'Angry Young Women' Comes to Hudson Mainstage Starting 10/3

After multiple sold-out limited engagements in New York and Sydney, Australia, ANGRY YOUNG WOMEN IN LOW-RISE JEANS WITH HIGH-CLASS ISSUES, the raucous comedy written and directed by filmmaker turned playwright Matt Morillo, will open a six-week run at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd (on Theatre Row) on October 3, 2008 and run for six weeks through Sunday, November 9.

This irreverent comedy--equal parts sophisticated, sexy, and saucy--explores the modern day trials and tribulations of being young, female, and living in the big city. Told in five short one-acts, each vignette shamelessly plows headfirst into challenging contemporary definitions of sexism, feminism, homophobia, and gender roles giving audiences a refreshing and intelligent look at what's right, wrong, fantastic, and inexplicable about modern metropolitan women.

In the last two years, "Angry Young Women" has had three sold out runs in NYC (two Off Off Broadway and one Off Broadway) and two separate four-week runs in Sydney, Australia.  It is making its title an idiom in New York and Australia and has amassed an enthusiastic fan base on two continents.  The play, Morillo's first, was published this spring by Samuel French, along with Morillo's second play, "All Aboard the Marriage Hearse."

ANGRY YOUNG WOMEN IN LOW-RISE JEANS WITH HIGH-CLASS ISSUES premiered at the Duo Theater in New York's East Village January 19 to February 25, 2006 and was revived by Theater for the New City, NYC January 4 to February 24, 2007.  In Sydney, Australia, Stella Green Productions produced 31 performances with an Australian cast and director from August 14 to September 2, 2007 and revived it with 27 performances from January 9 to February 9, 2008.  An Off Broadway production opened at the Players Theater on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village on July 12 and closed October 20, 2007.

MATT MORILLO (Writer/Director/Executive Producer) Matt has gone from making a splash to making waves in the world of independent theater and film.  His first two plays, "Angry Young Women in Low-Rise Jeans with High-Class Issues" and "All Aboard the Marriage Hearse" received back-to-back publishing deals with Samuel French, an extremely rare and noteworthy achievement.  Besides his foray into theater, Matt has been a fixture on the New York independent film scene for the past ten years.  After graduating film school, Matt made his auspicious debut at the young age of 23 with his first feature "The Pretenders (2000)," an award-winning romantic comedy.  His subsequent short films, most notably "Maid of Honor (2003)," garnered him numerous awards and regional notoriety.  Matt also writes stand-up for some of Los Angeles and New York's emerging comedians, and he has recently brought his sagacious, uncensored wit to the web by launching "The Cynical Optimist (www.thecynicaloptimist.net)" a website of editorials and musings about love, relationships, sex, current events and anything else that pops into his ginourmous head. 

Matt and his exploits have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Post, W Magazine, The Village Voice, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), Sydney Theatre, Australian Stage, Aussie Theater Backstage Magazine, Theater Mania, and multiple times on WOR Radio with Joey Reynolds. 

JESSICA MORENO (Executive Producer)  Jessica began producing plays as an undergraduate Theater and Sanskrit student at Columbia University (including "Pizza Man" and "Stupid Kids").  She co-produced Angry Young Women alongside Matt Morillo for its run at Theater for the New City in 2007, and again for its off-Broadway run at The Players Theater later that year.  Jessica is now stepping up as Executive Producer of Angry Young Women for its West Coast Premier.  Although she appears primarily on-stage and in front of the camera, Jessica has always taken an interest in working behind the scenes on creative projects.  While dancing professionally as a teenager, Jessica co-choreographed several modern dance pieces for BLUdance Theatre, with whom she was a principal dancer (she has also appeared as a guest artist with Pilobolus).

RACQUEL LEHRMAN, THEATRE PLANNERS (Producer) is the founder and managing director of Theatre Planners, her own theatre production/PR firm. She graduated from NYU-Tisch School of the Arts and lived in NY for over ten years producing theatre. Theatre Planners has since developed in to a very busy and successful outlet for actors, producers and theatre companies. Doing everything from publicity, consulting, printing and graphics, Racquel loves to make productions a reality and help to keep the theatre scene in LA alive and strong. Racquel has recently acquired the Actor’s Gang old space on El Centro and is the new owner of the LOUNGE THEATRE in Hollywood on Theatre Row.

KADM Players (The Ensemble) – The KADM Players have been creatively collaborating for the past decade.  Formed in 1998 as part of KADM Productions' film projects, they have been earning accolades on the independent film and theater scenes in New York, and are thrilled to be making their first trip to Los Angeles as a company.

The West Coast Premier e of “Angry Young Women” will see original KADM Players Jessica Moreno and Tom Pilutik (who both performed in KADM's first feature, “The Pretenders”) join long-time members Keenan Henson and Jason Drumwright, and newer members Brooke Hasalton and Gina Regalbuto on the stage as they take the company national.  Over the years, members of the KADM Players have performed in three of Matt Morillo's award-winning films.  They have contributed to every aspect of the creative development of the hit plays “Angry Young Women” and “All Aboard the Marriage Hearse.”  Furthermore, Jessica Moreno, Tom Pilutik, and Jason Drumwright were all original cast members of “Angry Young Women” when it premiered in New York in 2006.  The KADM Players have received critical acclaim as a company from the likes of The New York Times, Backstage Magazine and The New York Post, to name a few.

The Lighting and Sound design is by Matt Richter.

ANGRY YOUNG WOMEN will open on Friday, October 3 and run through Sunday, November 9, 2008.  Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm; Sundays at 7:00pm at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.  Ticket prices are $25 and are available by calling (323) 960-5774 or by going to www.angryyoungwomen.net.

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