American Stage Theatre Company Opens 7 HOMELESS MAMMOTHS WANDER NEW ENGLAND, 5/31

7 HOMELESS MAMMOTHS WANDER NEW ENGLAND is an area premiere in the Tampa Bay area. This play is a deliciously smart and funny "academic sex comedy" about life in a small university town. Dean Wreen's college is in dire financial straits, and a plan to close its on-campus natural history museum is sending unexpected shock waves in every direction-just as the Dean's ex-girlfriend has come back into her life. This definitely complicates things with her much younger girlfriend, Andromeda. Neither budget cuts nor The Shadows cast by seven about-to-be-homeless mammoths are any match for the sweet taste of romance in this hilarious and deeply moving play. Rated M for mature content and language. This production features simulated sex between prehistoric college students and contemporary lesbians. No mammoths were harmed in the making of this play.

Karla Hartley, is directing American Stage Theatre's production of 7 HOMELESS MAMMOTHS WANDER NEW ENGLAND, which will be performed in two acts with one intermission. Karla is the the Production Coordinator for American Stage as well as the Associate Artistic Director of Stageworks Theatre. She was named "Best Director" 2009 by Creative Loafing and has received two Jeff Norton Awards. Directing credits include The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Rocky Horror Show, Greetings and Ladies at the Alamo (in Boston), The Seahorse, Christmas With Elvis, Girl Detective, and Cut the Ribbons (Florida tour), I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Always, Patsy Cline, The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Jewtopia, Hats! The Musical(Florida tour), Boston Marriage, Waistwatchers, Party Animals (world premiere by Kathie Lee Gifford and David Friedman), Respect, Little Dog Laughed, And Baby Makes Seven, The Drunken City, Agnes of God, Eurydice, Tick...Tick...BOOM, The Vagina Monologues, As Bees in Honey Drown, War of the Worlds, Momologues, Falsettos at the University of Tampa, Yellowman, American Duet, Listen To My Heart, The Blue Room, A Grand Night for Singing, Biloxi Blues, and Circle Mirror Transformation.

The cast consists of six actors, some returning and others debuting at American Stage. Three cast members that have appeared in American Stage Theatre productions previously, Stefanie Clouse (Andromeda - "Andrea")* last seen in Hair, Kim Crow (Greer - "Gail")* last seen as the lead actor in WIT, and Brian Webb Russell (The Caretaker)* who was last seen ast American Stage in Barefoot in the Park where he was a proud inaugural recipient of a Jeff Norton award.

There are also 3 cast members making their American Stage debut. Jonelle Meyer (Early Man 2), Vincent Stalba (Early Man 1), and Martha Wilkinson (Dean Wreen - "Cindy")*

In addition to Karla Hartley's Directing, the Artistic Staff also includes; Scott Cooper# as Scenic Designer, Sarah Stark as Costume Designer, Phillip Franck as Lighting Designer,Jerid Fox as Scenic Dresser and Properties Master and Timon Brown as Technical Director.

* = member, Actors' Equity Association

A NOTE FROM Madeleine George, Author of 7 HOMELESS MAMMOTHS WANDER NEW ENGLAND

Madeleine George (author) has been a member of New Dramatists since 2010. Her plays, including The Zero Hour, Precious Little, and Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, have been produced and developed by 13P, Clubbed Thumb, Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Shotgun Players, Berkeley Rep, City Theatre in Pittsburgh, About Face Theatre in Chicago, The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, Two River Theater Company in New Jersey, and the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, among other places. She has received a MacDowell Fellowship, the Princess Grace Playwriting Award, and the Jane Chambers Award, as well as commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club and Playwrights Horizons. Seven Homeless Mammoths was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award.The Zero Hour was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Madeleine is an alum of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab and the Lark Playwrights' Workshop, and a founding member of the Obie-Award-winning playwrights collective 13P (Thirteen Playwrights, Inc.), which recently imploded after nine years and thirteen productions. She grew up in Western Massachusetts and now lives in Brooklyn.

7 HOMELESS MAMMOTHS WANDER NEW ENGLAND by Madeleine George.
Previews May 29 and 30.
Opening Night is May 31 and the production runs through June 30.

SPECIAL PERFORMANCES:
Wednesday Matinee on 6/19 @ 3pm ($29 ticket)
Tuesday Evening on 6/25 @ 8pm ($39)
"Pay What You Can" Night on Thursday 6/27 @ 8pm