This Winter Horse Trade and EXIT Theatre return to bring you a festival that is uncensored, unjuried and totally downtown.
Keeping Couples Happy Since 1409 |
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This Winter Horse Trade and EXIT Theatre return to bring you a festival that is uncensored, unjuried and totally downtown.
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As a companion piece to Dysfunctional’s 2001 hit, “How to Have the Ultimate Orgasm Each and Every Time”, this “How To” piece will use a blend of vintage and original writings to teach you how to be the perfect housewife (or househusband) - Dysfunctional style.
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5 actors play over 50 roles in this new comedy from Dysfunctional Theatre, the award-winning collective responsible for over 30 New York shows, including the last 2 Frigid Fests!” |
The ladies of Dysfunctional take a comic & critical look at romance through the ages. Playing a variety of roles, rocketing through time, and ultimately discovering that when it comes to love, the more things change, the more they stay the same. A must see for every one who's in love, out of love or who just happens to be in the East Village looking for a good time. The Dysfunctional Guide was created as companion piece to 2001's How to Have the Ultimate Orgasm Each & Every Time.Like HTHO, The Dysfunctional Guide explores love & sex in the chaotic, surreal style which is Dysfunctional Theatre's trademark. The Dysfunctional Guide to Home Perfection, Marital Bliss and Hot Passionate Romance is based on diaries, stories and essays written by women dating back as far as the 15th century and on new material written by the show's cast. |
The Dysfunctional Theatre Company
Founded in 1997 by playwright Paul Wells, The Dysfunctional Theatre Company is a collective dedicated to producing ensemble works that challenge the status quo without taking themselves too seriously. The company officially incorporated in 1998, achieved non-profit status in 1999, and has produced over 20 shows in its history, many of them original works. Dysfunctional celebrated its 10 year anniversary in 2007 with the Dysfunctional 10th Anniversary Benefit Extravaganza, which featured selections from Dysfunctional shows both old and new, as well as the appearance of many veteran Dysfunctional actors.
Some early Dysfunctional highlights include Alien Sex Cult Clones Madonna!, a late-night satire of tabloid journalism, which ran successfully for almost a year in various downtown venues; its sequel, Princess Di's Brain Kept Alive in Graceland!, which ran for nearly six months; Vampire Stewardesses from Hell!!, which played to sold-out houses at Under St. Mark's Theater; and How To Have The Ultimate Orgasm Each and Every Time, featuring articles staged verbatim from Glamour and Maxim magazines.
In 2000, the company returned to the NYC International Fringe Festival (where it previously staged Sodom, by Sir John Wilmot) with its hit comedy I Am Star Trek, written by playwright Rick Vorndran. I Am Star Trek was later optioned and produced at the 2001 and 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festivals to strong critical acclaim.
Dysfunctional shows have been described as "gripping, well-made drama staged with economy and sensitivity and intelligence" (Real Live Sex Onstage, 2001), "eclectic, quintessentially off-off Broadway" (Please Please Please Love Me, 2003) and "Grade-A avant-garde downtown theatre" (Hoover: A Love Story, 2004).
In 2005 Dysfunctional revived one of its early traditions and began staging an annual Christmas show – Jeff Goode's The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. Dysfunctional has staged 3 productions of this dark adult, modern Christmas classic. Time Out New York called the show "a comedy that puts the X in Xmas" and featured it prominently in the 2005 article "Blue Christmas," a piece which focused on non-traditional holiday fare.
2006 saw the long running production of Bite, a new work written by Suzanne Bachner and created in conjunction with Dysfunctional artists. Bite featured audience participation and a "choose your own adventure" format, which offered a different experience for the audience at every performance.
In 2007 Dysfunctional was part of the first ever FRIGID New York festival, produced by its host company, Horse Trade Theater. The festival served as the New York premiere for Orange Murder Suit, a thriller by playwright Rob Matsushita, which was called "gripping theatre; definitely a must-see at this first FRIGID New York festival" by Martin Denton of NYTheatre.com.
Dysfunctional returned to the 2008 FRIGID festival with the political satire Chosen, written by company member Rick Vorndran. In October Dysfunctional mixed up their holiday theatrical tradition by producing a Halloween show. Brew of the Dead, a new horror comedy by Patrick Storck played through October to sold out houses and glowing reviews.
Going forward Dysfunctional continues its mission to give exposure to new playwrights, to show audiences the joys of live theater and to prove to the off off Broadway community as a whole, that a small theater company can be self sustaining in the competitive and crowded NY theater scene.
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Jennifer Gill (actress/director/writer) has been performing with Dysfunctional Theatre since 2003. In that time she's appeared in: Orange Murder Suit (Lynn), The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Vixen 2007, Blitzen 2006 and Dancer 2005), Bite (Annabelle), Hoover: A Love Story (Jackie Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, a Japanese Warplane and others), Please Please Please Love Me (Nina), and Untitled Farce (Ms. Guest). Other favorite performances include Emelia in Comedy of Errors, Beatrice in The Voysey Inheritance and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet. Jennifer has a BFA in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. |
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Rachel Grundy* (actress/writer) A native of London, Rachel has been performing as an actor, singer and musician in New York since 2005. Recent favorite roles include: Blitzen in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Dysfunctional Theatre Company); a flesh-eating zombie in Dysfunctional Theatre's Brew of the Dead; the Prince of Verona in Romeo and Juliet (TheatreRats); a selection of hilarilous roles in Mr. Shakespeare and Mr. Porter (Medicine Show Theatre); The Musician in Edgar Allen Poe's The Mask of Red Death (Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre). A proud Associate Artistic Director of TheatreRats, Rachel also drinks for the Greenwich Village Literary Pub Crawl and plays in the awesomely funky band, Coyote Love (myspace.com/coyoteloveband). |
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Amy Overman (actress/producer/writer) has been performing and producing with Dysfunctional since 2001. She appeared in the Dysfunctional productions: Brew of the Dead (Kim), The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Comet 2007, Dancer 2006, Vixen 2005), Bite (Millie), Please Please Please Love Me (Linda), Whispers in the Wood (Lucy), , Real Live Sex On Stage (Maggie), I Am Star Trek (Paramount) and How to Have the Ultimate Orgasm Each and Every Time (The Redhead). Other NYC credits include: Clue - Live On Stage (Miss Scarlet) for Flying Blind Productions, several staged readings with W-WOW Radio and the touring children's show On the Road to Reading. On the Road to Reading. Amy has a BFA in Acting from Syracuse University. |
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Amy Beth Sherman* (actress/writer) is very pleased to be back in the Dysfunctional fold after a several year hiatus. Past company credits include Brew of the Dead (Nexus), Chosen (Chancellor/Ensemble), Vampire Stewardesses From Hell (Tatiana), and Sodom (Swivia). Other favorite roles include Irina in Three Sisters, Nina in The Seagull and Abby in the independent film Desperation, for which she won Best Actress at Microcinemafest 2006 and Best Acting Performance at Shriekfest 2006. She has a BA in theatre from American University and has been kicking about New York for the past decade. |
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Theresa Unfried has been working with Dysfunctional since she first moved to New York in 2001. She has been seen in Chosen (Bernadette), Orange Murder Suit in the first-ever Frigid Festival (Joy), The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Blitzen, Vixen, Dancer), Bite (Natalie O'Reilly/ Mistress Corbeaux), Please Please Please Love Me (Def girl and various roles), Untitled Farce (Angie Conroy), Whispers in the Wood (Jude Ascot) and I Am Star Trek (DC Fontana and various roles). Her other New York credits includes Clue - Live on Stage (Mrs. White) with Flying Blind Productions. Theresa has a Bachelor's of Science in Theatre Performance from Northern Arizona University. |
Cory Plowman: graphic design Kathleen Standard Vorndran: dramaturg |
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*Appears courtesy of Actor's Equity/AEA Showcase (Approval Pending)
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