The Cardinal Group Presents HATE MAIL, 3/16-4/2

The Cardinal Group is thrilled to announce its proction of HATE MAIL, a play by BILL CORBETT and KIRA OBOLENSKY. The play will be presented at the 45th Street Theatre, located at 354 W. 45 St. in the heart of New York City's Times Square.

Directed by Richard Pepenella, Hate Mail stars Dana Brooke and DH JOHNSON. Hate Mail is an epistolary play something like A.R. Gurney's Love Letters, with two actors reading letters and other correspondence, but it's a little wilder and more hysterically funny. It tells the story of Preston, a spoiled rich kid who meets his match in Dahlia, an angst-filled artist. Their worlds collide when Preston sends a complaint letter that gets Dahlia fired from her job, and then there's no turning back. The play stays with their increasingly crazed correspondence as they move from hate to love, and then right back again. The show will run Tuesdays thru Fridays from March 16th to April 2nd. Tickets are $20 and are available at www.SmartTix.com.

BILL CORBETT's play The Stuff of Dreams recently toured the country, produced by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. His play The Big Slam has been produced at numerous theaters across the U.S., including Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C.; ACT in Seattle; and actor Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea, Michigan. His other plays include Heckler; Ridiculous Dreaming (an adaptation of Heinrich Boll's The Clown, commissioned and produced by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis); Hate Mail (co-written with Kira Obolensky), produced by Primary Stages in New York and numerous other theaters; Down the Pike, winner of the Actors Theater of Louisville National One-Act Contest; short plays Manifesto and Hunters, produced by the HBO Writers Project in Los Angeles; Cash Karma, first produced by the Organic Theater in Chicago; and Motorcade, produced at theaters in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. For four years Mr. Corbett was a writer for "Mystery Science Theater 3000" on the Sci-Fi Channel, and previously on Comedy Central. He was nominated for a Cable Ace Award in 1997 for Best Comedy Writing. A Core Member of The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Mr. Corbett currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

KIRA OBOLENSKY's new plays include Modern House (finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize) and Lune, pronounced loony, which was commissioned and produced by the B Street Theatre. Her adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, a co-production of the Guthrie Theatre and The Acting Company, opened at the Guthrie in January 2010. Other plays include Lobster Alice (Kesselring Prize, finalist for Susan Smith Blackburn, published in Best Plays by American Women 2000); The Adventures of Herculina, (Honorable Mention Kesselring Prize, Edith Oliver Award, produced in Chicago and in Minneapolis) and Pleasure Cruise, commissioned by the Guthrie Theatre and published in Best 10 Minute Plays of 2002-03. She is a recipient of a Bush Foundation fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Jim Henson Foundation grants, a Jerome Fellowship and a McKnight Advancement Grant. A graduate of Williams College and the Juilliard School's Playwriting Fellowship Program, Kira teaches at Goddard's MFA Interdisciplinary Arts Program and at the University of Minnesota.

Dana Brooke has appeared in theatre, film, and television. Dana last appeared with Cardinal Group in Leslie Caveny's Love of a Pig. Her work in that play was honored by BackStage as one of the "Most Memorable Acting Performances of 2007" along with such notables as the cast members of August: Osage County and the Public Theater's Romeo & Juliet. Dana also appeared in the play Venecia with Chita Rivera directed by Arthur Laurents. Though a Brooklyn resident, Dana often travels to the B Street Theatre in CA where she is a company member, and last starred in Arlene Hutton's "Nibroc Trilogy". Dana's TV appearances include NBC's "Ed", Fox's "Canterbury's Law," and FX's "Damages". Dana's most recent project took her to India to star in the new work "Zeenat."

DH JOHNSON is an actor and founder of The Cardinal Group. He is currently seen in commercials, and in the award winning short film Flat Love directed by Andres Sanz (enlapiscina.com). Manhattan credits include Office Sonata (Irish Arts Center), Brutality of Fact by Keith Reddin (Urban Stages, produced by The Cardinal Group), Melissa Ross' Crazy Little Thing (Center Stage), Evilution by Edward Musto, Lanford Wilson's Book of Days (New World), Daniel Damiano's play Given Our Current Fiscal Crisis, and The Gallery Players productions of Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria, Joe Lauinger's A Wedding Album, Warren Leight's Sideman, and Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce. Regionally he appeared in the Dorset Theatre Festival in Dulcy by George Kaufman and Marc Connelly directed by Carl Forsman, NC Shakespeare Festival's Richard III, Robinson Crusoe and Cricket on the Hearth at The B Street Theatre in Sacramento . Short films include Bedford, Emily, There Will Be Peace When You Are Done and the Oscar winning short, Two Soldiers with Ron Perlman directed by Aaron Schneider. For The Cardinal Group he has produced Bill C Davis' Avow, Leslie Caveny's Love of a Pig, Bronwen Coleman's Mrs. Barry's Marriage, Michael Ferrell's reading of Jersey Shore House, Keith Reddin's Brutality of Fact, and Katie Bender's This Is a Cowboy Poem My Daddy Taught Me. D.H. is represented by Judy Boals, Inc.

Hate Mail marks Richard Pepenella's directorial debut with the Cardinal Group. He was a member of the production staff of the Cardinal Group's first production Brutality of Fact by Keith Reddin with Joy Franz, and has since coproduced the productions of Love of a Pig by Leslie Caveny with Dana Brooke (honored by Back Stage as a 2007 Performance to Remember for her portrayal of Jenny), the one woman show Mrs. Barry's Marriage written by and starring Bronwen Coleman, This Is a Cowboy Poem My Daddy Taught Me written by and featuring Katie Bender, the reading of Michael Ferrell's Jersey Shore House with Adam Heller and Tony winner Beth Leavel, and most recently Avow by Bill C. Davis once again with Joy Franz and Kate Middleton (nominated as best Actress by the New York Innovative Theatre Awards for her portrayal of Irene). Richard is also a singer actor with numerous theatre credits and can be heard on the album "Stephin Merritt Showtunes" available on Nonesuch Records.