For Immediate Release: March 21, 2005
Media Contact: John Stanton, Madhouse Theater Company, 215.260.4968

The Madhouse Theater Company presents the next installment and celebrates the first anniversary of its late night variety show, Saturday Night Special, March 26th at Theater Catalyst's PlayGround, in the Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom St., Midnight. All seats are just $10. For tickets and information call 215-563-4330.

The Madhouse Special is what to do when the other shows close.

The Philadelphia Weekly rated Saturday Night Special top of its “Hip-O-Meter”. “The Madhouse Theater Company's late-night variety show is the perfect antidote to lame bars and tired club scenes. Wholesome, theatrical wackiness guaranteed.” J. Cooper Robb wrote the Special is “much more fun than cruising the bars” and “consistently irreverent”.

Saturday Night Special is a diving board for new original work from writers around the country and presents short comic one-acts, sketches, and monologues, as well as live performances from local musicians*.

The March program offers a variety of sketches and short one act plays:

Momma's Boy by Alyssa Kondracki. Directed by John Stanton. Featuring Keith Conallen, Jennifer Kulick and Sarah Doherty. The story of a guy just a wee bit too close to his mother for comfort. He's just about one humiliation away from Norman Bates.

Mornings With Maria by Tommy J. Powers and Jenny Lynn Albright. Directed by Karen DiLossi. Featuring Keith Conallen, Sarah Doherty, Joe Leduc and Alyssa Kondracki. A woman thinks her husband is a cat and her therapist is an angel. No, really... She needs more than Dr. Phil to fix this.

Getting Hitched by John Stanton. Directed by Lance Kniskern. Featuring Drake Matteucci and Joe Leduc. A guy takes his buddy out to celebrate his upcoming marriage. Over beers, the guy says, “I love you, man.” The buddy says, “I love you, too.” In this case, the buddy means it. The cat is out of the closet in this one.

Surprise by Mark Harvey Levine. Directed by John Stanton. Featuring Alyssa Kondracki, Mike Dees, and Jennifer Kulick. How would you like to see into future? Sounds cool, huh? Now, how about if you could only see two minutes into the future? Not so bad. What if you were a self-loathing, sad sack, neurotic boy friend who could see two minutes into the future but drove your girlfriend so nuts she had to break up with you? Well, not so great. But funny...

Let Me Be by John D'Alonzo. Directed by Karen DiLossi. Featuring Mike Dees and Jennifer Kulick. A departure for Madhouse. The touching yet silly story of an angel getting his wings.

A Hat For You by Colin P. Delaney. Directed by Jared Delaney. Featuring Erin Reilly and Corrina Burns. In relationships, it's the little details that count. And his details suck. A hat makes the man in this woman's mind.

*And live original music by Philadelphia's own 722

Bios:

John Stanton, Artistic Director, founded the Madhouse Theater Company in 2000. They've produced three of his plays: Head Case, No Show, and the DiLossi directed 3sum. Stanton conceived the idea of the Saturday Night Special.

Karen DiLossi, Artistic Director, directing credits include Cinderella Waltz, The Open Couple, Tartuffe, The Three Little Wolfs, In the Shadow of the Glenn, Stanton's 3Sum and last year's Fringe hit: RGDG.

Jenny Lynn Albright is a fine arts student at Montgomery County Community College. When not pursuing her artistic interests, including ceramics, poetry, and painting, she works at a drapery manufacturer.

Corinna Burns has worked with many companies in Philadelphia; currently she is part of the Vagabond Acting Troupe's development of a new play based on Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Keith Conallen was most recently seen in Flashpoint Theatre Co.'s The Credeaux Canvas. Keith is an actor, writer, producer, director.

John D'Alonzo is a Philadelphia native working with Madhouse for the fifth time, both as a writer and actor.

Mike Dees recently received his MA in Theatre from Villanova University. He was a 2004 Irene Ryan Award nominee, and won the 2002 Barrymore Award for Supporting Actor in a Musical for Amos Hart in Chicago.

Colin P. Delaney: Productions (NYC): Sunday in the Shower with Seymour (Common Basis, '02), Scratch's Last Lament, (Kraine Theatre, '03), A Hat For You (Flatiron Playhouse '03), The Red Mollies, (Producer's Club, '04), Mask & Cape (Flamboyen Theatre '05). He lives and writes in Brooklyn.

Jared Delaney has directed Twelfth Night for Conestoga High School, written and performed in Black Palace, Pink Party at this past year's Live Arts Festival and portrayed Marc Antony in Julius Caesar. Recently he and the entire ensemble of Lantern Theater Company's The Comedy of Errors won the 2004 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Play.

Sarah Doherty, Ireland native, trained at the Gaiety School of Acting. She has worked with Theater Catalyst, Eternal Spiral Project, Arden Theatre Company, Bloomsberg Theatre Ensemble, Theater Exile, and Amaryllis Theatre Company/VSA Arts of PA. She's Development Director for Theater Catalyst.

Lance Kniskern: Lance can currently be found in the production department at People's Light building sets. This is his second go around with Madhouse.

Alyssa Kondracki has performed at the Ritz, Plays and Players and Triple Threat.

Jennifer Kulick is a professor and advisor at Villanova where she recently directed A Chorus Line. Credits include the Irish Rep. Theatre, 03 Fringe's Arnold Dinglemeyer 2 and As You Like It for the Delaware Shakespeare Festival.

Joe Leduc is a Villanova University graduate with his MA in Theatre. This is his fourth Special. Other performances include: Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, City of Angels and Trojan Women.

Mark Harvey Levine has had over 80 productions of his plays across the US and abroad -- 30 in 2003 alone. This year there are already over 30 produced or planned. Theatre Neo in LA produced an evening of his plays last year, and Smith & Kraus recently published his play "Scripted" in an anthology.

Drake Matteucci is a graduate of the University of the Arts and is Co-Artistic Director of Insperado Theatre Company.

Tommy J. Powers teaches English at Montgomery County Community College. During the hours in which he hears his muse, he writes poetry and short stories. In collaboration with Jenny Lynn Albright, this is his first Madhouse Theater Production.

Erin Reilly has appeared recently in Whores (InterAct), Valparaiso (Theatre Exile), Play on Two Chairs (Inis Nua), Vagina Monologues (Flashhpoint) and will next appear as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mum Puppettheatre). She is the Co-Artistic Director of Upper Merion Summer Stage in King of Prussia.

Joshua L. Schulman, lighting designer, has an MFA from Boston University. Previous work includes: 3sum (Madhouse), The Shoes, Strange Pasteurization, The Earth With Her Bars About Me (Philly Fringe), Amadeus (National Players Summer Tour), Wait! (Eternal Spiral Project).

722: Imagine if the powers of a rock band and a theater cast were to join forces. 722 has three characters emerge on the mic, all shedding light to the atmosphere created by a sometimes drum and bass, sometimes punk, and everything in between solid rhythm section.

The Madhouse Theater Company was founded by Conshohocken native John Stanton as a way to produce his own work. It premiered with John Stanton's Head Case, which in its second incarnation was a City Paper 2002 Fringe pick and which the Philly Weekly called “...inspired silliness.” But now with Villanova graduate (and South Philly's own) Karen DiLossi, the company wants to extend a hand to other writers and to expand its circle of creative artists. The Madhouse desires to feature new work by young and seasoned writers, to collaborate with directors and actors from all disciplines and backgrounds in order to create a fast paced, varied, and entertaining evening. Stanton and DiLossi perform bi-monthly Specials, with a new and original show each time. Their next installment is The Best of the Saturday Night Special Friday April 15th at Montgomery County Community College, 8pm.

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