Brat Productions Returns to Philadelphia Fringe Festival with Rock and Roll Double Header

Aug. 19, 2012 - PRLog -- Brat Productions returns to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival for the first time since 2006’s sold-out Live Arts show EYE-95 Re-Tarred. All-star Brats Madi Distefano and Jess Conda set the tone for Brat’s 2012/2013 season “on the fringe” with Brat RockPile. This epic rock and roll double header features a remount of Popsicle’s Departure, 1989 and the world premiere of Eternal Glamnation.  RockPile runs September 7-26, 2012 at Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, PA.  Preview nights include September 7, 8 and 12, 2012. Departure starts at 8:00pm (September 25 and 26 start is 9:30pm), followed by Glamnation at 9:30pm (September 25 and 26 is at 11.00pm). Package tickets are available through the Fringe Festival for $19 - $35. Individual tickets for Departure or Glamnation are available at Underground Arts for $12-20 each. Promotional support provided by Yelp. Show is open to ages 21 and up. For information visit www.bratproductions.org and livearts-fringe.ticketleap.com.

The corruption begins with Popsicle’s Departure, 1989, Distefano’s internationally award-winning solo tour-de-force and former LIVE ARTS show.  Directed by Matt Pfeiffer, Departure is a collision course through the underground of Boston’s defiant punk-rock world. This shaggy dog tale is as twisted as it is surprisingly hilarious. Winner of the Edinburgh Fringe’s “Best Solo Show” and Scotsman Fringe First and garnering two Barrymore nominations, this fierce rock and roll fantasy played to rave reviews in Edinburgh, New York City, and Philadelphia.

A twenty minute break and a trip to the bar is the perfect interlude into RockPile’s next chapter. Conceived by and featuring Conda, Eternal Glamnation blends live music and theatrical spectacles in a Studio-54 blender cocktail of rock and roll mixed by renegade music director Andrew Nelson. Distefano directs rockers Bobby Fabulous, Kevin Jordan, Frances Distefano and Erik Ransom in this story of big vocals, secret selves and spandex.  Expect selections from Bowie, T. Rex, Nick Cave, and Queen. This glam-rock fantasia makes its world premiere after first appearing in its workshop version as part of the 2012 Rock & Awe series.

Departure and Glamnation deepen the love affair between Brat and the Fringe. Brat has been a pioneer of Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe Festival since launching EYE-95 and A 24 Hour The Bald Soprano in the first two Fringe festivals in 1996 and 1997.  In 2006, Brat came back to its gritty punk roots with EYE-95 Re-Tarred in the LIVE ARTS FESTIVAL. In 2012, Brat is at the top of its game and making what Brat makes best – theatre that rocks.

Popsicle’s Departure, 1989 and Eternal Glamnation solidify Brat’s status not only as Philadelphia’s top rock and roll theatre company, but also “The Perfect Example of Fringe” (FringeNYC Panelists).  For other Brat shows “on the fringe,” stay tuned for the 2012-2013 season with Brat Shit Crazy, The Diary of Lisa Q. and Saloon by Resident Artist Brian Grace-Duff.  For more information, visit www.bratproductions.org  and like www.facebook.com/bratproductions.

ABOUT MADI DISTEFANO
Distefano is a Philadelphia hybrid theatre artist and is the Founding Artistic Director of Brat Productions.  She works at local companies such as The Walnut Street Theatre, Azuka Theatre, Theatre Exile, Brat Productions and The Live Arts Festival, which produced her original rock-a-billy musical, EYE-95 Re-tarred.   She has received nine Barrymore nominations for Excellence in Theatre in the categories of Directing, Best New Play, Original Music (x2), The F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Award (x2) and Best Leading Actress (x2), which she won in 2005.   A finalist for a PEW Fellowship in playwriting in 2010, Distefano is also a recipient of grants from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Independence Foundation, Philadelphia Theatre Initiative and the Leeway Foundation.  Distefano holds an M.F.A. in Directing from Temple University, where she is an adjunct professor.

ABOUT JESS CONDA
Conda has been working in Philadelphia as an actor, administrator, and teaching artist since 2003. With Brat, she has appeared onstage in Moby Dick--Rehearsed, Grease and Desist, EYE-95: Re-tarred, A 24 Hour The Bald Soprano, Haunted Poe and Carrie. She served as Production Manager for A 24 Hour The Bald Soprano and Naked Cocktail, and Stage Manager for Popsicle's Departure, 1989. Conda received a Barrymore Award nomination for Outstanding Ensemble in A 24 Hour The Bald Soprano and for Pay Up with Pig Iron Theatre Company. Other acting credits include work with Shakespeare in Clark Park, Flashpoint Theatre Company, The Walnut Street Theatre, Cabaret Red Light, Revival Burlesque and The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret. Conda has a BFA from Arcadia University.

ABOUT BRAT PRODUCTIONS
Founded in 1996, Brat’s mission is to create new theatre-going audiences by producing theatre that breaks the rules; theatre that tests conventions; theatre that rocks! Over the years, Brat has established itself as one of Philadelphia’s most adventurous theatre companies and is known for using unusual performance venues to enhance original and noteworthy productions.  Its numerous productions have included Three Chord Fiction, winner of the Ted and Stevie Wolf Barrymore Award for New Approaches to Collaboration, Haunted Poe, A 24-Hour The Bald Soprano, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant and EYE-95, Retarred.