Audacity is pleased to announce that Brad McEntire's play ARSENIC & ROSES has been accepted as an official selection for the 2009 Festival of Independent Theatres at Dallas' Bath House Cultural Center.

This early one-act from McEntire about a hard luck parakeet-muderer who is confronted by a passive-aggressive woman from his past will be directed by ATL Associate Jeff Hernandez.

The FIT plays mid-July thru early August this coming summer. Check back for more updates.

AUDACITY HITS THE ROAD with the play about a man born with no penis!

DALLAS – The folks behind Matt Lyle’s recent comedy HELLO HUMAN FEMALE return from Arizona and the re-mount THE LAST CASTRATO at the Phoenix Fringe Festival.

Audacity Theatre Lab was previously known as Audacity Productions (1999-2006). The company participated many times in local festivals such as the FIT and Out of the Loop, represented north Texas at the New York International Fringe Festival multiple times, produced works for Austin’s FronteraFest and mounted over 50 plays - large and small - in the Dallas area. The leaders of this little theatre absorbed a lot, often learning by doing, from this earlier garage-band-sized Audacity. Audacity Productions filed articles of dissolution in the summer of 2006, when Artistic Director Brad McEntire headed off for more than a year abroad. Now, Audacity is back, with a brand new mission, focus and name. Last May ATL presented the Regional Premiere of Greg Romero’s touching theatrical meditation THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LULLABY YOU’VE EVER HEARD. This was followed up by participation in theatre festivals in Phoenix, Austin and New Orleans and then a World Premiere of a new Matt “Bootstraps“ Lyle play.

THE LAST CASTRATO is the bittersweet tale of Joseph, who was born without a penis, his search for his own unique talent and his love affair with Elena, who was born with her skin inside out. Elena, however, was blessed with a beautiful singing voice to balance her deformity, while Joseph had no discernible talent to make up for his missing member. “A penis,” he muses, “in terms of artistic merit is worth nothing.”

THE LAST CASTRATO sprung from the mind and pen of Chicago playwright Andy Eninger after initial development as part of a solo performance workshop at The Blue Rider Theatre. Audacity Artistic Director Brad McEntire made contact with Mr. Eninger in October of 2004 when they were both featured performers in Chicago’s Single File Solo Performance Festival.

THE LAST CASTRATO is a return of sorts. A return to Arizona… ATL was last in Phoenix for an experimental performance festival called Teatro Caliente last November. And a return to THE LAST CASTRATO… ATL presented THE LAST CASTRATO last fall at the New Orleans Fringe Festival. Before that, this production of CASTRATO by Audacity was shown at the New York International Fringe Festival (2005), Dallas’ Pocket Sandwich Theatre (2006), the 2006 Out of the Loop Festival and Austin’s Blue Theatre (2007).

The show features Dallas actor Jeff Swearingen, fresh off his performance as Blork in ATL’s production of Matt Lyle’s HELLO HUMAN FEMALE. Directed and designed by Brad McEntire. THE LAST CASTRATO: Played at the Phoenix Fringe Festival at the Soul Invictus Performance Space, 1022 NW Grand Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85007. April 2-5. More info at http://www.phxfringe.org/ and http://www.audacitytheatrelab.com/

McEntire and Swearingen report having a good time sharing CASTRATO in Phoenix. Hospitable folks out in Arizona. Small audiences, but grateful. Word of mouth was our best marketing strength, but was not greatly effective over such a short run.

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