Austin Pendleton to Helm Mississipi Mud's THE BLONDE BOMBSHELL PROJECT

Mississippi Mud Productions will present The Blonde Bombshell Project, a new solo play written and starring Jen Danby and directed by Tony Nominee and Obie-Winning Director Austin Pendleton. Fresh from their collaboration as Catharine Holly and Dr. Sugar in Suddenly, Last Summer with Mississippi Mud, this new solo work is about about legendary Hollywood "Blonde Bombshell" Marilyn Monroe in her final summer of 1962.

Synopsis In the summer of 1962, the "Blonde Bombshell, " 1950s Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, makes a secret flight to New York. It's the day after her 36th birthday, and she wants for the second time in her career to break away from "dumb blonde" parts in Hollywood like she did when she first came to The Actors Studio in 1955. On the brink of being fired from 20th Century Fox, she flies from LA to visit The Actors Studio she treasures as a "hideaway" with a plan to work on her dream part of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire so she can be taken seriously as an actress. She love-hate wrestles with her American Dream story that Hollywood markets: the orphan who became the most famous blonde in history. Her last ditch effort to live and thrive all hang upon her making her acting dream happen and hitting the target of truth. Confrontations with her beloved mentor, Lee Strasberg, with a burning hope for the future, propel her in her journey in this crucible of memory, acting exercises, and an imaginary do or die phone call to Marlon Brando that leaves her facing what she must do.

About the Play
The Blonde Bombshell Project is a fictional story about a beloved and adored real life actress. Can The Blonde Bombshell move past her "Dumb Blonde" parts in musical films and comedies and limitations she faces even after critically acclaimed roles like Cherie in Bus Stop It looks at this "Blonde's" growing awareness as she tries to get to truthfulness in her acting in a flight or fight with her own fame, buoyed up by wit, hope, and courage. It candidly takes on sexuality, fantasy, drug use, mental illness, Hollywood and women, up and down romances, and the perils and perks of stardom in the quest to save her acting and her life.

Jen Danby (Actress and Writer of The Blonde Bombshell Project), is the founder and artistic director of Mississippi Mud Productions. With Mud, she played Blanche DuBois opposite Toshiji Takeshima in A Streetcar Named Desire, co-directed by Brian Lady and Austin Pendleton, and Maggie in Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and Catharine Holly in Suddenly Last Summer, both directed by Mr. Pendleton. She just played Nina in a Chekhov project of scenes with Mud with Austin Pendleton, Annette Hunt, and Alessendro Magania. This summer she reprises Blanche and will play Jane in Vieux Carre with Mississippi Mud's Lab Theatre and in fall will play Maggie in Cat on A Hot Tin Roof with Mud, all under Austin Pendleton's direction. Also with Mud and Austin Pendleton: Vivien Leigh in the New York revival of Orson's Shadow, the solo show Vivien Leigh: The Last Press Conference by Marcy Lafferty (Key West and New York), and Helena in Maria Irene Fornes' Lust. Other stage includes: Valparaiso, Hedda Gabler(directed by Amy Wright at HB Playwrights Theatre), Maggie in the world premiere of OneHeart's Birmingham Reunion at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center; and Homing a staged reading directed by Tony winner Jack Hofsiss, with Mary Beth Hurt. Film/TV credits include Run #3, True Hollywood Sitter, All My Children, One Life to Live, and Love Monkey. New Media: performed a lead part in three vlogisodes with The Wooster Group opposite Obie-winning actor Jim Fletcher.

Austin Pendleton (Director) has just directed The Birthday Party at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, where he has acted and directed, as a member of the Ensemble, for many years. In New York, he has directed several Mississippi Mud productions, including Suddenly Last Summer (in which he also appeared), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (to be mounted again this fall),and is now preparing productions for Mud of A Streetcar Named Desire and Vieux Carre. He has directed three Chekhov productions at Classic Stage Company: Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters (for which he won an Obie), and Ivanov, featuring, between them, such actors as Maggie Gylenhall, Peter Sarsgaard, and Ethan Hawke. He has acted in many movies and in recurring roles on such TV series as Homicide and Oz, as well as on Broadway in, most recently, The Diary of Anne Frank,with Natalie Portman and Linda Lavin,in a script revised by Wendy Kesselman, in whose musical, The Black Monk, he played the title role. He has written three plays: Orson's Shadow, produced at Mud after it's off-Broadway run which lasted the year of 2005, at the Barrow St. Theatre, directed by David Cromer; Uncle Bob, which has been produced in NY, around the country and internationally; and Booth, which starred Frank Langella in its productions in New York, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven; as well as the libretto for A Minister's Wife, music by Josh Schmidt and lyrics by Jan Tranen, commissioned and produced by Chicago's Writers' Theatre in 2009, and at Lincoln Center in 2011. All these works have been published. His most recent directing in New York is The Last Will (in which he also appeared), by Robert Brustein, at the Abingdon Theatre. He received a Tony nomination for his direction of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes on Broadway, starring Elizabeth Taylor. He teaches acting at HB Studio, in New York.

Charles Black (Assistant Director) Has trained with Anne Jackson, Mary Anthony, Arthur French, and Austin Pendleton in New York. He is an actor and dancer. His stage credits include: Birmingham Reunion by George Joshua with OneHeart, Bury the Dead at HB Playwrights Theatre (director Geoffrey Owens), and with Mississippi Mud Productions: Lust, A Streetcar Named Desire, and the upcomingStreetcar and Vieux Carre in the role of the Writer in Mississippi Mud's summer lab theatre, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the role of Tooker, with a new production with Mud this coming fall, all under Mr. Pendleton's direction. Mr. Black has served as Assistant Director for both Lust and Suddenly, Last Summer with Mississippi Mud, both directed by Austin Pendleton and with fight choreography by Diego Villada. Television and film roles include, One Life To Live, All My Children, Guiding Light, The Law & Orders, 30 Rock, The Departed, Across The Sea Of Time, Just My Luck, Stonewall and many others.

11 performances only!

At the White Box at Alchemical Theatre Laboratory 137 West 14th Street, New York, NY Venue website: http://atlnyc.com/atlnyc.com/The_Alchemical_Theatre_Laboratory.html

Mississippi Mud Productions website: http://www.mississippimudproductions.com/

Tickets are $18.00 and are available on Brown Paper Tickets athttp://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/374919.

Need more Broadway Theatre News in your life? Sign up for all the news on the Spring season, discounts & more...