CLICKBAIT Begins Previews Tonight at Access Theater

The Factory has announced that CLICKBAIT, David M deLeon and Esther Ko's co-written and co-directed new low-tech high-tech love story about sex, suicide and cellphones will begin performances tonight, September 4th at the Gallery Space at the Access Theater, 380 Broadway, TriBeCa. www.clickbaitplay.com

Antonia is the girl in the back of class whose name you always forget. But when the editor of the college paper writes a story mistakenly identifying her as a suicide victim, suddenly she finds herself in the middle of a storm of publicity, retweets, fundraisers, charity events, and misleading headlines. Has she lost control over her story? Or is this an opportunity to start over?

CLICKBAIT is an immersive theatre experience about life and love in the age of social media. The audience becomes part of the action as they sit in on classes, read text messages, join chatrooms, and receive live video streams. Exclusive interactive content will be piped directly to audience members' phones, so don't shut 'em off!

The cast of CLICKBAIT features Esther Ko, Sajda Waite, Gamal Elsawah, Macy Idzakovich, Louis Gaudio, Robert Snyder, Michael Citrin, and Liana Wendy Sarapas.

ESTHER KO (Co-Writer/Director) has studied writing at Johns Hopkins University, The New School, and graduated from Hunter College with a B.A. in English, Creative Writing. She won the prose fiction contest for the Olivetree Review in 2012 for One Magic Thing a Day. She has written and performed for the monthly Our Bar (Project: Theater) and directed short pieces including I Hate Your Sharp Teeth (Hunter Theatre Co.) and The Green Gizmo (Short Film). Other Performance credits include The Weiner Monologues (The Factory), When Summer Ends (Graduate Theatre Co.), Nothing Could Surprise Me Now (The Factory), The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide (Hunter Theatre Co.), and The Minions of Gozer: A Ghostbusters Shadowcast.

DAVID M. DELEON (Co-Writer/Director) has written and directed several shows, including Killers (The Factory), A Closed Room (Hunter Theatre Co.), The Siblings (The Factory), The Student Body (OTR), and Miss Kitty (GTCHC), as well as short scenes for Our Bar (Project: Theater) and the Undergrad Playwrights Festival (Hunter Theatre Co.). Acting credits include The Weiner Monologues (The Factory), Choose (Tin Lilly Productions), The Fourth Graders Present: An Unnamed Love-Suicide (Hunter Theatre Co.), Risen (Red Leaf Productions), Apocalypso (GTCHC), The Gospel According to Chance (GTCHC), and The Charm of Preparedness (Nagelberg Theatre). He served as an Artistic Director for the Hunter Theatre Co. David has won multiple awards for writing, including the McGlinchee Prize for a Play, the Mary M. Fay Award in Poetry, a Helen Gray Cone fellowship, a Blanche Colton Williams fellowship, and the Miriam Weinberg Richter Award in Academic Writing. His writing has appeared in over a dozen magazines, including Rattle, Strange Horizons, and Diagram.

JONATHAN HARPER SCHLIEMAN (Producer) is the recipient of a Neil Simon Scholarship, a LoBianco Scholarship, a Vera Mowry Roberts Fellowship, a John Gassner Award, and a Tyrone Guthrie Award for Directing. As a director he has worked on The Weiner Monologues (The Factory), A Working Man (The Factory), The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love Suicide (Hunter Theatre Company); Apocalypso (Graduate Theatre Club of Hunter College), his original play surprise. (The Factory) and GUS (The PIT) among others. He is currently the Assistant Production Manager and MFA Festival Coordinator for The Department of Theatre at Hunter College and will spend next fall at the O'Neill Center in Waterford, CT as part of the National Theatre Institute. He is a proud graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (A.O.S. in Acting and Certificate of Advanced Actor Training), and a grateful alum of CUNY - Hunter (BA in Theatre and Interdiscplinary Studies).

CLICKBAIT features Choreography by Jillian Stevens, Set Design by Zoey Russo, Tech Wizardry by Jessie Reyes, Costume Design by Joyce Lim, Production Stage Manager Lexi Quillen, Stage Manager Conrado Falco.

Performances of CLICKBAIT are Thursday 9/4 - Sunday 9/7 & Wednesday 9/10 - Saturday 9/13 at 8PM, with matinees on Saturday 9/6 - Saturday 9/7 at 2PM and Saturday 9/13 - Sunday 9/14 at 2PM.

Tickets to CLICKBAIT start at $15 and can be purchased online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/782197