Solo Comedies SOUTHERN GOTHIC NOVEL and STABILIZED NOT CONTROLLED to Play at Norris Center

Two critically-acclaimed solo comedies will take over the Norris Center Auditorium in Cambier Park every Wednesday in February and March.

First up is a pot-boiler, page-turner and crowd-pleaser: Southern Gothic Novel. The story follows a hapless librarian searching for love, yet oblivious to the kidnappers who have invaded her hometown. There are 5,218 people in Aberdeen, Mississippi. This is the story of 17 of them, and the men that caused all the trouble. Drama Desk Award-nominated actor and original creator Frank Blocker portrays them all in a break-neck comedic performance with gothic and physical detail. The New York Times crowned the play "flawlessly executed" when it debuted off-Broadway at Manhattan's Stage Left Studio, both for its performance and story.

In March, the geography turns sharply north to the New York City-based comedy Stabilized Not Controlled. A nefarious landlord takes on his rent-stabilized tenants in a mostly legal-fight to the death over a five-floor walk-up in Manhattan. The quirky residents include former hairdresser to the stars and mother bear of the building, Lorna-a septuagenarian in recovery. Again, the characters are all played by Blocker who wrote the play using actual quotes heard in and around Manhattan during his ten-year residency there. Stabilized ran for two years in Manhattan and most recently enjoyed sold-out performances at the Off-Broadway Palm Theatre in Fort Myers.

Both plays are an hour in length with no intermission. Both ran for a combined four years off-Broadway and have toured North America. Formerly, a transplanted Southerner living in New York, Blocker is now a Naples, Florida resident. He is best known locally for several roles at TheatreZone including Amadeus, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Bonnie & Clyde and most recently in last year's Jersey Boys.