Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble Presents DANCING FOOLS

Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble, one of New York City's longest-running experimental theatre companies, continues its 41st season with the world premiere of DANCING FOOLS -- three short comedies about the quest for happiness despite obstacles, disappointments and wild complications -- by celebrated journalist and author John Gruen ("Callas Kissed Me...Lenny Too!"), with previews set to begin January 7, prior to an official press opening on January 13 at Medicine Show Theatre (549 West 52nd Street). Oliver Conant, Stellios Manolakakis, and Obie Award-winner Barbara Vann direct.

John Gruen's DANCING FOOLS is comprised of three short comedies: In "Six 'Everything' Bagels," an older gay man despairs over his young lover's infidelities, while the young lover yearns to find himself and a career. In the meantime, a transgendered person enters their lives producing both outrage and chaos. In "Olivia Wants to Dance," after ten years of marriage, a woman wants to end her marriage to a much older man and resume her career as a dancer. When a previous lover, the sexy Leopold, reappears in Olivia's life, he tries to make her dreams come true - with a novel idea involving his Polish aunt. "The Almighty" centers on three men discussing The Almighty and what The Almighty can do for them. All yearn for untold happiness: two may have already achieved it, but the third is very skeptical and very resistant. But just who is The Almighty? And what can He really do? The answer becomes confounding, sinister and, most certainly, cynical.

The ensemble of DANCING FOOLS includes Oliver Conant, Vincent D'Alessio, Mark J. Dempsey, Alfred Gingold, Jason Alan Griffin, Madeline Jaye, Stellios Manolakakis, Barbara Vann, CasSandra Weston, and John Zurek.

Oliver Conant directs "Olivia Wants to Dance," Stellios Manolakakis directs "Six 'Everything' Bagels," and Barbara Vann directs "The Almighty." DANCING FOOLS features set design by Knox Martin, whose work is collected in over 30 major museums, including MOMA, the Whitney, and the Art Institute of Chicago and a recent show at the Woodward Gallery was named Best Show by Village Voice; costume design by Uta Bekaia; and choreography by Theresa Duhon, Yehuda Hyman, and Madeline Jaye.

John Gruen is the author of 15 books on the arts, including "Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography" upon which The Public Theater's 2003 musical RADIANT BABY was based. His recently published autobiography, "Callas Kissed Me...Lenny Too!: A Critic's Memoir" was praised by the New Yorker for its "hearty candor" and dubbed "dynamite" by the New York Post's Liz Smith, "swooning" by Vanity Fair, and "shocking" by Time Out New York. A respected journalist, Mr. Gruen has written art, music, and dance criticism for the New York Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Vogue, New York Magazine, Art News, Architectural Digest, and Dance Magazine. His playwriting career began in the late 1960s with several of his plays being produced by LaMaMa, ETC. Mr. Gruen was a member of the Playwrights Unit of the Actors' Studio in the 1970s. He worked with Lee Strasberg and had an enduring friendship with renowned acting teacher Stella Adler. Also a noted photographer, his work was recently exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2009, Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble produced Mr. Gruen's DOUBLE FEATURE, an evening of two one-act plays: "I Want to Live" and "Mother Loves Her Boys."

Director Barbara Vann was a founding member of the Open Theatre in 1962, as well as the Medicine Show Ensemble Theatre in 1970, which she co-founded with the late James Barbosa. She won an Obie Award for her direction of the musical, BOUND TO RISE. Her work with Medicine Show spans a wide repertory, including original group creations, a reinterpretation James Joyce's FINNEGANS WAKE, a new translation of Jean Genet's ThE BALCONY, nine early Cole Porter musicals, adaptations of Gertrude Stein's BLOOD ON THE DINING ROOM FLOOR and THE GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA, and much more throughout her celebrated career. She is included in the Platinum Edition of "Who's Who in America: The Avant Gardes."

Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble is dedicated to offering creative alternatives to conventional theatre by creating and presenting works that experiment with language, music, movement, form and ideas. The works are chosen to delight the mind, honor creativity, confound empty convention, encourage active compassion and present the many facets of the American experience within a Global community.

Performances of DANCING FOOLS run January 7-30: Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm at Medicine Show Theatre (549 West 52nd Street, 3rd floor; between 10th and 11th Avenues). Tickets are $18. For reservations, call 212-868-4444 or visit SmartTix.com.

For more information, visit www.MedicineShowTheatre.org.