Capital Fringe Festival

where else would…

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon host “Communist Idol” with Stalin, Marx and Lenin are the judges?

The dreaded librarian Ramsey school librarian wannabes in “Hell’s Library”?

Spiderman hit on Bella (after Edvard leaves) because he has heard that “she’s into animal mutant boys”?

Pet Man and Clyde the pet psychic dispense absolutely useless information to pet owners?

FNN (The Fear News Network) campaign to ban an everyday, but harmful substance - bread?

The front man for the death metal band, Putridity, promote his new “unplugged” tour?

In The Comedy Academy’s Production In

The 5^th annual Capital Fringe Festival!

FRESH FROM THE FUNNY FARM – Local Laughs, is a sketch comedy extravaganza featuring 23 acts of ridicule & satire targeting the news media, vampire movies, religions, TV shows, air-headed youngsters, feeble oldsters & 21^st century life in general as presented by The Comedy Academy, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to fostering comedy writing and performances by tweens and teens.  More information about The Comedy Academy is available at-www.ourlaughingmatters.com.

FRESH FROM THE FUNNY FARM – Local Laughs will be performed at THE WAREHOUSE, 1019 7th Street NW, Washington, DC for five performances only: Friday July 9 at 8pm, Thursday, July 15 at 6pm, Saturday July 17 at Noon, Sunday July 18 at 11am, Saturday July 24 at 5:45pm.  To purchase tickets, visit www.capfringe.org (box office opens June 21, 2010.

Performing in FRESH FROM THE FUNNY FARM – Local Laughs will be Diego Aguilar, Conor Brennan, Liam Brennan, Mia Bullock, Miriam Finley, Jeffrey Hacker, Matthias Kelderman, Robbie McEwen, Brandy Moser, Jeanette Moser, Julie Moser, Sara Mozersky, Brian Paton, Jeffrey Rosen, Christine Scullen, Phillip Shattan, Erica Shortall, Leah Solomon, Rachel Solomon, James Syverson, Matt Weaver, AJ Walderhaug and Peter Walderhaug – Directed by Harry M. Bagdasian with an assist from Dr. Beck Krefting.  Costumes are by Tish Hall, props by Tish Hall & Robbie McEwen.  Diego Agular (guitar,) Leah Solomon (keyboard) and Liam Brennan will be providing original musical underscoring composed by Aguilar, Brennan and Josh Rosen.

The scripts have been written by published and widely produced young comic sketch writers Sara Mozersky, Leah & Rachel Solomon and Austen Villemez, as well as by students AJ Walderhaug, Phillip Shattan, Josh Rosen, Matthias Kelderman, Liam Brennan, Diago Aguilar and by Harry M. Bagdasian & Lisa Levin Itté.  In addition to those sketches mentioned above, the roster of sketch comedy will include TV parodies such as “Lancaster Valley, An Amish Soap Opera,” and “Burn(out) Notice.”  There are also spoofs of TV game shows: “Who Wants To Live?” & “Guy Wars Extreme,” along with the detective show spoof, “Nancy Jew and the Hardy Goys,” and a sketch entitled “Dropping The Bomb,” which takes a comic look at adult reactions when students use a certain expletive when in school.  The show will include two musical parodies: a number regarding the weed trade around the beltway entitled “Silver Spring Blues”;  and a death metal parody which features the front man from the legendary death metal band, Putridity, ptomoting his solo “unplugged” tour.

Comedy Academy, Inc. NEWS

WE’RE PUBLISHED – AGAIN!  How many after school theatre or writing programs see their students work published and leased for use by schools around the world?  Hell’s Library and other Comedy Sketches by students for students will be released this coming Fall by Meriwether Publishing Ltd/Contemporary Drama Services.  It will feature sketches written by Jennifer Bagdasian, Liam Brennan, John Kilmer, Sara Mozersky, Josh Rosen, and by Leah & Rachel Solomon (who wrote “Hell’s Library.”)  Just this Spring, Austen Villemez was once again published, this time in a collection of sketches by Austen and H. Bagdasian under the title Can You Whine Like A Fifth Grader? and other TV Parody Sketches.  Scripts are available at www.meriwetherpublishing.com.

EXTENDING OUR REACH  This year when we received the report from our publisher, we were pleased to see that once again several hundred schools are using our sketches across the US and Canada.  The fun news is that America’s Next Top Boy Model and other comic sketches by Leah & Rachel Solomon and Sara Mozersky was leased by schools in Guam and Dubai!  Lisa Levin Itté and H Bagdasian received news of their first production in Portugal. (for more detail go to www.ourlaughingmatters.com click on “Reaching The World.”)\

FRESH FROM THE FUNNY FARM – LOCAL LAUGHS

Show Program as of June 7, 2010

ACT ONE

KALVIN KLINE KALONE script by Austen Villemez

IT’S SO BAD (yogurt ad) script by Leah & Rachel Solomon

THE CLINIC script by Josh Rosen and Harry M. Bagdasian

DEATH METAL (unplugged) an ad written & performed by Diego Aguilar

GUY WARS: Most Extreme – pt 1 & 2  script by Matthias Kelderman

DUDE  DUDE?  DUDE!  Script by Leah & Rachel Solomon

GUY WARS:  part 3 script by Matthias Kelderman

COMMUNIST IDOL script by Phillip Shattan

PET MAN, THE ON THE AIR VET MAN  Script by H. Bagdasian

WHO WANTS TO LIVE? Script by Austen Villemez

BURN(out) NOTICE part 1 script by Harry M. Bagdasian

NANCY JEW AND THE HARDY GOYS concept by Josh Rosen, script by H. Bagdasian

BURN(out) NOTICE part 2 script by Harry M. Bagdasian

LANCASTER VALLEY: An Amish Soap Opera script by Matthias Kelderman

BURN(out) NOTICE part 3 script by Harry M. Bagdasian

ACT TWO

“Silver Spring Blues”  written and performed by Diego Aguilar

BURN(out) NOTICE part 4 – “Petey Vs. The Volcano”  script by Harry M. Bagdasian

COOKING WITH AL-QUEDA script by Diego Aguilar                           

FNN REPORTS: Bread – The Gateway Food script by Liam Brennan

TAI CHI FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY script by Harry M. Bagdasian                 

AN ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN AD script by Harry M. Bagdasian

PRESENT ACCOUNTED FOR script by AJ Walderhaug                                        

HELL’S LIBRARY  script by Leah and Rachel Solomon                        

TWILITE script by Sara Mozersky                                                               

KGB FRIED CHICKEN   script by Josh Rosen

NEW MOONERS  script by Sara Mozersky                                                

DROPPING THE BOMB script by Liam Brennan                                    

ABOUT CAPITAL FRINGE

Capital Fringe is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in the summer of 2005 with the purpose of infusing energy into performing arts in the Washington, DC region through our yearly Fringe Festival and year-round Fringe Training Factory. Our mission is to connect exploratory artists with adventurous audiences by obtaining and creating outlets and spaces for creative, cutting-edge, and contemporary performance in the District. Capital Fringe encourages artists to express and develop their talents and artistic visions without barriers.

Capital Fringe is supported by the Government of the District of Columbia, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the Meyer Foundation, Dreyfus Foundation, PEPCO Holdings, MARPAT, Washington Post Company, Philip L. Graham Fund, The Downtown DC Business Improvement District, as well as invaluable support from our Fringe Family of Donors.

ABOUT THE COMEDY ACADEMY, INC:

The Comedy Academy conducts creative afterschool programs, called Comedy Clubs, in middle and high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland to develop students’ skills and abilities in the areas of creative comedy writing, live comedy performance, and the technical aspects of theater stagecraft.  These Comedy Club programs enable students to create and perform an original revue of comedy material based on student-generated ideas.  Through satire and parody, the students are given an effective way to examine the events that are important in their lives and to “respond” with their own authentic and personal voices.  The students draw from their own experiences to help develop sketches about popular culture, advertising, TV shows, movies, computer games, sports, cliques, testing, bullies, report cards, parents, and siblings.  This comedy focus appeals to young people in a unique way and the personal relevance of the comedy material results in a high level of engagement by the students.  The program is open to students within the host schools who wish to participate regardless of ability or theater experience.  The program is designed to accommodate each student’s skill level thus providing flexible programming in which youth can be challenged and succeed.  This year’s Comedy Club programs – one at Northwood High School and the other at Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School -- build on the successful program that Harry M. Bagdasian and Lisa Levin Itté began in 1995 at Lee Middle School and that has involved more than 500 students in its 15-year history.

HARRY M. BAGDASIAN, President, The Comedy Academy, Inc., is a professional director and playwright who was a pioneer of the Washington, DC small theatre movement.  He co-founded New Playwrights’ Theatre in 1972 and led its activities for twelve years.  He was one of the founders of The League of Washington Theatres, was on the founding Board of Directors of The Washington Theatre Awards Society and he wrote, directed and produced the Inaugural Helen Hayes Awards at The National Theatre in 1985.  For 25 years he has been writing and directing special events for a wide array of clients including Arena Stage, The United States Army, The International Association of Fire Fighters, The Anti-Defamation League and AFSCME.  His plays have been published by Samuel French and by Dramatic Publishing and performed in theaters throughout the U.S.  Anthologies of his comedy sketches  have been published by Contemporary Drama Services and used in classrooms and theatres around the world.  Can You Whine Like a 5^th Grader: 13 TV Parody Sketches by Harry Bagdasian and Austen Villemez came out this Spring.

PUBLICATIONS  The most unique aspect of the Comedy Academy is the worldwide accessibility of Comedy Club scripts.  They have been published and distributed by Contemporary Drama Services (a division of Meriwether Publishing) thus making this original comedy material available to schools, theaters, and youth groups around the world.  Since the first publication in 1996, more than 42,500 books have been sold.  To date, CDS has leased the rights to Comedy Academy material to over 3,500 schools and other venues in every state in the U.S., throughout Canada, and in such distant places as Guam, Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Portugal, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.  That these humorous sketches, written by Silver Spring, MD  teens about contemporary issues in their lives, can translate across cultural boundaries and national borders speaks to the universality of the coming-of-age years in many regions and countries.  Hell’s Library and Other Comedy Sketches, our 16^th publication and second all-student written anthology of comedy material will be published in the fall of 2010.

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