Stray Cat Theatre Opens THE WHALE Tonight

Stray Cat Theatre presents Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale, a drama of gigantic proportions directed by Ron May. Since the death of his boyfriend, morbidly obese 600 pound Charlie (played by Nearly Naked Theatre Artistic Director Damon Dering) confined himself to his small Idaho apartment and is eating himself to death. With his health quickly failing, Charlie becomes desperate to reconnect with Ellie, his estranged and angry teenage daughter whom he has not seen in 17 years. He would give her anything: his love, his money...maybe even his life.

Written by Obie Award-winning playwright Samuel D. Hunter, THE WHALE is a tough, humorous and emotionally powerful play about how we cope with loss, and how new definitions of family, friends and religion shape our lives.

*note: like most Stray Cat shows, The Whale contains adult language and situations.

The cast includes Damon Dering (Artistic Director of Nearly Naked Theatre, seen as Satan in Stray Cat's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot) as Charlie, Michelle Chin (Stray Cat's Chicks with Dicks, punkplay, reasons to be pretty, Everything Will Be Different) as Ellie, Anne Marie Falvey (Stray Cat's The Laramie Project) as Liz, Austin Kiehle making his Stray Cat debut as Elder Thomas, and Johanna Carlisle (Stray Cat's Heddatron, Learn to be Latina, The Play About the Naked Guy, Pulp, Kate Crackernuts, Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy) as Mary.

The Wale runs from tonight, February 14th 2014 to Saturday, March 1st, 2013. Showtimes: Thursdays @ 7PM, Fridays & Saturdays @ 8PM, Sundays @ 2PM. Performances are in OUR EAST VALLEY ALLEY - Tempe Performing Arts Center - 132 E 6th Street in Tempe's Mill Avenue District - close to ASU (at Forest Avenue, two blocks North of University).

Tickets are $20 for adults in advance ($25 at the door), $15 for students in advance with valid ID ($18 at the door), $18 for seniors in advance ($20 at the door). Thursdays are $10 Student Night, Sundays are $12 for everybody. Buy tickets online at http://straycattheatre.org or call 480.227.1766 with any questions.

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