Penny Arcade & Mink Stole to Lead THE MUTILATED at Tennessee Williams Theater Festival

"It may be disappointing to some, but despite the title there is no gore in The Mutilated," says David Kaplan, curator of the Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. "Instead we have broad humor, cryptic Christmas Carols, and touching characters seeking redemption in all the wrong places. Altogether a really good time at the theater."

The play originally premiered in New York in 1966 as part of a two-play bill called A Slapstick Tragedy. "Yet even with this black comedy," Kaplan continued, "Williams, as was his great strength, is able to create two very real, tenderly drawn women that we care about."

The play stars avant-garde actors Mink Stole ('Trinket') as a reclusive society woman living in a cheap hotel, hiding a painful secret and Penny Arcade ('Celeste') as a vagrant prostitute. Once the best of friends, they are now locked in a bitter struggle to survive as Celeste threatens to reveal the secret Trinket entrusted to her unless she's paid big bucks.

Mink Stole, a singer and a cult film legend who has appeared in every John Waters' movie, says of Trinket, "This is a role I have been prepping for practically my entire life."

Penny Arcade, a popular New York performance artist who as a runaway teen became part of the notorious New York underground gay and Andy Warhol art scenes says, "Tennessee Williams wrote for people like me and people like you. And this is the first time that people who actually lived the kind of lives he wrote about (in this play) are going to be playing these roles."

The story takes place in The French Quarter of New Orleans on Christmas Eve in the 1940s where a chorus of misfits and freaks sing carols about life on the fringes of society. The original music for Williams' lyrics is composed by Jesse Selengut and performed live on stage with his New Orleans swing style band TIn Pan.

As much of "The Mutilated" is set in a hotel, the play will take place in a hotel in Provincetown . Festival Executive Director Jef Hall-Flavin says, "Our site-specific production creates an intimate once in a lifetime event. The audience will gather outside The Gifford House as if in front of the SRO hotel of the play, then dive down to Club Purgatory to spy on Mink Stole's bedroom. Nearly 50 years after Williams wrote the play, we're thrilled to present it to our savvy Festival audience who will appreciate his dark humor and compassion."

The play's director, Cosmin Chivu, has had an international career of award-winning productions. He directed Something Cloudy Something Clearat the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival for the Williams' centennial in 2011. Chivu is the founder of InterArt Theatre Group and is currently the Head of B.A. Acting/Directing Program at Pace University Performing Arts in New York City.

The Mutilated's creative producer Thomas Keith, who is also an advisor to the Festival and Consulting Editor for New Directions Publishing,responsible for editing the Tennessee Williams titles, says "Our mission is to bring this rarely seen, outrageous and tender black comedy, an unknown treasure by Tennessee Williams, back to life on the stage!"

After playing at the Festival, this Beth Bartley Production of The Mutilated will open in New York at The New Ohio Theatre on November 1, 2013.

For more information about this production, see www.twptown.org.

Founded in 2006 in the town where Tennessee Williams worked on many of his major plays, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival is the nation's largest performing arts festival dedicated to celebrating and expanding the understanding of American's great playwright. Theater artists from around the globe perform classic and innovative productions to celebrate his enduring influence in the 21st Century. The theme of this year's 8th Annual Festival is 50% Illusion: Tennessee Williams and Women. It takes place in various venues in the seaside village of Provincetown from Thursday, September 26 through Sunday, September 29, 2013. For more info see www.twptown.org.

The Festival is funded in part by the Provincetown Tourism Fund, Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, and Provincetown Cultural Council and presented by the Crown and Anchor.

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