Mitch: Triumph of the Underdog

[Our very own Mitch has this little project you all should know about. The Fringe Festival is often home to terrible surreal "outsider" nonsense, but this thing -- this thing looks good. It is a play whose format is a lecture from a science fiction professor (complete with PowerPoint), which I think is an ingenious way to deal with budget restrictions, and a great way to think about the place of the monologue in contemporary culture (cause monologues are usually not at home in a movie theatre). Plus check out these pictures. I have met Mitch and he looks like this, but he is kind of dramatically in character here. Just his facial expressions and body language make him look 10 years older, which is really something.] 

[He is a talented guy. I am genuinely excited about this, and Sara and I will be there with bells on. You should be too, but don't go with bells on because then when Sara and I bump into you we will have that awkward moment where we realize we are wearing the same thing.]

Here is the Press Release

Triumph Team is proud to present the New York Premiere of
TRIUMPH OF THE UNDERDOG
as part of the 11th Annual New York International Fringe Festival.

The New York International Fringe Festival – FringeNYC
A production of the Present Company
August 8th-24th
Tickets: $15. For tickets visit www.FringeNYC.org

Geeks! Dorks! Fanboys! Lend your pointed ears! Peter Howell's mind-bending lecture on the history of Science Fiction might save your life... literally. Can the washed-up author really prevent an astronomical catastrophe threatening to annihilate the entire solar system?

TRIUMPH OF THE UNDERDOG is a one-person show written by Mitch Montgomery and Morgan Allen. Disillusioned Science Fiction author Peter Howell frantically speeds through the history of Science Fiction — from Mesopotamia to NASA and Star Trek in twenty minutes — pausing only long enough to lament his failed career and his recent unemployment. In lieu of a more traditional structure, TRIUMPH OF THE UNDERDOG is presented with all the usual trappings of an actual lecture – PowerPoint slides, anecdotal stories and, you know, suddenly having to save the world from fiery cosmic destruction!

TRIUMPH OF THE UNDERDOG has been in development for five years, since it was originally mounted in a workshop production at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2003. Triumph Team's production will be directed by Barbara Williams and reunites theatre artists who collaborated on the original workshop at SCAD. The play stars Mitch Montgomery and features the voice talents of Belinda Hodler and Forrest Simmons.

Mitch Montgomery is a co-founder of Body Politic Theater and was instrumental in mounting their maiden production of Catherine Filloux's Lemkin's House in 2006. Since moving to New York, Mitch has worked for The Shubert Organization, The Summer Play Festival and as a theatre critic for the website www.OffOffOnline.com. Mitch is a Creative Coordinator at Marvel Entertainment, where he maintains brand standards on licensed products that feature characters from Marvel's thousand-plus character library and writes copy for Marvel's many licensing programs. As an actor, Mitch was twice nominated for the Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival's Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Award. This is his first play.

Morgan Allen is an arts administrator, producer and writer living in New York City. Morgan has produced award-winning playwright Catherine Filloux's plays Lemkin's House (78th Street Theater Lab and Body Politic Theater) and Killing the Boss (Cherry Lane Theatre). With Body Politic Theater, which he co-founded and is a board member for, he will develop and produce a new commission by playwright Carlyle Brown throughout 2009. He continues his work with American playwrights at New Dramatists where this fall he will begin his third season as General Manager. Morgan spent the 2005-06 season as a Producing Associate for Prospect Theater Company and has worked in Manhattan with New Georges, National Asian American Theater Company and La Mama e.t.c, among others. His plays Precious Stone, Judas Pigeon and Leap have been work-shopped and produced in Savannah, GA and New York City.

Barbara Williams is an actor, director and educator from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. As a professor at the Savannah College of Art & Design, she has directed such shows as Lord of the Flies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Romeo and Juliet, Metamorphoses and Antigone. She served as the Faculty Advisor for the original workshop production of TRIUMPH OF THE UNDERDOG.

TRIUMPH OF THE UNDERDOG will run at FringeNYC Venue #2: The Schaeberle Studio Theatre, 41 Park Row, New York, NY 10038.

For more information please visit www.triumphoftheunderdog.blogspot.com