Edge Theatre Company's THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES to Begin Performances Tomorrow

The Edge Theatre Company is proud to present John Guare's "The House of Blue Leaves" in their new home at 1560 Teller Street in Lakewood, a partnership with 40 West Arts District, on July 19 - August 11. Performances are Thursdays (beginning July 25); Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 6:00 p.m. Tickets for all performances are $22 Adult/$18 student & seniors and are available by calling 303-232-0363 or online at www.theedgetheater.com. Group rates are available.

Artie Shaunessy is a songwriter with visions of glory. Toiling by day as a zookeeper, he suffers in seedy lounges by night, plying his wares at piano bars in Queens, New York, where he lives with his wife Bananas.

Artie's downstairs mistress, Bunny Flingus will sleep with him anytime but will refuse to cook for him until they are married. On the day the Pope is making his first visit to the city, Artie's son Ronnie goes AWOL from the Fort Dix, stowing a home-made bomb intended to blow up the Pope in Yankee Stadium.

Also arriving is Artie's old school chum, now a successful Hollywood producer, Billy Einhorn with starlet girlfriend in tow, who holds the key to Artie's dreams of getting out of Queens and away from the life he so despises.

But like so many dreams, this promise of glory evaporates amid the chaos of ordinary lives.

The cast includes Tom Auclair (Artie Shaughnessy), Missy Moore (Bananas Shaughnessy), Kelly Uhlenhoop (Bunny Flingus), Zachary Page (Ronnie Shaughnessy), Leroy Leonard(Billy Einhorn), Samara Bridwell (Corrinna Stroller), Betsy Grisard (Head Nun), Natalie Carter (Second Nun), Rachel Graham (Little Nun), Stefin Woolover (M.P.) and Peter Marullo as Man in White

John Guare's plays include Lydie Breeze; Bosoms and Neglect; The House of Blue Leaves, which won an Obie and NY Drama Critics Circle Award for the Best American Play of 1970- 71 and four Tony's in its 1986 Lincoln Center revival; Six Degrees of Separation, which received the NY Drama Critics Circle Award in 1991 for its LCT production and the Olivier Best Play Award in 1993. He wrote the lyrics and coauthored the book for the 1972 Tony-winning Best Musical, Two Gentlemen of Verona. His screenplay for Louis Malle's Atlantic City earned him an Oscar nomination. In 2003 he won the PEN/Laura Pels Master Dramatist Award; in 2004, the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2005 the Obie for sustained excellence.

Photo Credit: Rachael Graham, RDG Photography