Heiress Productions Presents CRITICAL MASS, 10/22-11/7

In Joanne Sydney Lessner's new hilarious revenge comedy, a pair of married opera critics are forced to reexamine their priorities when the tenor whose career they ruined moves in with them.

Carrie Greenlea is an opera critic who enjoys skewering singers for everything from bad high notes to bad nose jobs. Her husband and fellow critic, Norman, prefers to equivocate rather than hurt anyone's feelings. When Stefano Donato, a mediocre Italian tenor whose career they have jointly ruined, moves in with them, he proceeds to exact revenge. Events reach critical mass when their household is further invaded by their Bette Davis-impersonating editor; a marginally talented, but resourceful soprano; and Stefano's desperate wife. For Critical Mass, playwright Joanne Sydney Lessner drew on her own experience reviewing recordings and performances for Opera News over the past decade.

"Writing Critical Mass was my way of working through what I consider to be a solemn responsibility," says Lessner. "To find the comedy, I took one of my fears as a critic - finding myself face to face with someone whose performance I didn't like - and drew it out to the extreme. There are moments when the play borders on farce, and there's a fair helping of operatic excess, but it does explore, quite seriously, the nature and purpose of arts criticism. I think critics can lose sight of the fact that they have the power not just to derail a single career, but also to squelch a vulnerable art form. But because I'm still also an active performer, I can appreciate both sides of the equation."

Featuring Aaron Davis*, Laura Faith, Marc Geller*, Zac Hoogendyk*, Shorey Walker*, and Leigh Williams*.

Mary Willis White and Laura Faith are the producing directors. Set design by Chris Minard, costume design by Ashley Rose Horton, lighting design by Melissa Mizell, and sound design by Hidenori Nakajo. The production stage manager is Taylor Crampton.

CRITICAL MASS plays the following schedule through Sunday, November 7th:

Wednesdays through Fridays at 8pm
Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm (there will be no Saturday matinee on 10/23)
Sundays at 3pm

Tickets are $18 and are now available online at www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Theatre Row Box Office, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

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