Island City Stage Presents Die, Mommie, Die! by Charles Busch
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August 22 @ 7:00 pm - September 22 @ 9:30 pm
Grab your best partners-in-crime and hatch a plot to catch Die, Mommie, Die! by Charles Busch, Island City Stage’s riotous 12th Season closer running August 22 – September 22. Off-Broadway star Kris Andersson (aka Dixie Longate) leads a multitalented cast of performers in this killer comic melodrama that evokes the 1960s “Grande Dame Guignol” films that featured aging stars such as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Lana Turner.
Ex-pop singer Angela Arden is trapped in a hateful marriage with Sol. But desperate to find happiness with her young lover Tony, Angela murders her husband with a poisoned suppository. Suspicious of their mother, her children slip her some LSD, provoking a wild acid trip in which many secrets are revealed.
Die, Mommie, Die! was first produced in 1999 by Kenneth Elliott and Don Fairbanks at the Coast Playhouse in Los Angeles. In October 2007, the play opened Off-Broadway at New World Stages in New York City. Directed by Carl Andress, the production starred author Charles Busch and featured Bob Ari, Van Hansis, Chris Hoch, Ashley Morris and Kristine Nielson. It was also made into a 2003 film starring Busch.
Charles Busch has forged a unique place in the world of entertainment as playwright, actor, director, novelist, cabaret performer and drag icon. The award-winner is the author and star of over 25 plays including The Divine Sister, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, The Tribute Artist, The Confession of Lily Dare and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom; one of the longest running plays in the history of Off-Broadway. His play The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife ran for 777 performances on Broadway, won the Outer Circle Critics’ John L. Gassner Award for playwrighting, received a Tony nomination for Best Play and is the longest running Broadway comedy of the past 25 years. He wrote and starred in the film versions of his plays, Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die, the latter of which won him the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival. For two seasons, he appeared as Nat Ginzburg on the HBO series OZ and is the author of the auto-biographical novel Whores of Lost Atlantis. He has directed two films and has appeared as a guest programmer and in numerous documentaries for Turner Classic Movies. He has lectured and conducted master classes at many colleges and universities including NYU, Harvard, UCLA and Amherst College. In 2003, Mr. Busch received a special Drama Desk Award for career achievement as both performer and playwright and was given a star on the Playwrights Walk outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre. He is also the subject of the acclaimed documentary film The Lady in Question is Charles Busch. He is a two-time MAC award winner and has performed his cabaret across the globe.
Die, Mommie Die! is directed by Andy Rogow and co-stars Clay Cartland, Troy J. Stanley, Elizabeth Dimon, Kevin Veloz and Suzanna Ninomiya alongside Andersson.
Die, Mommie, Die! is co-produced by the Warten Foundation. Costume Sponsors are DC Allen and Ken Flick and Lights and Sound Sponsor is Vic Smith. Additional funding is provided by the following: The Our Fund Foundation, The Schubert Foundation Inc., The SHS Foundation, The Maval Foundation, and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council.
Tickets for Die, Mommie, Die! start at $40. A Mimosa Sunday performance sponsored by Judith Paskoski will take place on September 8 with tickets at $55. An exclusive Women’s Night at the Theatre will take place on September 13. The show runs for 2 hours 15 minutes including intermission.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.islandcitystage.org, call (954) 928-9800 or email boxoffice@islandcitystage.org. Follow Island City Stage on Facebook at facebook.com/IslandCityStageFL and on Instagram at @islandcitystage1.
