Mark-Eugene Garcia's WITH BATED BREATH to Have Staged Reading With FRIGID New York
Performances will take place on October 5 and 12.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Sep. 19, 2025
FRIGID New York will present a staged reading of With Bated Breath, a new play by FRIGID Resident Artists playwright Mark-Eugene Garcia and director Rodrigo Ernesto Bolaños at UNDER St. Marks on Sunday, October 5th at 4pm and Sunday, October 12th at 4pm. Tickets ($15) are available for advance purchase. Admission will also include a free glass of wine at the USM bar. The performance will run approximately 90 minutes, with no intermission.
Welcome to Virgin, Minnesota-a town so stuck in its ways that even the cows might be celibate. Mayor Frankie is determined to save the town from economic doom by bringing in a new factory, run by the brilliant but no-nonsense Dr. Corazon De La Fuente. But here's the twist: the factory manufactures sexual enhancement pills, and it doesn't take long before things start to get... steamy.
Just as the townsfolk are warming up to the idea of jobs, an accident sends a mysterious cloud of sex-enhancing mist floating through Virgin. Now, the once-uptight residents are overcome with desire, and all their repressed urges start bubbling up like a Midwestern hot dish left on high. Under the watchful (and hilariously judgmental) eye of Old Lady Warner, the whole town is turned upside down as everyone deals with newfound lust, confusion, and a whole lot of awkward conversations.
With Bated Breath is a laugh-out-loud romp about how one small town gets a big dose of hormones and learns to loosen up-ready or not!
With Bated Breath began in 2003 when playwright Mark-Eugene Garcia stumbled upon a fluff news story about a small Irish town claiming its residents were affected by fumes from a nearby Viagra plant. While Pfizer dismissed the claim as impossible, Mark-Eugene couldn't help but wonder-what if it wasn't?
The cast will feature C-Mac, TJ D'Angelo, Dylan Glick, Martha Lorena Preve, Michael Salinas, Erin Soler, and Kirstin Wolf with David Rigano reading stage directions.
Mark-Eugene Garcia
(Playwright) is a Chicano playwright, storyteller, and theatre-maker, blending cultural legacy, and theatrical grit in every work. A 2025 Candela Playwright's Fellow and a 2025/2026 Resident Artist at FRIGID New York, he is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a graduate of the City College of New York. He honed his craft in book and lyric writing with the Academy of New Musical Theatre and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Mark-Eugene's work has earned the 2021 Jerry Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Musical Theatre, the 2018 UnFringed Festival Best of Festival Award, a 2016 Vancouver Ovation Award nomination for Outstanding New Work, a 2013 Planet Connections nomination for Outstanding Book of a New Musical, and the 2012 Jacob Weiser Playwriting Award for a Fully Realized Drama. Productions include EIGHT TALES OF PEDRO (The Secret Theatre, The Queens Theatre), SHINING IN MISERY: A KING-SIZE PARODY (Capital City Theatre, 54 Below), STANDBY (Towle Theatre, New York International Fringe Festival- Encores Selection, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Next Link Selection), THE HOLY COWS OF CREDENCE SOUTH DAKOTA (Planet Connections Theatre Festival, Puzzle Theatre Festival), FACING EAST: A NEW MUSICAL (Jericho Arts Center), and UNMISSED CONNECTIONS (Planet Connections Theatre Festival). Other Plays include FLAKE OF SNOW, WITH BATED BREATH (formerly UP IN THE AIR!), WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR, ONE NIGHT AT THE GOLDEN BOOT, INSCRIPTIONS, and KEYS. In addition to his writing career, he co-hosts THE DRAMA BOOK SHOW! on the Broadway Podcast Network.
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