HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP PRESENTS DONNIE AND THE MONSTERS

Due to an overwhelming audience response, sold-out performances, and critical acclaim, DONNIE AND THE MONSTERS has been extended for two additional performances at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A) on Saturday, October 2 at 8pm and Sunday, October 3 at 7pm. Tickets ($18) are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.horseTRADE.info.

Donnie isn’t good at gym class, making friends, or avoiding bullies. To cope with pre-teen life changes and loneliness his imagination runs wild with monsters, pirates, and talking toilets. A sock puppet play for adults, Donnie and the Monsters deals with the issues we develop during childhood and then cling to or hide from when we grow up.

“Visually the show is equivalent to a masterful children’s picture book, one that is dark and fanciful and written by Tim Burton…a production of true vision and hopefulness.” Hannah Gold, nytheatre.com

“The play shines when the lines are blurred enough to see that there is a little monster in all of us.”

“Director Heidi Grumelot balances Donnie’s two worlds with tenderness. Mr. Altmanschofer’s Donnie is endearing, and Paul Herbig Yury Lomakin, J.B.RotÄ—, and Matt Wise are all wonderful whether in the schoolyard or visible only to the hero.” Patricia Contino, Flavorpill NYC

“The cast of Donnie is unparalleled in doing the job of hundreds (alright – almost a dozen).”

“…a charming play about the adultness of childhood problems, and the child’s process of working into adulthood.” Will Kenton, Cultural Capitol

DONNIE AND THE MONSTERS features Richard Altmanschofer, Paul Herbig, Yury Lomakin, JB RotÄ—, and Matt Wise.

The creative team includes Puppet & Prop Design by Elaine Jones, Set Design by Ariel Schecter, and Sound Design by Hanna Weddle. The production will be Assistant Directed by Nicole Gehring and Stage Managed by Ashley Zednick.

ROBERT J. GIBBS (Playwright) Rob has worked extensively as a writer, director, and actor.  He is a four time Irene Ryan nominee and has performed as a member of the American Shakespeare Center’s Torchbearer Touring Troupe. Rob co-wrote the plays King and Country and Footnotes which were performed at the 2004 and 2005 University Wits Theatre Festivals in Staunton Virginia, for which he also directed the play Leggo by Jeremy Fiebig. In 2009 Rob co-wrote (with Rick Blunt) the one-man show Boatloads of Shame, which was performed in New York, Los Angeles, and Virginia. Staged readings of Rob’s play Donnie and the Monsters have been produced at the Norfolk Southern Festival of New Works in Virgina and by Horse Trade Theatre Group in New York. In 2009 a full production of the play was performed at Studio Roanoke in Roanoke Virginia. In 2010 Rob co-wrote (with Whit Hertford) and directed the show I Can Do Pretty Ok All By Myself: The Bobbi Lynn Cooper Story, which was performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Hollywood. He is currently collaborating on a musical comedy about the life of Napoleon Bonaparte called Vive L’Empereur!, which will premier in Los Angeles later this year. Rob holds an MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama from Mary Baldwin College in association with The American Shakespeare Center in Staunton VA, and has trained in improvisational comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is writing and developing projects for film, television, and stage.

HEIDI G. GRUMELOT (Director) Heidi joined the staff at Horse Trade Theater Group in 2008. She is co-creator and producer of the monthly storytelling show TOLD as well as the founding director of The Drafts, an acting ensemble responsible for development of over forty original plays to date as part of a monthly reading series. She is the Resident Coordinator for Horse Trade’s six resident companies. New York directing credits include punkrock/lovesong at The Brick Theater, Dido and Aeneas with The New York Collective of Performing Arts at The West End Theater and The Boston Early Music Festival, A River Pure for Healing and An Absolutely Perfect Life at UNDER St Marks Theater, Accidents Do Happen, Tom’s Things, and Turning the Glass Around in The Red Room.

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater.  Horse Trade’s Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York – the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.