City Theater Company to Close SEason with THE BOMB-ITTY OF ERRORS, 5/2-17

City Theater Company's 20th Anniversary season closes with a dose of hip-hop hilarity in the form of The Bomb-itty of Errors, an "ad-rap-tation" of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. The play was written by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, GQ, and Erik Weiner, with music by J.A.Q.

Producing Artistic Director Michael Gray calls Bomb-itty a nod to the troupe's early years, when a raucous production of Goodnight, Desdemona (Good Morning, Juliet) by Ann Marie MacDonald was performed at the Black Box as CTC's first "main stage" show. That irreverent comedy's premise is that Shakespeare's Othello and Romeo and Juliet were not tragedies but actually comedies, and audiences were rolling in the aisles at the screwball antics of Melissa Dammeyer, Patrick O'Hara, and Kerry Kristine McElrone in their CTC debuts.

Says Gray, "The Bomb-itty of Errors is a salute to those early days, and to the basic ingredients of what would become a signature CTC style-a sort of 'boo-ya' message to the notion of theater as being stuffy, serious, not immediate or intimate. As a group we just tossed all caution to the wind and ended up creating a twisted, slightly demented, rapid-fire approach to doing satirical comedy."

Actor O'Hara agrees. "I've never been terrified of a show as much as this one-which is why I'm doing it. That has never stopped me before where City Theater Company was concerned, so after 20 years of pushing actor's (and audiences') limits, I am delighted and overwhelmed to cross 'Shakespearean Rap Musical' off my bucket list."

Set designers Vicki Neale and Richard Kendrick are once again transforming the Black Box at OperaDelaware, this time into an after-hour social lounge complete with high-top seating, stripper poles, and a bar. Of the show, Gray opines "It's just very silly fun. It's Run DMC meets the Bard-there is actually a reference to 'You be illin.' It is a nonstop 90-minutes of mistaken identities, beat-boxing, cross-dressing, and gender-bending, loaded with sophomoric humor all done to the beats of a DJ mixing live."

The Bomb-itty of Errors stars Chris Banker (Hair), Dylan Geringer (Xanadu, Gypsy), Patrick O'Hara (Falsettos, Company), and Brendan Sheehan (Bat Boy, Sweeney Todd), along with a special appearance by DJ Swizzul. Directed by Michael Gray. Set and lighting design by Vicki Neal and Richard Kendrick. Costume design by Kerry Kristine McElrone and Lauren Peters.

TICKET DETAILS: General admission $25. Limited VIP seating $40 and includes complimentary drinks, choice seating, and cast-signed program. Production runs Friday, May 2 through Saturday, May 17, 2014. All shows 8:00 p.m. except one 2:00 p.m. matinee Sunday, May 11. All shows at The Black Box at Opera Delaware Studios, 4 South Poplar Street, Wilmington, DE 19805. Tickets available now at city-theater.org ###
www.city-theater.org

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