March 27, 2014
Venice Theatre’s Stage II presents Parallel Lives
Comedy revue will take audiences on a ride through contemporary life and love
(Venice, Florida) Venice Theatre’s final Stage II production of its 2013-2014 Season is the “smart, provocative” (Variety) collection of vignettes, Parallel Lives. The show that the Orlando Sentinel called “a knee-slapping, raucous hoot and a half” will open Thursday, April 10 in the Pinkerton Theatre and run through Sunday, April 27, 2014. Performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $25- $28 for adults, $10-$15 for students, and are on sale now at the theatre’s box office, online at www.venicestage.com or by phone at 941-488-1115.
Parallel Lives is a two-woman show originally written and performed off-Broadway (and on HBO as “The Kathy and Mo Show”) by comic duo Kathy Najimy and Moe Gaffney. Venice Theatre’s version stars two performers familiar to local audiences: Nancy Denton (Hairspray, Random Acts, Second Samuel, Stand by Your Van) and Alison Prouty (Frankenstein, Random Acts, A Behanding in Spokane, The 39 Steps). Under the direction of James Bond (a New York-based director in his first outing at Venice Theatre) they will lead audiences through an outrageous universe where they play women and men struggling through the common rituals of modern life.
By the end of their performances, Denton and Prouty will have introduced audiences to a couple dozen characters: a blond college girl; a jock college guy; a Third-World farm worker; two menstruating co-workers; two manly men; two high school girls from New Jersey; an everywoman; a prostitute; a people-pleasing good daughter; a wry mother of a 5-year-old; an intense “new ager”; two 60-something women from New York; two serious, feminist poets; God; two little girls at Mass; two teens at Camp Christ; five Shakespearean characters; a sensitive man in his 30s; a sensitive woman in her 30s; a 50-ish bar fly drunk; and a 40-ish single mother.
According to broadwayworld.com these characters are “vividly imagined” and “appealing to audiences of all genders.”
Again, Parallel Lives runs in the Pinkerton Theatre April 10-27, 2014. Venice Theatre is located at 140 W. Tampa Avenue. Box office hours are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and one hour before all performances.
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Parallel Lives
By Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney
Production Team
Director – James Bond
Stage Manager – Lisa Million
Technical Director – John Andzulis
Scenic Designer – Peter Sayer
Costume Designer – Stephanie Gift
Lighting Designer – Ryan Mueller
Sound Designer – Dorian Boyd
Cast
Nancy Denton and Alison Prouty
Attached photos (Credit: Renee McVety)
1. In the opening scene of Parallel Lives, Alison Prouty (left) and Nancy Denton (right) portray two Supreme Beings planning the beginning of the world.
2. Alison Prouty (left) and Nancy Denton (right) play more than 20 characters in Parallel Lives including Madeline and Sylvia, two 60-something women from New York taking a Women’s Studies class at the junior college.
3. Nancy Denton (left) plays Lady Ann and Alison Prouty is Prince Portfolio in the Parallel Lives sketch “Shakespeare.”
140 W. Tampa Ave
Venice, FL 34285
Tickets: 941-488-1115
