JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS Contagious Laughter LLC Presents BRIAN GIANCI’S LET’S KILL GRANDMA THIS CHRISTMAS

A Dysfunctional Christmas Story
Directed by JOHN DAPOLITO
At the THEATRE at ST. CLEMENTS
Beginning NOVEMBER 25; Opening DECEMBER 3, 2012

New York: Contagious Laughter LLC. to present the World Premiere of Let’s Kill Grandma This Christmas by Brian Gianci, directed by John Dapolito. Let’s Kill Grandma This Christmas will begin performances on Sunday, November 25; it will celebrate its opening on Monday, December 3 and will run through January 6, 2013 at the Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 West 46th Street). Tickets are $69 and can be purchased by visiting http://letskillgrandmatheplay.com.

A family, a will, a gun, a marriage, an affair, a wheelchair and a murder attempt… just your normal Christmas holiday! Let’s Kill Grandma This Christmas is a rip-roaring holiday black comedy that takes place as a family gathers to celebrate Christmas Eve dinner. After a rough year rife with economic difficulties, some family members ponder the question…at 80 years old, how much longer does Grandma need to hold on to her vast fortune?

Cast includes: Adam Mucci (HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” B’way: You’re Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush), Katie Webber (Broadway: Catch Me If You Can, Memphis: A New Musical, Rock of Ages, Wicked TV: “Smash,” “American Idol”), Brandi Nicole Wilson (Love Me Tender, MITF Best Actress Nom.; Film: Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship, That’s What She Said), James Wirt (Saturn Return. Film: Motive, The Order of Things), Sets and lights will be designed by Harry Feiner. Casting by Judy Bowman. Other cast and creative TBA.

Who’s Who:

BRIAN GIANCI (playwright) is a New York City playwright who is influenced by the works of Harold Pinter, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams. His latest play, Let’s Kill Grandma This Christmas, will mark Brian’s Off-Broadway debut in late 2012. His play, Two Thieves, a Girl Named Florine and an Extremely Rare, Perfectly Cut, Quarter Million Dollar Fire Opal Diamond, a comedy about a dim witted jewel thief trying to live an ethical life, is also in development after several readings and a workshop production. His other play, Saturn Return, (Co-written by James Wirt and Mackenzie Westmoreland) a dark comedy about a musician going through an existential crisis, is currently in development after several readings and a workshop production. Film: Brian has also written several screenplays which have been developed with The Film Gym. These include, Saving Billy Zonner, a psychological thriller about the latest strain of the swine flu, which is currently in preproduction; Psychopathic Yoga, a comedy about a peaceful Occupy Wall Street protester who has taken the CEO of a major bank hostage (filming this summer with The Film Gym); The Banana Republican a comedy he co-wrote with James Wirt; and a screen adaptation of his play, Saturn Return. Brian has also worked extensively as an actor both regionally and Off-Broadway, including performances with Naked Angels and Abingdon Theater Company.

JOHN DAPOLITO (director/producer) John’s directing journey humbly began with Ralph Pape’s “Soap Opera”. He then took a quantum leap and became a playwright-director of his own works which includes his signature play “Killer Midgets”, an absurdist black comedy set in a surrealistic New York City apartment. The play gave him modest recognition, and encouragement; it was reviewed by Martin Denton: “You don’t expect a play called Killer Midgets to be good, let alone profound; but this one, written and directed by a strikingly talented fellow named John Dapolito, is both.” (http://www.johndapolito.com/reviewdenton.html). Inspired he later penned, “An Act of Kindness” and “Augie’s Ring”, which he has directed on four separate occasions in both Los Angeles and New York City. The Los Angeles Times single-out the production as its “pick of the week”, saying “These extraordinary one acts from writer/director John Dapolito aren’t steak tartare, they’re the cow fresh from the abattoir served on your plate with a spike through its head…taut writing, tough direction, and brilliant…a primordial vortex so regrettably rarely found elsewhere.”

(http://www.johndapolito.com/reviewgreen.html). His last play, “Baptism by Fire” was produced and directed by Emmy Winner Michael Imperioli (Christopher of the Sopranos) as the inaugural production of Studio Dante; Howard Kissel wrote: “a surprisingly gripping play about a tough, quirky father and his emotionally overwrought son…the play its self is very solid, especially the startling speech Curatola (Johnny “Sach” of the Sopranos) gives just before the end.”

(http://www.johndapolito.com/reviewkissel.html). John then turned his gaze to the big screen and penned a gritty and nostalgic urban drama called “When Tough Guys Were King”, (co-authored by Dominik Tiefenthaler), based on an actual true story spanning three generations and six decades, the material is based on the video testimony and recordings of John’s estranged father, August Dapolito, a native of Jersey City who struggled with heroin addiction for 25 years, and eventually lost his life to AIDS in 1993. John’s Other Notables: He is the founder of Actors! Where Are You Going? a career development program using psychological profiling techniques to illicit the actors “A-Game Acting-Niche”, where he also teaches his “Master Class for the Working Actor”. (www.JohnDapolito.com)

ROBERT NICOTRA (producer) is a graduate of Pace University where received his BBA majoring in Accounting. He spent the next 18 years working in the financial industry at Prudential Securities and Citigroup. After ten years at Citigroup where he was Vice President in Operations, Robert decided to pursue a career in entertainment as an actor, writer and producer. Theater highlights (Producer): Men Without Myth at Urban Stages, the staged reading of A Room Of My Own by Charles Messina at The Theatre at 45 Bleecker Street with Mario Cantone and Ralph Macchio. Film projects: Maybe Tomorrow written and directed by Michael Wolfe (Best Feature Film Golden Door International Film Festival), ‘Twas The Night Before A Brooklyn Christmas by Charles Messina and Vincent Gogliormella, and I Love You, I’ll Miss You, Goodbye by Michael Wolfe.