FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ITEM: Local Playwright Michael Presley Bobbitt (Across the River, Trailer Park Elegy, Ceder Key) has been selected from among hundreds of writers from around the country to produce his play, Sunset Village, in New York City. For the first time, Gainesville Goes Off-Broadway with a full cast and crew. Tom Miller, nationally recognized local actor and performance artist has been selected to direct the production, which will also have a short run after NYC to open the season at the Acrosstown Theatre in Gainesville, Florida.
CONTACT Michael Presley Bobbitt / [email protected]
CONTACT Tom Miller / [email protected]
Bobbitt and Miller have continued to challenge each other in the Gainesville Arts Community and Scene to "...just be a little bit better than everyone else." Bobbitt has both acted in and directed versions of Tom Miller's psychological Play, UMMU which had staged readings and full performances in Gainesville, Florida and was picked up in media and radio. Bobbitt and Miller, who have worked creatively for near two decades pushing each other to go beyond conventional artistic barriers, held auditions through the month of April for Sunset Village and can now announce the cast that will accompany them to the Big Apple:
SUNSET VILLAGE CAST
Edna - Anna Marie Kirkpatrick
Mr. Midnight - Shamrock Mcshane
Louise - Jan Cohen
Mikayla - Kristin Mercer
Norma - Cindy Weldon Lasley
Andrea - Laura Beth Jackson
Tommy - Ian Hales
Great Grandma Carolyne - Gay Hale
Stage Managed by Norma Berger
SUNSET VILLAGE has already caused a stir in NYC due to the adventurous subject matter of the play, and the fact that Michael Bobbitt has previously cast a professional goat in one of his productions and referred to himself during the selection process as "...an itinerant goat farmer from Gainesville."
SYNOPSIS of Sunset Village:
"A recent widow moves to an infamous Florida retirement community and is swept into the underground drug and sex culture of a senior-citizen Neverland where venereal disease rates are the highest in the nation and everyone's trying to outrun the sunset."
Because of the unique nature of this production, and the fact that local artists will be welcomed and celebrated in the Big Apple, we hope you will consider a full feature on this extraordinary event.
Gainesville Goes Broadway!
ABOUT MICHAEL BOBBITT:
Michael Presley Bobbitt is a playwright from Gainesville, Florida. He is on the board of directors of The Acrosstown Repertory Theater and raises goats for no reason at all. He lives with his wife Laura, his son Liam, and a beagle named Jefferson.
ABOUT TOM MILLER:
Tom Miller is a nationally recognized Performance Artist, Actor, Writer, Musician and Director living and working in Gainesville, Florida - "...the known Center of the Universe." Miller holds a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Florida. He was most recently profiled in Gainesville's HOME Magazine: https://homemagazinegainesville.com/tom-miller-a-never-ending-performance/
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE HERE:
sunset_village_press_release.pdf |