SKIP TO MY LOU to Play Theater For The New City February 17

Theater for the New City presents Steve Romagnoli's "SKIP TO MY LOU," Written by Steve Romagnoli and directed by S. C. Lucier.

Romagnoli's new drama about love, imperialism and racism inspired by the true story of Ota Benga, a Congolese pygmy exhibited alongside an orangutan in the Bronx Zoo in 1906, one of the more tragic and unusual episodes in New York City history.

The play follows a young couple in love - he's white and she's black - who stumble into the lair of Simon, a Machiavellian cynic and sociopath married to Yo-Yo, a young woman from Africa. As the couples become acquainted, they discuss everything from genital mutilation to altruism, affirmative action to the nature of evil and the suffering of God, all under the haunting specter of Ota Benga. Simon tests the young lovers' bond with a wide range of ploys and philosophical conversation that, Romagnoli said, "turns sinister as secrets are revealed and mayhem is unleashed."

Romagnoli's portion of box office receipts will be donated to the Bedford Hills Women's Maximum Security Prison College Program, where he is a professor.

Cast & Creative

Marguerite Genard (Chavonne)

Marguerite is a graduate from the two year program at NYC's William Esper Studio and the MA Theatre Lab course at RADA. In the final show at RADA, Marguerite performed as The Singer in the world premier of The Raft of the Medusa (the company's devised physical theatre collaboration with playwright Joshua Sobol) under the direction of Andrew Visnevski. 'I do this because I am passionate about it.'' www.margeacts.com

ISI Laborde (Yo-Yo)

Isi Laborde studied Acting at NYU Tisch with The Meisner Studio. She spent some time at Cornell University studying film and performance studies and performing with the Actor's Workshop of Ithaca. She will be performing in a production of The Bacchae with the Faux-Real Theater Company at La Mama Experimental Club in March.

Frank J. Monteleone (Thomas)

Off-Broadway: I Feed You, Gym Shorts, Pitched, Scotch and Poison & Angels (Duke42). Regional credits includeRomeo & Juliet (Romeo -National
Theatre), Coriolanus (Titus- NJShakes) and London Assurance (Spanker-NJShakes). Film: Focus (2015), The Lost Flowers, Little Gold Star, & The Swap. Personal Instagram updates found on FrankjMonteleone.com

Nicholas Tucci (Simon)

Off-Off B'way: Cherubim Fest); The Blonde Actress. Regional: The Tempest, Richard III, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, The Three Musketeers (Elm Shakespeare); King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream (ARTFarm); Dead Therefore I Am, Mala (Complex LA); Criminality, Epilogue (Bailiwick). Film/TV: You're Next, Faults, Long Nights Short Mornings, Choose, Undocumented, Day to Night, The Worst Year of My Life, Unforgettable, Person of Interest.

Steve Romagnoli (Playwright)

Steve Romagnoli teaches Ethics and Creative Writing at the Bedford Hills Maximum Security Prison for Women and Literature at Fordham University. Before that, he taught at-risk youth at transfer high schools, homeless shelters, drug rehabs and incarcerated programs throughout New York City. His novel, Ghetto Dogs, will be published by the Alternative Book Press (May 2016). His short stories have appeared in The Mid-American Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Gargoyle Magazine, Booth Magazine, Beat to a Pulp, The Rusty Nail, Chicago Center of Literature and Photography Magazine, The Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Review and real fiction. He's had four plays produced in New York City, including, Stealing Heaven, running off-Broadway at the Samuel Beckett Theater. Steve is currently finishing a novel that takes place in Moscow and the East Village during the time of the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988.

Read more below about Steve and "Skip To My Lou" in this article from "The Fordham Ram." and in BroadwayWorld.com