A love song to his adopted city, Tom Cavanaugh's THE LAST REMNANTS OF COPS, ROBBERS & HOLYWOOD COWBOYS will have its Los Angeles premiere in the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival from June 12th through 29th. The press preview performance will take place on June 5th at 7pm. The forty-five minute drama, which features eight monologues delivered by six actors, will play at the East Theatre at The Complex at 6476 Santa Monica Blvd.
"Some of the characters I met when I moved out here are vanishing due to the gentrification of neighborhoods ranging from downtown to Hollywood," says Cavanaugh. "These are true stories and experiences told to me by the real people of L.A. They are sad, funny, pitiful and amazing all at once!"
A twenty-two-year-veteran 911 operator and police dispatcher, Cavanaugh has honed his storytelling skills while on the job protecting the public. "Being a 9-1-1 operator all these years has taught me to listen. When people realize that you know how to listen, that's when they really open up" he explains.
THE LAST REMNANTS OF COPS, ROBBERS & HOLYWOOD COWBOYS was first developed in readings in Los Angeles coffee houses. In May of 2013 it had a special presentation performance at The Theatre for the New City in New York City. "In LAST REMNANTS there are no sets, costumes or props... unless the actors need them," he says. "The piece is purely about the words, the acting and the stories."
Born and raised in Edison, New Jersey, a short train ride from Manhattan, Cavanaugh has a great love for good stories, and The City of Los Angeles. He transforms the sentiments in his own life, as well as the conflicts in the 9-1-1 calls he has handled, into the lives of the characters he places on the stage.
Certain personal experiences inform Cavanaugh's storytelling, like the murder of his grandfather, who was beaten to death in his home by three teenage boys, and the recent mysterious death of a young woman he loved dearly. "All around me, I see that there is uncertainty in life, and that requires compassion," he says.
Cavanaugh, who is a graduate from the MFA program in playwriting at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York City, used his powers of healing insight when he bought a hundred cups of coffee for the people of Newtown, CT in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. His action was reported nationally under the headline, "100 Cups of Coffee". When a network news reporter asked about his motives, he replied, "I wanted to restore some normality in the lives of the people of Newtown. After the last camera crew leaves, the real grief begins. Hopefully this act is only the beginning to helping the people of that town."
Tom's act of kindness caused a media sensation that brought direct donations to the people of Newtown, CT from as far as South Africa and Great Britain. Inspired by Cavanaugh's actions, people picked up their phones and purchased goods and services from Newtown stores that were given to the townspeople free of service with the purpose of directly helping them recover from the shock of the tragedy.
http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1605
