performances take place at Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal Street, between Greenwich and West Streets in Tribeca). The regular ticket price is $18. For tickets or more information, call OvationTix on 1-866-811-4111 or visit www.canalparkplayhouse.com.

Join Sarazad and her adorable sidekick Aminal as they travel though Storyland and attempt to tame the wild Monster-King. The audience helps Sarazad and her friends from landing in the Monster-King’s stew pot by traveling over choppy seas, throwing a phalanx of (stuffed) fish and providing wacky sound effects. The New York Times called the show, “an hour of fast-paced fun as Sarazad helps the King discover his inner hero!”

The cast of SARAZAD AND THE MONSTER-KING features Penny Middleton, Kelly Higgins, AJ Converse and Rick Cekovsky.

Part of the Classic Brunch Matinee series, whimsical brunch and dinner fare is available at the theater’s Waffle Iron Café before and after the shows. The menu includes hot-off-the-waffle-iron spinach, mushroom, smoked chicken sausage frittatas; French toast; and Traditional Belgian Waffles with pure Vermont maple syrup and butter as well as the house specialty The Playhouse Pink Waffle (a pink waffle with strawberries and whipped cream). Other favorites include a chocoholic fantasy, the Decadent Dark Chocolate Waffle, entree salads and gourmet sliders.

E. J. C. Calvert (playwright) is from St. Louis, Missouri, currently living in Chicago.  Achievements include:  Samuel French OOB 2010 Winner, O'Neill Conference semifinalist, Leota Diesel Ashton Prize in Playwriting recipient, International Women's Playwriting Festival finalist, Chatterton Short Play Festival Audience Award winner.  Her play The Bear (A Tragedy) is published by Samuel French.  Recent performances and readings include Calamity Jane Battles the Horrible Hoopsnakes (Looking Glass Theatre), The Bird Girl (Last Frontier Theatre Conference Play Lab), Testify! (Roy Arias Studios), Cadaver Synod (The Brecht Forum), Witness! The Amazing Slipping Away (The Cell).  She is also half of comedy duo Lizanda, who will be performing their new show #1 Besties with Boy Trouble (U.S.) at the Chicago Fringe Festival this summer.  E. J. C. holds an MFA in Playwriting from the New School for Drama and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Justin Lauro (director) is a classically trained actor, having studied at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School and International Theater Workshop in Amsterdam.   He served as assistant director to acclaimed Dutch director and Brecht scholar Paul Binnerts for NYU's Main Stage production of Bertolt Brecht's Man is Man, later performing in a revival of the production at the HERE Arts Center in downtown New York.  Justin adapted Carol Churchill's teleplay The After-Dinner Joke for the stage and directed its US premiere at the Barrow Group Theater.  A certified actor-combatant with the SAFD, Justin has worked as an assistant fight director at the Atlantic Theater Company and fight choreographer at New York Renaissance Faire and Fort Tryon Park Medieval Festival.  Other acting credits include Twelfth Night, Our Country's Good, and 15-Minute Hamlet. He attended New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated with a B.F.A. in theater.