CATAMITUS Makes World PremiereToday

Catamitus, written by Frank J. Avella, is about a famous film director caught up in rape allegations who is confronted by one of his male victims. Catamitus will be directed by Christopher Burris and will star Brendan Daugherty and John David West.

Tanner, a young and fairly successful TV actor, visits his former mentor and lover, Dylan, to confront him about their past relationship. Dylan is a famous movie director now caught up in a host of sexual misconduct allegations while Tanner has demons linked directly to his past with Dylan. In the midst of the #metoo/Times Up movement, Catamitus shines a light on a group that is often too ashamed to come forward: young men taken advantage of by older men in power.

The short play will be presented by Emerging Artists Theatre as part of their New Works Series. The location is TADA! Theater, 15 W. 28th Street, 2nd Floor, between Broadway and 5th, NYC

Tickets are $15 and are available via through Brown Paper Tickets:

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3613592

Please call 973-715-2356 for further information or email ImpetusEnsemble@aol.com.

Frank J. Avella (Author) is the recipient of a 2018 Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship. He was also awarded a 2015 Fellowship Award from the NJ State Council on the Arts, a 2016 Helene Wurlitzer Residency Grant and the Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation Playwright Award for Consent, which was a 2012 O'Neill semifinalist. His play, Vatican Falls, took part in the 2017 Planet Connections Festivity and Frank was nominated for Outstanding Playwriting. Lured was a 2018 O'Neill semifinalist and will have its World Premiere at Theater for the New City this November, followed by a Rome production via the Onstage American Theater Festival in Rome, Italy. Frank has written many plays and screenplays. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.

Christopher Burris (Director) (@misterburris) is an artist, an adjunct professor, and a producer for The New Black Fest. He received a 2017 Drama League Artist Residency with Derek Lee McPhatter's Bring the Beat Back. In 2016 Christopher directed The Brothers Size at Luna Stage, which received five Broadway World Award nominations, including Best Play and Best Director. Other credits include When We Wake Up Dead (Dennis A. Allen) and the off-broadway revival of The Fourth Wall (A.R. Gurney) for TBTB. Christopher's photography has been featured in American Theatre Magazine and the cover for Ladybrille, August 2017.