World Premiere Of 45 MILLIGRAMS Set for Hollywood Fringe 2019

45 Milligrams, a new play written, produced and co-starring Ian Kaye, is making its world premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June 2019. The show is a darkly comic look at mental health, marrying absurdist text with stylized physicality to call into question how conceptions of sanity are formed.

With a run time of only 25 minutes, 45 Milligrams is a hyper-short one act that symbolically examines anxiety and depression and the different ways we cope with trauma. The show centers on Joey and Denny, two roommates in a mental institution fixated on a terrifying and silent man who may or may not be real. With occasional input from their doctor, the two struggle to make sense of this mysterious third roommate through verbal sparring and physical violence. What results is a theatrical fever dream that ranges from absurdly comedic to deeply disturbing.

Ian Kaye (Joey) studied screenwriting at Ithaca College where he received his B.S. in Television and Radio and continued honing his craft in Los Angeles through UCLA extension courses. He has been developing this unique piece of theatre for years: in earlier stages, the show was selected to be read at Playground-LA, an incubator for works by new playwrights. Kaye Joining Kaye to bring45 Milligrams to life is Nikki Muller, Jason Rosario and Tavi Stutz, the team behind the award-winning Definition of Man, which won Cherry Poppins' Ripest Show Award and Best in Dance & Physical Theatre at 2017's Hollywood Fringe. Muller (Doctor) and Rosario (Man) are co-directing and acting in 45 Milligrams, and Tavi Stutz, a Cirque du Soleil veteran and co-director of Definition of Man, has choreographed the show's slapstick, circus-inspired stage combat. Stutz is known for his creative integration of movement into storytelling: his local nonprofit performance organization, DConstruction Arts, is "dedicated to projects that explore unique relationships between movement and media, putting emphasis on the connection between circus, media arts and music."

The show also features veteran performer David Haverty (Denny) as co-lead. Haverty has been hailed by the LA Times as a "versatile comic heavyweight" and was previously nominated for the 2013 Spirit of the Fringe Award for Best Male Performance in Ryan Is Lost. This uniquely physical and darkly comic role marks Haverty's return to the stage after a two-year hiatus, following his critically-acclaimed performance in Skullduggery with the Sacred Fools Theatre Company.

Additionally, the show's haunting original soundscape has been designed by Chris Thomas, a seasoned composer of both cinematic and orchestral scores. Chris has won awards for Best Soundtrack at SXSW film festivals, Best Film & TV Music at the World Music Awards, and the Gold Medal Prize from the Park City Film Music Festival. He has also scored the LA Haunted Hayride-as well as numerous haunts across America-for over a decade.

Tickets are available for purchase online at hff19.org/5966

Photo by Matt Kamimura