IT'S SHAMEFUL! A DEADBEAT DAD'S TRUE STORY Debuts In Frigid Festival

It's Shameful! A Deadbeat Dad's [True] Story will debut as part of the 11th Annual FRIGID Festival in New York City.

It's Shameful! A Deadbeat Dad's [True] Story is written and performed by storyteller Murray Meyer who has been a practicing criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles for more than thirty years. Director/playwright Laurel Ollstein, who is married to Meyer, will direct. It's Shameful! A Deadbeat Dad's [True] Story is sponsored by Bad Boy Bail Bonds of Los Angeles.

It's Shameful! A Deadbeat Dad's [True] Story is about a lawyer who feels he's no better than the murderer he's defending. Why? Years before he had walked out on his wife and kids in Vancouver. But now his kids are coming to live with him...in a commune in Hollywood. Could he possibly make things right?

"Murray's true story of epic remorse over abandoning his first wife and kids, and how his life evolves into an awkward opportunity for a sort-of redemption, offers plenty of opportunities for the audience to flinch, panic and laugh with him at his very human failings," says director Ollstein.

Murray Meyer is the creator of itscriminalthecomedy.com an ongoing legal humor vlog. Laurel Ollstein directed the Los Angeles premiere of Alice Tuan's HIT, a work originally commissioned by New York's Public Theater, and recently premiered her own play They Promised her the Moon off-Broadway at St. Clements with the Miranda Theatre Company.

Kristen Larocque of the Montreal Mirror wrote about Meyer's previous solo show Walking Back to Brooklyn, "Meyer's transition from character to character and from past to present is seamless, funny and truly entertaining."

And the Los Angeles Weekly noted after seeing Meyer's It's Criminal! The Comedy, "More lawyers should do one-person shows."

It's Shameful: A Deadbeat Dad's [True] Story will be performed at Under St. Mark's at 94 St. Marks Place, New York City.

The show will open on Friday, Feb. 16, 10:30 p.m. and plays on

Sunday, Feb. 18, 12:10 p.m.;

Monday, Feb. 19, 5:30 p.m.;

Thursday, Feb. 22, 7:10 p.m.;

Saturday, Feb. 24, 3:50 p.m.; and

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 7:10 p.m.

FRIGID Festival tickets for It's Shameful! A Deadbeat Dad's [True] Story will be available for $5 at the door or can be purchased by visiting www.FRIGIDnewyork.info.

Murray Meyer (Writer/Performer) is a criminal lawyer, comedian, storyteller and writer. He has practiced criminal defense law in Los Angeles for the last 30 years. During that time, he estimates his winning percentage at well over .400 which would put him in Cooperstown if law were baseball.

Meyer has also been a stand-up comic, playwright for Me and Errol and written and performed in three comedic one-man shows - It's Criminal! The Comedy, Walking Back to Brooklyn and his current show It's Shameful! A Deadbeat Dad's Story. His work has been produced at the San Francisco, Toronto and Seattle Fringe Festivals and in Los Angeles, New York and Montreal.

Meyer has been creating written and video legal comedy shorts on his website itscriminalthecomedy.com for the last decade. "This is my take on the daily menu of mishegas I encounter in my job," says Meyer.

Laurel Ollstein (Director) The biting wit of Dorothy Parker inspired Ollstein's first writing and directing project -- a one-woman show. Laughter, Hope and a Sock in the Eye toured New York City, Baltimore and Los Angeles, winning awards and Critic's Choice from the LA Weekly and LA Reader. She has since coached dozens of other performers, famous actors and writers through the Solo Show development process through her classes at UCLA and other venues.

Ollstein directed the world premiere of Alice Tuan's HIT at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, as well as Sardines and her plays, Cheese and Esther's Moustache, at the Actor's Gang Theater. She also directed Esther's Moustache at New Jersey Repertory and the Studio/Stage Theatre. Ollstein directed her own work They Promised Her the Moon at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles and at the University of Oklahoma. Ollstein was also the director for Murray Meyer's It's Criminal: The Comedy at the Santa Monica Playhouse.

It's Shameful! A Deadbeat Dad's [True] Story has performances scheduled at Under St. Marks in New York City. Performances are on Friday, Feb. 16, 10:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 18, 12:10 p.m.; Monday, Feb. 19, 5:30 p.m.; Thursday, Feb. 22, 7:10 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 24, 3:50 p.m.; and Wednesday, Feb. 28, 7:10 p.m.

Tickets are $5 and may be purchased before the performance at the box office.

Under St. Marks is located at 94 St. Marks Place, Between 1st Avenue & Avenue A in New York City.

The audience will have the option to buy beer, wine and sake inside the theatre for 15 minutes before the show start time. Drinks will not be available during the performances. For more information see www.FRIGIDnewyork.info.

Photo Credit: Carolyn White