For Immediate Release: March 5, 2007
Media Contact: Tina Brock, Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, 215.285.0472

Victims of Duty by Eugene Ionesco, directed by Tina Brock; March 15 – March 28, 2007 Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 8 pm – L’Etage Cabaret, 624 Bainbridge Streets, above Creperie Beau Monde. Tickets: $15, $12 (Students).

70 minutes. www.idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.com Reservations recommended: 215.925.9665. Seating is limited.

Victims of Duty, a rarely-performed work by absurdist author and playwright Eugene Ionesco, will be presented by The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium beginning Thursday, March 15 at 8 pm at L’Etage Cabaret in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia premiere is the first regular-season production from the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium. The IRC was formed in May 2006 to present classic and lesser-known works by authors from the loosely-defined "Theater of the Absurd" such as Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Edward Albee, and to provide artistic opportunities to actors, directors and designers interested in exploring their craft through this uniquely theatrical form. The IRC’s aim is to present site-specific productions which recreate the time and place where these works were first introduced, mainly Paris in the 1950's and 1960's, incorporating physical comedy, clowning, vaudeville and music hall elements.

The IRC’s inaugural production was Samuel Beckett’s Catastrophe for The Theater Alliance of Greater Philadelphia’s Spark Festival in July 2006; shortly followed by Three One Acts! A Trio of Short Plays by Albee, Beckett and Ionesco for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in September 2006. The company’s 2006 Philadelphia Fringe show was performed at L’Etage Cabaret, an intimate setting reminiscent of the cabaret theaters in Paris where Ionesco’s plays were first performed in Paris in the 1950’s and 60’s.

Victims of Duty is a parody of conformist modern life. The play’s Everyman character, Choubert, and his wife Madeleine, find themselves at home enjoying a relaxing evening when a mysterious Detective arrives, plunging the threesome into a dutiful and surrealistic search for a missing person. Victims of Duty poses and solves Ionesco’s existential crisis with his hallmark blend of gravity and humor.

Director: Tina Brock
Lighting Design: Shannon Zura
Costume Design: Melissa Black
Cast: Brian Adoff (The Detective), Amy Shafer (Madeleine), Bob Schmidt (Choubert), Nicholas (Lee Pucklis), Pat Lewis (The Lady).

Photos available: victims@idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.com or 215.285.0472.

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