THE AVERAGE-SIZED MERMAID to Play Fringe Festival, Opens 8/13

Mind The Gap Theatre and Early Bird Theatricals will present Jessica Fleitman's award winning comedy The Average-Sized Mermaid in August 2011 at The New York International Fringe Festival. The production will be directed by Mind The Gap's Artistic Director, Paula D'Alessandris (Under The Blue Sky at The Kraine; The Cleric at 59E59).

In The Average-Sized Mermaid, kindergarten teacher Miriam Moselle magically transforms into a mermaid and unexpectedly finds herself the figurehead of a feminist movement. But when she begins to fall for an unconventional prince charming, she soon learns that you need to be careful what you fish for...

The production will feature Vinnie Penna*, Dawn McGee*, Erika Myers, David J. Goldberg, Shannon Munley & Daniel Cibener. (* courtesy of AEA)

The Average-Sized Mermaid was first produced as a one-act play in UC Santa Barbara's New Plays Festival. Despite the fact that playwright Jessica Fleitman was not a member of the theatre department, the faculty recognized The Average-Sized Mermaid with UC Santa Barbara's highest honor in Dramatic Writing: The Corwin Award. The expanded full-length production was later developed by State of Play Productions and received its World Premiere at the Gene Frankel Theatre in New York City. This upcoming Fringe production offers the most exciting and fully-realized incarnation of the The Average-Sized Mermaid to date.

JESSICA FLEITMAN (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright who grew up in California and New Jersey and is currently based in Brooklyn. Additional writing credits include:
Deuteranomaly (InGenius Festival & InGenius Again Encores, Manhattan Theatre Source), G Train Exodus (voted "Audience Favorite" in Estro-in-Progress, Estrogenius Festival & Estro Sampler, Manhattan Theatre Source), Word of the Day (commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Initiative and The Magic Theatre), and Amber Wong-Cohen (finalist for the 2010 Flatmancrooked Fiction Prize, recently published in Mixer Publishing's "Of Love & Death" Anthology and available on Amazon.com). She is a member of the Sourcewriters at Manhattan Theatre Source, the Playwright's Group led by Richard Caliban, and The Dramatists Guild of America.

Paula D'Alessandris (Director) is the Artistic Director and Founder of Mind The Gap Theatre (MTG). Favorite directing credits there include the NY premiere of David Eldridge's award-winning play Under The Blue Sky (Backstage Critic's Pick); world premiere of The Cleric at 59E59 Theaters; Gary Owen's In The Pipeline; Workshops of David Eldridge's Summer Begins; Dan Remmes' What Doesn't Kill Us; her stage adaptation of Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth, and many others. She directed three consecutive winners at the Samuel French Festival and many pieces in MTG's popular BritBits series of short plays by, for or about the British. Favorite credits elsewhere include Walter Vs. The Water Authority at 59E59; her multiple-award-winning productions at the Pittsburgh New Works Festival of the outrageous comedies Stampede! and The Butter Bin; critical and commercial successes Love! Valour! Compassion! (in its Pittsburgh premiere), 'Night Mother, Extremities, Drinking in America, The Dumbwaiter; Locating The Plant (Irish Arts Center, NYC).

MIND THE GAP THEATRE (Producer) is New York's premiere Anglo-American theatre company dedicated to producing new British plays and creating an exchange of new works between the US and UK. They are producing The Average-Sized Mermaid at the NY International Fringe Festival as a first step in introducing new American plays to an international audience, with the intent to eventually produce in the UK as part of their cross-Atlantic exchange of new works. www.mindthegaptheatre.com

EARLY BIRD THEATRICALS (Producer) is committed to supporting promising, new works and talented, early career theatre artists. EBT was most recently a co-producer on the award-winning, When Last We Flew by Harrison David Rivers. www.earlybirdtheatricals.com

Show Dates:
SAT 8/13 @ 3:15pm
MON 8/15 @ 9:30pm
THR 8/25 @ 6:00pm
FRI 8/26 @ 9:15pm
SAT 8/27 @ 1:00pm

FringeNYC Venue #7:
Connelly Theater, 220 E. 4th St between Aves A&B