59E59 Theaters (Val Day, Artistic Director; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) welcomes The Dreamscape Theatre with the NYC premiere of PETE REX written by Alexander V. Thompson and directed by Brad Raimondo. PETE REX begins performances on Thursday, February 8 for a limited engagement through Saturday, March 3. Press Opening is Thursday, February 15 at 7:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Saturday at 7:30 PM; Sunday at 2:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Single tickets are $25 ($20 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.
Despite the unnatural presence of a vicious, yet smooth-talking Tyrannosaur named Nero, PETE REX is a wholly human story about depression and the choices a young man makes in a fruitless attempt to remain insulated from the fragility of life. But those very choices lead him directly into the jaws of mortal danger for himself, for his loved ones, and for the world around him. An homage to late night creature features, PETE REX is part comedy, part absurdism, part horror, and all dinosaur.
The cast features
Greg Carere (The Downtown Loop at 3LD), Rosie Sowa (film: The Fugue), and Simon Winheld (Mozart: Das Musical!... with Emerging Artists Theatre).
The design team includes
Caitlin Cisek (set and costume design); Remy M. Leelike (lighting design); and Megan Culley (sound design). The Production Stage Manager is Patrick Harnett-Marshall.
Alexander V. Thompson's (playwright) plays include The Cryptids, Game Day and Presence. When not writing, Alex is a teacher and actor. Favorite credits include: Dracula with Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Arabian Nights with Lookingglass Theatre (Chicago) and The Aliens with Dobama Theatre. Alex earned an MA in Literature from The University of Louisville.
Brad Raimondo's (director) NYC directing projects include Ricardo Pérez González' World War I Christmas Truce drama In Fields Where They Lay (The Dreamscape Theatre/New Ohio Theatre), along with the world premieres of The Improbable Fall, Rise & Fall of
John Law (Part 1) by Matt Herzfeld (IRT Theater/Dreamscape), The Tale of Jamie Freel (NY Children's Theater Festival, 2013) and Claire Kiechel's plays Whale Song or Learning to Live With Mobyphobia (Dreamscape/FringeNYC 2011) and Some Dark Places of the Earth (The New School for Drama, 2013).
In January 2016 Brad was named the Associate Artistic Director of the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY. In his first summer with the Hangar, Brad mentored the Hangar's renowned summer training program, the Hangar Theatre Lab Company, including producing the Hangar's KIDDSTUFF season of plays for young audiences and Wedge
Second Stage season.
Brad has worked extensively as a director of college and youth theater (recent credits include
Edwin Sanchez' Icarus with the Yale Dramat and A Streetcar Named Desire with the Mimes & Mummers at Fordham University). He is a proud member of the New Victory Theater's Teaching Artist Ensemble and has taught more than 500 theatrical workshops for K-12 students in classrooms throughout New York City and in a dozen states.
As the co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of The Dreamscape Theatre, he has produced 19 full productions (seven of which he directed) along with dozens of readings, workshops, and special events.
Brad has served as an assistant director Off Broadway (with director
Michael Barakiva on
Topher Payne's Perfect Arrangement at
Primary Stages, with director
Davis McCallum on
Samuel D Hunter's The Few at Rattlestick and with director
Clove Galilee on
Mabou Mines' Imagining the Imaginary Invalid) and regionally (with director
Daniela Varon on the first U.S. production of
Lolita Chakrabarti's Red Velvet at Shakespeare & Company). His regional directing work includes the Midwest premiere of
George Brant's Any Other Name (Williams Street Rep), as well as three summers directing at Festival 56 in Princeton, Illinois where his work included a critically acclaimed production of
Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and the world premiere of the community-based play Hometown - Anonymous.
Brad is a proud member of SDC, a Drama League Classical Directing Fellow, and holds a BFA in Theater from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, an MA in Educational Theater from NYU's Steinhardt School, and an MFA in Directing from The New School for Drama.
