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Media Contact: Tina Brock, The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, (215) 590-9262

Friday, September 3 through Saturday, September 18, 2010
at the Philadelphia Live Arts and Fringe Festival

A ragtag band of Parisian café habitués battle a diabolical oil cabal to rid the world of greed, exploitation and cruelty in The Madwoman of Chaillot,  a frighteningly contemporary comic fable presented by The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium beginning Friday, September 3 and running through Saturday, September 18 during Philadelphia’s 2010 Live Arts and Fringe Festival.

French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright Jean Giraudoux, considered among the most important French dramatists between World War I and World War II wrote Madwoman in 1943 during the Nazi occupation of Paris.  A witty tea party awash in luscious language, Madwoman features a marvelously eclectic band of bohemians and beggars battling barons and bosses amidst a Parisian boulevard backdrop.   The Madwoman cast features 17 actors playing 25 characters, many who have appeared in IRC productions past including Kate Black-Regan, Tina Brock, John D’Alonzo, Jesse Delaney, Michael Dura, Tomas Dura, Mark Knight, Ethan Lipkin, Ed Miller, Jamie Pannone, Lee Pucklis, Kirsten Quinn, Sonja Robson, Bob Schmidt, Jane Stojak and Bayard Walker.  The Madwoman design team includes Brian Strachan and Rufus Cottman (Ionesco’s The Chairs, The Lesson; Tennessee Williams’ The Gnädiges Fraulein) Costume Design;  Stephen Hungerford (The Chairs, technical director) Set Design.  Artistic Director Tina Brock will direct The Madwoman of Chaillot.

Madwoman is the IRC’s 12th production since the company’s formation in 2006.  The IRC celebrated their 2009 season and 100th anniversary of Eugene Ionesco’s birth with critically-acclaimed productions of his classic works The Lesson and The Chairs.  The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote of The Chairs, "...a sparkling revival…performed to perfection.” The IRC’s 2008 Fringe production, A Streetcar Named Durang: Two Burlesques and a Nightmare enjoyed a sold-out run, and was described by The Philadelphia Inquirer as “hilarious” and “eye-moppingly funny” and the Philadelphia City Paper as “magic.”  Madwoman will conclude the IRC’s fourth season and continue their mission of preserving and presenting difficult and rarely-produced absurdist works to the Philadelphia region including those of Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Edward Albee, including Ionesco’s rarely-seen full-length gem Victims of Duty in 2007 and Samuel Beckett’s Ohio Impromptu and Come & Go in 2008.

The Madwoman of Chaillot will have 14 performances at the Walnut Street Theater Studio 5.  The curtain for Wednesday through Saturday shows is 7:30 pm; Sunday matinees are at 2:30 pm.  Madwoman will have preview Friday, September 3 and open Saturday, September 4, with performances continuing Sunday, September 5; Tuesday, September 7; Wednesday, September 8; Thursday, September 9; Friday, September 10; Saturday, September 11; Sunday, September 12; Tuesday, September 14; Wednesday, September 15; Thursday, September 16; Friday, September 17 and Saturday, September 18.

Doors open 30 minutes before curtain.  Tickets are $20.00.  Seating is very limited, advance reservations are recommended.  Reservations may be made by calling the Fringe Box Office at 215.413.1318.

More information and photos for The Madwoman of Chaillot and The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium can be found at www.idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.org.  For more on the many companies participating in this year’s Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival, visit www.livearts-fringe.org. This year's festival runs September 3 through September 18.