Bridge Street Theatre Hosts the Fat Knight Production of CHIPANDGUS

While the electric give-and-take of energy between actors on stage is often referred to as 'ping pong,' a new play is taking the idea quite literally. A ping pong table and fast-paced matches are prominently featured in "ChipandGus", a 90-minute "comedy with balls" by actor-writers John Ahlin and Christopher Patrick Mullen, getting a three-performance run May 5-7 at Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre.

In this Fat Knight Theatre production, two oddball buddies meet in the back room of a rundown sports bar in Schenectady, NY for their weekly game. But what happens between volleys on this particular funny, sad, surprising night will change their relationship forever. Conceived over a ping pong table and written and rehearsed in basements, attics and garages, this fast, furious, smart comedy was the winner of the Overall Excellence Award for Ensemble in the 2016 NYCFringe Festival, was selected for an extended run in the Fringe Encore Series at Soho Playhouse in NYC, and has been seen in developmental presentations in a variety of spaces, including a black box in New Jersey, a bar in Baltimore, a garage in Pennsylvania, Parkside Lounge in Manhattan, and Proctor's Theater in Schenectady.

"I remember the exact moment the idea came into my head - and it was at a ping pong table," says John Ahlin. "I was playing ping pong for fun a few years ago, blowing the rust off my atrophied skills, when somehow, like a young me, I laced a screaming backhand down the edge and in an overly theatrical way I turned to an imaginary crowd and drank in imaginary cheers. And then I stopped, mid faux-celebration and thought, 'Standing here, at the end of a ping pong table feels very theatrical .... I wonder if this game would work on stage?' And with that one idle thought, Ahab-like, I began chasing this leviathan of an idea."

"ChipandGus" will be presented on the Bridge Street Theatre Mainstage for three performances only - Friday May 5 and Saturday May 6 at 7:30pm, and Sunday May 7 at 2:00pm. Regular tickets are $20, $10 for Students, and can be pre-purchased at BrownPaperTickets.com or by calling 800-838-3006. Tickets will also be sold at the door 30-minutes prior to each performance on a space available basis. Bridge Street Theatre is located at 44 West Bridge Street in the Village of Catskill, NY.

Events at Bridge Street Theatre are supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and by Public Funds from the Greene County Legislature through the Cultural Fund administered in Greene County by the Greene County Council on the Arts.

For more information, visit the theatre online at BridgeSt.org.

Photo credit: William Selby