"Heaviest comic lifting is shouldered by the extraordinary Alex Brightman...
he's priceless ..." Variety
"Brightman is a scene stealer" - Broadway World
"Marc Acito has fantastic narrative chops." - People Magazine
HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE
By Marc Acito
Directed by Helen Pafumi
Featuring Alex Brightman
Performances from December 7 - 30, 2012
At The John Swayze Theatre (at the New School of Northern Virginia), Fairfax, VA
Embezzlement ... Forgery ... Fraud ... High School
FAIRFAX, VA - October 8, 2012 - The Hub Theatre in Fairfax, VA, announced the cast and creative team for the World Premiere production of Marc Acito's HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE at the John Swayze Theatre where it is the resident professional theatre company.
Alex Brightman will make his Hub Theatre debut in the role of Edward Zanni. On Broadway, Alex was Boq in WICKED, and was in the company of the cult-fan musical, GLORY DAYS. Other credits include the World Premiere of NOBODY LOVES YOU at The Old Globe in San Diego, the World Premiere of 35MM in New York City, the regional premiere of THE HISTORY BOYS at The Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, and NEXT TO NORMAL at the Pioneer Theatre in Utah. He was also featured in Royal Pains on USA and had a recurring role on Important Things w/ Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Alex is currently in development of a new musical, MAKE ME BAD, which he wrote with composer-lyricist Drew Gasparini.
Playwright Marc Acito returns to The Hub to adapt his popular novel fresh from winning the 2012 Charles McArthur Award for Outstanding New Play, presented by the TheatreWashington's Helen Hayes Awards, for his comedy BIRDS OF A FEATHER, which had its world premiere at The Hub Theatre last season. The Washington Post called Birds of a Feather "goofy, but serious...an allusive, wisecracking comedy." Acito is the co-book writer of the Broadway-bound musical ALLEGIANCE starring Tony winner Lea Salonga and Star Trek legend George Takei. He is also the book writer of a musical adaptation of E. M. Forster's A ROOM WITH A VIEW.
The production will be directed by Helen Pafumi, Artistic Director and co-founder of The Hub Theatre. Her original plays MERRY, HAPPY ... WHAT? and WONDERFUL LIFE (co-adapted with Jason Lott, and nominee for the 2012 Charles McArthur Award for Outstanding New Play) received World Premieres at The Hub, and her work, CLARA'S LITTLE QUESTIONS was recently at the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival. Last season, she directed The Hub's highly acclaimed, JOHN & BEATRICE. Pafumi has also been seen onstage at many DC area theatres, including Theatre J, Folger Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Forum Theatre, Theatre Alliance, Rorschach Theatre, Keegan Theatre, Didactic Theatre, The Inkwell, the Source Festival, the Beckett Centenary Festival.
HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE by Marc Acito is based on the award-winning novel, How I Paid for College, published in 2004. The novel won the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction and was hailed as a New York Times "Editors' Choice" and has been translated into five languages. It is the hilarious yet heartwarming tale of a talented but irresponsible teen actor who schemes to steal his tuition money when his wealthy father refuses to pay for acting school. Seventeen-year-old Edward Zanni, a feckless Ferris Bueller type, is Peter-Panning his way through life with his screwball theater friends. When his businessman father remarries and pulls the plug on Edward's dreams, the aspiring thespian turns to a life of disorganized crime. Performed by Alex Brightman playing dozens of roles, the play is a tour-de-force monologue with songs, or a "monologsical." Inspired by his own misspent youth, Acito describes the story as "just true enough to be embarrassing to my family."
At its heart, HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE is about how far you are willing to go to make a dream come true. It's a story for anyone who's ever had a dream...and a scheme.
The HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE creative team includes: Kristen Morgan (Set Design), Jimmy Lawlor (Lighting Design), Matthew Nielson (Sound Design), Maria Vetsch (Costume Design),and Rebecca Griffith (Stage Management).
HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE is set to run at The Hub Theatre from December 7-30, 2012. Tickets are available now at www.thehubtheatre.org or by calling 800-494-8497.
