For Immediate Release: January 20, 2005
Media Contact: John Stanton, Madhouse Theater Company, 215.260.4968

The Madhouse Theater Company brings the next installment of its late night variety show, Saturday Night Special, January 29th to Theater Catalyst's PlayGround, in the Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom St., Midnight. All seats are just $10. For tickets and information call 215-563-4330.

The Madhouse Special is what to do when the other shows close.

The Philly Weekly rated Saturday Night Special top of its "Hip-O-Meter". "The Madhouse Theater Company's late-night variety show is the perfect antidote to lame bars and tired club scenes. Wholesome, theatrical wackiness guaranteed."

J. Cooper Robb wrote the Special is "much more fun than cruising the bars" and "consistently irreverent".

Saturday Night Special is the diving board for new original work from writers around the country and presents short comic one-acts, sketches, and monologues, as well as live performances from local musicians. The January program offers a variety of sketches, short one act plays and monologues:

The Wedding Consultant by Eric Singel. Directed by Karen DiLossi. Featuring Sarah Doherty. A wedding for the NEW millennium. The Gay Marriage Ban has no place in this wedding party. Role reversals on a grand scale!

Satisfaction Guaranteed by Ed Miller. Directed By Scott Harman. Featuring Kristy Chouiniere and Mike Dees. The story of an efficient, hard-working, conscientious.prostitute!

Coney Island by Genne Murphy. Directed By Allison Heishman. Featuring Colleen Corcoran. Coney Island is a sad, empty place on a Wednesday night in September. Especially if you're on a pay phone, stood up, and running out of quarters. A desperate young woman sadly reaches out for a connection over the telephone lines.

21st Century Romance by Ralph Tropf. Directed by Joe Leduc. Featuring Foster Cronin and Cheryl Mazzarini. Phone-tag love. Love discovered, possessed and lost on an answering machine. Is this what the world is coming to? Phone-tag taken to a whole new level.

Thelonious and the Key of Life by John D'Alonzo. Directed by Elaine DiFlavis. Yes, that's right, a man is in love with a piano! Romance, by Steinway.

Last Chance by John Stanton. Directed by Jared Delaney. Featuring Joe Leduc and Drake Matteucci. Of all the excuses you could have for coming into work late, being a part-time cat burglar in the evenings probably isn't one of them. But, hey, in this economy, you never know.

Bios:

John Stanton, Artistic Director, founded the Madhouse Theater Company in 2000. They've produced three of his plays: Head Case, No Show, and the DiLossi directed 3sum. Stanton conceived the idea of the Saturday Night Special.

Karen DiLossi, Artistic Director, directing credits include Cinderella Waltz, The Open Couple, Tartuffe, The Three Little Wolfs, In the Shadow of the Glenn, Stanton's 3Sum and last year's Fringe hit: RGDG? Up next a playreading of The Transparency of Val for 1812 Productions.

Sarah Doherty, Ireland native, trained at the Gaiety School of Acting. She has worked with Theater Catalyst, Eternal Spiral Project, Arden Theatre Company, Bloomsberg Theatre Ensemble, Theater Exile, and Amaryllis Theatre Company/VSA Arts of PA. She's Development Director for Theater Catalyst.

John D'Alonzo is a Philadelphia native working with Madhouse for the fifth time, both as a writer and actor.

Drake Matteucci is a graduate of the University of the Arts and is Co-Artistic Director of Insperado Theatre Company.

Allison Heishman is an Artistic Associate with the newly formed Cardboardbox Collaborative, and with them directed Be All My Sins Remembered and performed in Profiling, both inaugural productions in this past year's Fringe Festival.

Jared Delaney has directed Twelfth Night for Conestoga High School, written and performed in Black Palace, Pink Party at this past year's Live Arts Festival and portrayed Marc Antony in Julius Caesar. Recently he and the entire ensemble of Lantern Theater Company's The Comedy of Errors won the 2004 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Play.

Mike Dees recently received his MA in Theatre from Villanova University. He was a 2004 Irene Ryan Award nominee, and won the 2002 Barrymore Award for Supporting Actor in a Musical for Amos Hart in Chicago.

Eric Singel was most recently seen onstage in Vagabond's The Crucible and in the one-man show The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me.at the Walnut. His directorial credits include The Food Chain and The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. Eric was recently accepted into the extended ensemble of the sketch comedy group The Waitstaff.

Colleen Corcoran is appearing in her fourth Madhouse Special and recently graduated from Temple University.

Joe Leduc is a Villanova University graduate with his MA in Theatre. This is his fourth Special. Other performances include: Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, City of Angels and Trojan Women.

Ralph Tropf is a playwright living in Los Angeles. His courtroom drama, Shadow Hour, is published by Samuel French.

Ed Miller has performed with Eternal Spiral Project, The Brick Playhouse, and Theatre Exile. This is his Third Madhouse stint as a writer.

Genne Murphy is a Philly native and graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, in Dramatic Writing. She was involved in several Tisch productions as a playwright, actor, and co-producer. Locally, she had a recent reading with Flashpoint Theatre Company and was a 1999 Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival winner.

Doug Greene is thrilled to be making his Madhouse debut . Doug is a core member of Vagabond Acting Troupe and can be seen next in their "Art of War" playing at The Adrienne this June.

Elaine DiFlavis holds her B.F.A from the University of the Arts. She is currently a core member of Vagabond Acting Troupe, resident stage manager for Eternal Spiral Project, and just completed stage managing Eden for Brat Productions.

Joshua L. Schulman , lighting designer, has an MFA from Boston University. Previous work includes: 3sum (Madhouse), The Shoes, Strange Pasteurization, The Earth With Her Bars About Me (Philly Fringe), Amadeus (National Players Summer Tour), Wait! (Eternal Spiral Project).

The Madhouse Theater Company was founded by Conshohocken native John Stanton as a way to produce his own work. It premiered with John Stanton's Head Case, which in its second incarnation was a City Paper 2002 Fringe pick and which the Philly Weekly called "...inspired silliness." But now with Villanova graduate (and South Philly's own) Karen DiLossi, the company wants to extend a hand to other writers and to expand its circle of creative artists. The Madhouse desires to feature new work by young and seasoned writers, to collaborate with directors and actors from all disciplines and backgrounds in order to create a fast paced, varied, and entertaining evening. Stanton and DiLossi perform bi-monthly Specials, with a new and original show each time. Their next installment is due March 26th.

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