'Sacred is the New Profane' Part of MITF July 25th

"The truth will set you free, but first it's really gonna piss you off," Cheryl Harnest says in her funny, poignant, and deadly serious solo show SACRED IS THE NEW PROFANE. Written and performed by Harnest, SACRED IS THE NEW PROFANE is told stylistically: mixing stand-up, story-telling and character driven scenes, Harnest portrays a breakdown that transformed into a break-through. Directed by Jeremy Bloom, the show begins performances on Friday, July 25th at Stage Left Studio, located at 438 W. 37th Street as part of the Ninth Annual Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival.

Cheryl takes the audience on her personal trek to replace life's moaning with meaning. Most significantly, she quits taking the antidepressants she's been on for 13 years -"If religion is the opiate of the masses, then what does that make Prozac - the gateway drug?" Her beloved assists her, as only a heavenly lover can, in realizing that she reflects the Divine. But when the affair falters, an indigenous Australian shaman "who's so plugged in she knows the Dalai Lama AND Madonna" comes to her aid with some spiritual electro-shock! Along the way she journeys to Buddhism and New Age, but it's the inner city kids she teaches who lead her to the real meaning of karma.

Through her journey, Cheryl learns that until she can accept what already is (depression, war, or President Bush) - she can't begin to change the situation. "Acceptance is our nature…like, cats don't think 'if only I'd been born a Persian instead of a tabby- I look terrible in stripes!" That's when she is able to see beyond the opposition of dualities such as good OR bad and sacred OR profane - to the inherent interdependence within them and that they are all a part of us.

The spawn of a sex-educator mother and a reverend father, Cheryl Harnest is a performer, writer, teacher and coach. She wrote and performed the solo show MotherLoad in Los Angeles and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Of the show, the LA Weekly said "Harnest single-handedly redeems the wrung-out one-woman genre…she stripes her victims with comic skid marks." An MFA graduate of the NYU Dramatic Writing Program, Cheryl's full length-play Scared Clouds was presented in Ensemble Studio Theater's Octoberfest as well as Naked Angel's Writer's Forum. She has written and performed stand up comedy at various clubs in New York and Los Angeles. Cheryl is a teaching artist and has worked with organizations such as the Jewish Community Center and Periwinkle National Theatre.

Among Jeremy Bloom's favorite directing credits are his original work,  A Mikvah (NYFringe), The Wendy Complex (with Vagabonds and now remounted at MITF), and Speaking Boheme (on a rooftop), as well as ...and the rain (NYU Grad). He has served as assistant to Mary Zimmerman (Metropolitan Opera), Jim Simpson (The Flea), Lee Breuer (Mabou Mines), and Will Patton on Dennis Johnson's Des Moines (Evenstar). Jeremy is also a recent alum of Northwestern's Performance Studies program.

Running through Sunday, August 3rd, SACRED IS THE NEW PROFANE will be performed at Stage Left Studio, located at 438 West 37th Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues), Suite 5-A, as part of the Ninth Avenue Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival. Show times are Friday, July 25th at 8:30pm; Saturday, July 26th at 4pm; Friday, August 1st at 8pm, Saturday, August 2nd at 2pm, and Sunday August 3rd at 2:30pm. Tickets are $18.00, $15.00 for students and seniors. Reservations: 212-279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com. Information: www.midtownfestival.org.

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