Played at The Connelly Theatre, June 9-25, 2005!

If you’ve ever bought a magazine for the face on the cover and never read a single word, Kicker is for you!

Triptych Theatre’s new comedy takes an inside look at star making and star faking in today’s media-obsessed world. Old-hand celebrity interviewer Michael Gray is surprised to find himself sipping single malt with his literary idol. But when the scotch wears off, Gray rips back at the high-gloss media machine that turns beauty, luck, and a well-played anecdote into the next big thing.

Kicker shines an uncomfortable spotlight on “that guy with the famous person” thanks to the hilarious insights of playwright Robert Simonson.

The Artists of Kicker

Kicker features a number of noteable New York area artists, including Jonathan Fielding*, Juliet Gowing, Dalane Mason, Liam Mitchell*, Lordan Napoli*, Matt Pepper*, James Lloyd Reynolds*, and Kelly Shaffer*, and designers Ben Arons, Ryan Etzel, Sandra Goldmark, Anne Kenney, and Cat Tate.

Kicker is helmed by Brendan Hughes, who has directed over 25 plays to critical acclaim up and down the Eastern seaboard, including Gagarin Way (Sugan Theatre Company, Boston), Golf with Alan Shephard (American Stage, St. Petersburg, FL), Private Jokes Public Places (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Cape Cod), and most recently Le Nozze di Figaro (Opera Theater of Yale College). He also adapted and directed a new work, You've Never Done Anything Unforgivable, for the 2004 New York Fringe Festival. He is the founder of the Theatre Cooperative in Boston, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

The Author of Kicker

Along with Kicker, Robert Simonson is the author of Cafe Society, which has been produced in New York, Chicago, and Boston and was published in Plays and Playwrights for the New Millennium (The New York Theatre Experience, 2000). Other plays include Which One's Yours (produced by Soho Rep), Wittenberg (Nada), and Emotional Correctness, Some Friend, and Napkin (all Theatre Three).

Robert knows more than a little about the world of celebrity journalism - he's been a theatre journalist for 20 years and writes theatre profiles, reviews, and commentary for The New York Times, The New York Sun, Time Out New York and The Village Voice. He is also the author of two non-fiction collections of theatre profiles: On Broadway, Men Still Wear Hats (Smith and Kraus, 2004) and Role of a Lifetime (Back Stage Books, 1999). Robert has been the editor of the Playbill.com website since 1998.

Kicker has been developed at Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Ensemble Studio Theatre and is the recipient of a grant from The Pilgrim Project.

David Gersten & Assoc. is the general press representative for Kicker:
david@davidgersten.com or 212.575.0263.