TAIL! SPIN! to Open Off-Broadway After Acclaimed Run at FringeNYC

Tail! Spin!, the breakout hit of the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival, earning unanimous rave reviews, with its entire run selling out in record time, is the outrageously entertaining verbatim reenactment of the preposterous sex scandals that brought down former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), former Governor / current Congressman Mark Sanford (R-SC), former Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL), and former Senator Larry Craig (R-ID).

Now, theater-lovers and political-junkies alike will have their chance to see Tail! Spin! when it begins a limited 10-week engagement on Thursday, September 18 at the Lynn Redgrave Theater atCulture Project, 45 Bleecker Street at Lafayette Street. (The Official Opening Night is slated forWednesday, October 1.) Using nothing but the words spoken, emailed, tweeted, texted and told by the politicians themselves, Tail! Spin! is created and written by Mario Correa (co-host ofEntertainment Weekly's daily "News & Notes" program on SiriusXM and contributor to NPR), directed by Tony-nominee Dan Knechtges (Lysistrata Jones, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) and stars a cast led by "Saturday Night Live" alum Rachel Dratch, reprising the multiple roles she played to critical acclaim in the original FringeNYC production. Tickets, ranging in price from $25 - $75, are on sale now and can be arranged online at www.tailspinshow.com, by calling (866) 811-4111.

Politics is dirty - but politicians are dirtier. The truth is laid hysterically bare in Tail! Spin!, a wildly inventive new comedy drawn verbatim from the leaked e-mails, raunchy texts and tell-tale tweets that brought down politicians Mark ("Appalachian Trail") Sanford, Larry ("Wide Stance") Craig,Anthony ("I Was Hacked") Weiner, and Mark ("Underage Page") Foley. Using only the actual words of the disgraced politicians, their paramours, and the skeptical media they tried so hard to spin,Tail! Spin! winningly weaves an intricate, overlapping narrative of the power of sex--and the sex lives of the powerful. The Tail! Spin! cast is led by former SNL star Rachel Dratch, as the "Wives, Tails, Beards and Barbara Walters." Other casting TBA.

Tail! Spin! features scenic and projection designs by Caite Hevner Kemp, costume design by Jen Caprio, lighting design by Ryan O'Gara, and sound design by John Emmett O'Brien. The production is produced by Billy Zavelson, Marianne Mills, Kristen Stein, Ben Feldman and Jeffrey Sosnick/Neal Rubinstein, in association with Clifford Lee Johnson III.

RACHEL DRATCH (Wives, Tails, Beards and Barbara Walters) was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" for seven years, where her memorable characters included Boston teen Denise, the Lovers professors with Will Ferrell, and Debbie Downer. Dratch started out at the Second City Theater in Chicago, where she co-created and performed in four revues on the Mainstage, and received 2 Joseph Jefferson awards. Other theater credits include Minsky's(Ahmanson), Sylvia (George St. Playhouse), Celebrity Autobiography (Stage 72) and most recently Love's Labour's Lost at the Delacorte Theater (Shakespeare in the Park). She also participates in the 24-Hour Plays every year here in NYC. Rachel has appeared on TV in "Broad City," "The Middle," "King of Queens," "Suburgatory" "Monk," "Ugly Betty" and "30 Rock." And, in the films Down with Love and Click and Just Go with It, among others. Her book, "Girl Walks into a Bar" was published in 2012 by Gotham.

MARIO CORREA (Playwright), who came with his family from Chile at age seven, cut his teeth as a Congressional aide before trading in political theater for the entertainment kind. Theater: Tail! Spin!(GLAAD Media Awards nominee, Outstanding Off-Off Broadway Theater); Commander (Runner-up, National Latino Playwrights Award). TV: "Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca" (Animal Planet); "The Fabulist" (E!); "PowerHouse" (NBC4 Washington). Film: Electoral Dysfunction (PBS). Radio:Entertainment Weekly Radio on SiriusXM; NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday; WNYC's Soundcheckand RelationShow; PRI's Fair Game.

DAN KNECHTGES (Director). Broadway Lysistrata Jones (direction & choreography), Xanadu (directed by Chris Ashley, Tony nomination, Drama Desk nomination), Sondheim on Sondheim (directed by James Lapine), 110 in The Shade (starring Audra McDonald) and Spelling Bee (directed by James Lapine). Off-Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along for Encores! at City Center (directed by James Lapine); Vanities at Second Stage; and Lysistrata Jones for the Transport Group. International: Der Schuh Das Manitu (Berlin, Germany). Regional theatre include La Jolla Playhouse, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Theatreworks Palo Alto, Dallas Theatre Center, Goodspeed, Centerstage Baltimore), Papermill Playhouse, Hangar Theatre, Surflight Theatre, Indianapolis Opera, Opera Illinois. Dan serves on the executive board of SDC. www.danknechtges.com

The new comedy Tail! Spin! will play a 10-week limited Off-Broadway engagement beginningSeptember 18 at the Lynn Redgrave Theater at Culture Project (45 Bleecker Street at Lafayette Street). The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday - Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 3pm & 8pm; Sunday at 2pm & 5pm. Tickets, ranging in price from $25-$75 (inclusive of a $1.25 theater facility fee), can be arranged online at www.TailSpinShow.com, by calling (866) 811-4111 or by visiting the Lynn Redgrave Theater (45 Bleecker St. at Lafayette St.) two-hours before each performance. For more information, please visit www.TailSpinShow.com.

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