Dixon Place Presents ASYLUM 4/16

On April 16th at 8:00 pm, Dixon Place proudly presents the world premiere of Asylum, written and performed by James Braly.

Asylum is a darkly comic autobiographical story of a teenaged pot head seeking enlightenment who - on advice of the psychiatrist claiming he was reincarnated from a past life to help him in this life -- checks himself in to a psychiatric hospital before he drops out of high school. The locked ward is full of surprises: kids in straightjackets, often medicated to the point of catatonia, and inpatients who in many ways, are more sane than the outpatients he left behind. Leading him to a disturbing discovery: what seems normal is not, and that this place, full of certifiable lunatics considered to be dangers to themselves and to society, is in some ways more stable than his home. Which begs the question: what is the real asylum?

This Dixon Place commission is made possible, in part, with generous support from the NY State Council on the arts, the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, and The Greenwall Foundation.

ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
James Braly is the writer and performer of Life in a Marital Institution, a monologue workshopped at Dixon Place. It premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, sold out NYC's 59E59 Theater, and was transferred Off Broadway to the Soho Playhouse. Reviewed as "gaspingly funny" (Variety), "never less than excellent" (The New York Times), and "a masterpiece of storytelling" (The List), the show, which toured nationally in 2009, is in development as a feature film with Meredith Vieira Productions, and a forthcoming memoir from St. Martin's Press. James has performed autobiographical stories on NPR as well as at The Whitney Museum, Long Wharf Theatre, and The Moth, where he was featured on the TNT National Story Tour and is the only two-time winner of the Moth GrandSLAM storytelling competition. His stories and commentaries have been broadcast nationally on This American Life, NPR, and Marketplace, and his essays appear in the recently published anthologies, Afterbirth (St. Martin's Press), and Mr. Beller's Neighborhood (W.W. Norton).

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Seth Barrish is the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of The Barrow Group-a non-profit theatre company in New York City. Mr. Barrish has worked as an actor, director, playwright, composer, and musical director internationally, Off-Broadway, Off Off Broadway, and in regional theatres for over 30 years. Directing credits include: Mike Birbiglia's "Sleepwalk With Me" (Nightlife Award for OUTSTANDING COMEDIAN IN A MAJOR PERFORMANCE), David Edgar's Pentecost (Drama Desk Nomination for BEST PLAY), Martin Moran's The Tricky Part (OBIE Award, Drama Desk Nominations for BEST PLAY and BEST SOLO SHOW), Nicolette & Aucasin, Old Wicked Songs (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award & Garland Award for BEST DIRECTION) and Thy Kingdom's Coming, Lonely Planet, and Good (Straw Hat Award for BEST DIRECTION).

ABOUT DIXON PLACE

Dixon Place is a non-profit organization founded in 1986 to provide a space for literary and performing artists to create and develop new works in front of a live audience. While other venues of its kind have since died off, or now only present established artists, Dixon Place remains at the heart of the New York experimental performance scene. Taking risks is crucial to the life of Dixon Place, its artists and audiences.

Dixon Place's primary commitments are to bring artists and audiences together through live performance in order to expand the understanding of the creative process and its final product, and to provide a supportive environment for emerging artists to present new work. Over the last sixteen years, Dixon Place has successfully maintained its intimate atmosphere and unique environment while increasing its programming to fulfill the need for performance opportunities for the New York community of performing and literary artists.

TICKET INFORMATION:

For Reservations & advanced tickets visit www.dixonplace.org or call 212.219.0736. Now through April 1st: all tickets $12.50 | April 2nd - April 15th: all tickets $17.50 | April 16th - May 22nd: all tickets $25 | (Preview Performances: $10)

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