Adult Film To Present The World Premiere Of CIMINO's DEFEAT At Torn Page
A king of Hollywood becomes an angel of its death. Performances run January 20th-February 14th
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jan. 02, 2026
Adult Film will present the World Premiere of Cimino's Defeat by playwright Eric Faris, directed by Sam Cini, at Torn Page.
After gaining acclaim and recognition with his film The Deer Hunter, director Michael Cimino rose to fame and power within the flourishing New Hollywood system. With his new found success came megalomania, and Cimino's following film Heaven's Gate was rife with production troubles and ultimately flopped. This commercial and critical failure resulted in the end of Hollywood's director driven era and the beginning of commercial, studio driven filmmaking. Witness the seeds of this cinema apocalypse in an intimate, behind the scenes style in Cimino's Defeat. Running from January 20 - February 14. Previews begin January 20 for a January 23 opening. Tickets ($44 suggested donation) are available for purchase.
The cast includes Tad D'Agostino, Hannah Hale, Gia Bonello, Matthew Zimmerman, Kristiana Priscantelli, Jeremy Cohen, Joey D'Amore, & Trevor Clarkson.
The creative team for Cimino's Defeat includes Joey D'Amore (composer), Caroline Cassidy (stage manager), Joshua Matteo (Assistant Director), and Madeline Rostmeyer (Costume Designer)
Cimino's Defeat is produced by Ariana Afradi, Gia Bonello, Ryan Czerwonko, & Joshua Matteo
Adult Film is an NYC theatre company, film studio, and artistic training center founded by Ryan Czerwonko in January 2022. AF is dedicated to collapsing the boundaries of theatre and film with a focus on acting itself, developing actors as writers and directors, and giving writers and directors a deeper understanding of actors. The AF community is centered around the work, outside of the pressures of the commercial world, about mess, ambiguity, the dark side, bad behavior, creativity, possibility... the human condition. What better way to manifest the ethos of Adult Film than with Cimino's Defeat.
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