SEX IN MOMMYVILLE Opens At The Flea 8/18-8/29

AF PRODUCTIONS presents the world premiere production of Anna Fishbeyn's SEX IN MOMMYVILLE, directed by Sane Shurin. SEX IN MOMMYVILLE will play a limited engagement at The Flea (41 White Street, TriBeCa). Performances begin Wednesday, August 18 and continue thru Sunday, August 29. Opening Night is Friday, August 20 (7 p.m.).

Sex in Mommyville is a musical feminist comedy about the hilarious misadventures of a neurotic, guilt-ridden, health-conscious, sex-starved Manhattan mom trying to please her high-maintenance children, her lawyer-husband Zeus, and her Russian parents who live upstairs. As she discovers ingenious ways to escape her children (i.e. the TV and then some more TV) and seduce her husband (i.e. sing Russian gypsy ballads in her grandmother's shawl and don old tan pregnancy underwear), she also discovers the inherent struggle and contradictions in what it means to be a mother and ultimately a woman in today's hyper-anxious, self-perfecting, wrinkle-eradicating society.

ANNA FISHBEYN (Playwright/Actor) is a writer and performer. She recently did a solo show at Cornelia Street Café, called Conversations with My Breasts, that tackled breastfeeding challenges and humiliations, current fads in diaper-changing in public, and parental whining about sexual deprivation. The reading included such pieces as May the Best Parent Win, The Nuts and Bolts of Espionage (i.e. Sex in Mommyville), andThe Secret Joys of Being Bad: Parental Guide to Sanity. Although she had once been an actress and a singer in Russia as a child, she has not been on the stage since the age of ten and on that fateful night in January at Cornelia Street Café, she realized that it was about time she returned! When The Flea Theater offered Ms. Fishbeyn an opportunity to perform on its stage and she began to work with the brilliant director and acting coach, Sande Shurin, SEX IN MOMMYVILLE was born: the story of one woman's journey to sexual awakening and self-empowerment.

Ms. Fishbeyn holds a B.A. from the University of Chicago, an MFA in Fiction from New School University, and Ph.D. from Columbia University, where she wrote a 360 page dissertation, entitled, Evil in the Novel and Its Implications for Moral Education. She is currently at work on her first novel, The Matrimonial Flirtations of Emma Kaulfield, about a gorgeous, free-spirited, feminist artist who calls herself Emma Kaulfield (a.k.a. Elena Kabelmacher), a Russian immigrant torn between her devotion to her family and her wild love affair with an American man. Engaged to one man while making love to another, Emma Kaulfield redefines the traditional rules of dating and puts a feminist spin on the word, "harem."

Sande Shurin (Director) Sande has coached and directed many notable actors for film, Broadway and television including Anthony Rapp (A Beautiful Mind, Rent), Matthew Modine for his acclaimed role in Flowers for Algernon, Daphne Rubin Vega for her Tony Award-nominated starring role as Anna in the Nobel Prize-winning play, Anna in the Tropics. She has worked with soap star Ty Treadway and NYPD Blue's ShaRon Lawrence, Deadwood's William Sanderson, Broadway's Casey Nicholaw, and Rent's Adam Pascal. Her many crossovers (from supermodels to actors) include Michelle Hicks (co-star The Shield), Shalom Harlow and Jicky Schnee. Her coaching has extended to the world of rap music with Method Man.
She with husband Bruce Levy were profiled in a feature spread in the August 1st New York Times titled Stage North which can currently be seen on line at NYTimes.com
Ms. Shurin authored the book Transformational Acting A Step Beyond (Limelight Editions). This book establishes her innovative acting technique Transformational Acting, the only booked technique that uses current emotions, not relying on past emotions or sense memory of any kind. She currently teaches this acting technique at her main location in New York City as well as her satellite retreat in Woodstock, NY

The production features scenic design by John McDermott, lighting and sound design by Zack Tinkelman. Kara Kaufmann is the stage manager.

Sex in Mommyville plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, August 29:

Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Fridays at 7 p.m.
Saturdays at 7 p.m.
Sundays at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $25 and are now available online at www.theflea.org or by calling 212-352-3101. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Flea ½ hour prior to performance.

For more information visit http://www.sexinmommyville.com/

The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Jim Simpson and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading off-off-Broadway companies. Winner of a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement, Obie Awards and an Otto for political theater, The Flea has presented nearly 100 plays and numerous dance and live music performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include the premieres of Anne Nelson's The Guys; five plays by A.R. Gurney (Post Mortem, O Jerusalem, Screenplay, Mrs. Farnsworth and A Light Lunch); Mac Wellman's Cellophane and Two September; Roger Rosenblatt's Ashley Montana Goes Ashore... and The Oldsmobiles; Elizabeth Swados' JABU and Kaspar Hauser; Karen Finley's Return of the Chocolate Smeared Woman; Adam Rapp's Bingo with the Indians; Will Eno's Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations; Dawn by Thomas Bradshaw; The Great Recession; Jonathan Reynolds' Girls in Trouble; and most recently Parents' Evening by Bathsheba Doran.