MAX & ELSA: NO MUSIC. NO CHILDREN. to Premiere at Hollywood Fringe, 6/7-26

L.A.-based arts collective The Norton School will make its company debut with the world premiere of MAX & ELSA: NO MUSIC. NO CHILDREN. at the 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Written by Mason Flink & Lindsay Kerns and directed by Flink, MAX & ELSA will run at the Asylum Lab (1078 Lillian Way) from June 7-26, 2015.

A subversive parody of The Sound of Music, MAX & ELSA ditches Maria and the children for the champagne-soaked adventures of Uncle Max and the Baroness - the two people for whom the hills were not alive with... well, you know.

"Most everyone is familiar with what happens to Maria and the von Trapps - they do, in fact, climb ev'ry mountain," said Mason Flink, artistic director at The Norton School. "But we wanted to tell a story about sarcastic, embittered 40-year-olds with serious co-dependency issues, which feels equally as timeless."

In true Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-style, MAX & ELSA celebrates The Sound of Music's legacy while exploring its darker (and drunker) nooks and crannies. The play intentionally omits the most beloved elements of the movie - there's no Maria, no music, and no children! - though it does make room for a few of everyone's favorite things (including appearances by Rolf, Captain von Trapp, and America's favorite nun, the Mother Abbess).

MAX & ELSA features Clayton Farris as Max Detweiler, Megan Rose Greene as Elsa Schraeder, Frank Smith as Captain von Trapp, and Matthew Gilmore as Rolf Gruber and the Mother Abbess.

Production staff for MAX & ELSA includes Mason Flink, director and composer; Brandon Baruch, lighting design; Alysha Bermudez, sound design; Jean Ansolabehere, stage manager; Lindsay Kerns & Mason Flink, producers.

Mason Flink is a writer, director, and performer based in Los Angeles. He is the founder and artistic director of The Norton School for the Occasionally Self-Employed, a collective of working artists living in what Apple Maps refers to as "SoFo" (even though "SoFo" is definitely not a thing). He performs on both coasts as one half of the historical folk duo SIDE OF THE STORY, and he holds an MFA from USC's Peter Stark Producing Program, where he first met co-writer and Sound of Music super-fan Lindsay Kerns.

Lindsay Kerns is proud to hail from the boonies of Nebraska and currently resides in Los Angeles, where she works as a staff writer at comedy website Funny Or Die. She founded and serves on the board of directors of a 501c3 non-profit arts collective called The Colonel Mustard, which provides free public art and entertainment to under-served neighborhoods in Nebraska. She holds an MFA from USC's Peter Stark Producing Program, where she became fast friends with co-writer Mason Flink. And - most impressively - she played fourth chair flute (out of four flutes) in her junior high band.

Performances will play the Asylum Lab, 1078 Lillian Way, Los Angeles, CA, 90038 for 6 performances only: Sunday, June 7 @ 2:30pm; Saturday, June 13 @ 4:00pm; Wednesday, June 17 @ 10:00pm; Saturday, June 20 @ 11:30pm; Monday, June 22 @ 8:30pm; and Friday, June 26 @ 10:00pm. Tickets: $10.00 general admission; $8.00 Fringe participants. 55-minute run time. Tickets are available at www.hff15.org/2156.