ASCAP Award-winning Writer Chip Deffaa to Give Talkback on ONE NIGHT WITH FANNY BRICE

ASCAP award-winning writer Chip Deffaa, joined by director Rachel Hundert and star Chloe Brooks, will give a talkback on the legendary Fanny Brice, after Monday's performance of Deffaa's show, "One Night with Fanny Brice," at the 13th Street Repertory Company (50 W. 13th St., NYC, www.13thStreetRep.org).

The author of eight published books and 12 published plays, and an expert on early American show business, Deffaa has periodically given talkbacks on Brice since "One Night with Fanny Brice" first opened Off-Broadway at St. Luke's Theater on 46th Street in 2011. (He has also given talkbacks with productions of the show in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Virginia.) He has won the ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award, the IRNE AWARD (Independent Reviewers of New England), and a New Jersey Press Association Award.

"One Night with Fanny Brice" (published/licensed by Leicester Bay Theatricals) is one of three plays about Brice--who rose from poverty to become the nation's highest-paid singing comedienne--that Deffaa has written. The others are "Presenting Fanny Brice" (which premiered in New Ulm, Minnesota in 2012 and is published by Eldridge Plays & Musicals,www.histage.com) and "The Fanny Brice Story" (which premiered in Wayne, New Jersey in 2013 and is published by Leicester Bay Theatricals, www.leicesterbaytheatricals.com).
"One Night with Fanny Brice," which moved to the 13th Street Theater in 2013, will go on summer hiatus following Monday's performance, which is being videotaped by Peter Charney Productions. The show will resume performances at the 13th Street Theater in September. This summer, the show will play at the Open Eye Theater (Amie Brockway, Artistic Director) in the Catskills. The Off-Broadway cast album, released by Original Cast Records, is available from Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes, etc.

Deffaa notes: "Fanny Brice has fascinated me since childhood. I was lucky enough to know a couple of people who'd worked with her. And I loved her spirit, as captured on film and disc. We've now had several different actresses star in 'One Night with Fanny Brice' in New York, and other actresses have done the show in other states. It's been gratifying having audience members--ranging from relatives of Brice to the author of the definitive Brice biography, Herbert Goldman--tell us we've succeeded in evoking Brice."