FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jenny Rose Costuros - 917.705.9202 - pogoandevie@gmail.com
POGO & EVIE: A ZYDECO MUSICAL
The New York International Fringe Festival - FringeNYC A production of The Present Company August 10th - 26th Tickets: $15. For Tickets visit www.FringeNYC.org or call In New York: (212) 279-4488 or Outside New York: 1-888-FringeNYC
Violent secrets from generations past threaten the star-crossed romance of one young Zydeco man and his Cajun lady. Their families have hated each other for nearly a century. Even their respective musical genres are at war. Can Pogo and Evie betray their families, their bands, and their traditions? Can they resist the love that threatens to boil over in the steamy Louisiana heat? Or can the passion of two young musicians break conventions and tear down the barriers that have kept their worlds apart?
This show features Adé Herbert as Pogo, whose background in gospel and a cappella singing contributes to his powerful stage performance. Adé hails from New Orleans and moved to Brooklyn after Hurricane Katrina forced him to evacuate. He is joined by Jenn Miller-Cribbs playing Evie, Will Manning as Woody - Pogo's high-strung friend from New York, and Jamie Neumann as Evie's seductive best friend, Dommie. The cast also features Ted McGuinness as Gentilhomme Jacques - Evie's lovingly over-protective father and leader of The Evangalines Cajun band. Both Cajun and zydeco bands come together through the work and talent of Music Director Moses Patrou, a powerful figure on the New York music scene whose voice can be heard in the recent Coca-Cola commercial spoofing Grand Theft Auto. Both Sergio Alvarado and Jenny Rose Costuros return as Director and Producer (respectively), having helped create the show in its workshop production last summer at Jacques-Imos restaurant on the Upper West Side. This captivating story comes from esteemed author, screenwriter and playwright Aaron Latham.
Jenny Rose Productions produced the workshop presentation of POGO & EVIE: A ZYDECO MUSICAL last year at Jacques-Imos Cajun-Creole Restaurant. Aaron Latham frequently brought his laptop to the lively restaurant and wrote the majority of the drama surrounded by Mardi Gras beads and crawfish etouffee. His wife, Lesley Stahl of CBS's "60 Minutes," quickly became the show's biggest fan during rehearsals last summer - as they often took place in the her and Aaron's living room. Additionally, the recognizable style of POGO & EVIE's logo was created by Aaron and Lesley's good friend and iconic NYC designer Milton Glaser (creator of the classic "I
NY") and his designing partner, Walter Bernard.
POGO & EVIE Donate to Project HEAL
NEW YORK. June 2006: Aaron Latham, writer and financier of POGO & EVIE: A ZYDECO MUSICAL donates 25% of every ticket sold to a foundation in Louisiana committed to supporting artists in the aftermath of the devastating hurricanes that ravaged the state in 2005.
Project HEAL (Helping Employ Artists Locally) is a charity that was created by the Acadiana Arts Council in September 2005 to support artists who were seriously impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Their mission is to offer local employment opportunities to those artists who were displaced by the hurricanes. They have assisted artists from all walks of life, including dancers, actors, designers, folklorists, writers, musicians, media artists, and visual artists.
It is Project HEAL's goal to allow those in need of financial support to be seamlessly integrated into various programs throughout the Louisiana area. These programs include art workshops, exhibitions, educational programs, and much more.
Project HEAL director and currently displaced resident of New Orleans, Matthew Goldman, insists that the project is not only valuable to local artists, but the community as a whole. In his opinion, "Employing artists in schools, workshops, and temporary shelters will benefit the artists while enriching our community." It is the organization's primary goal to preserve the distinctive culture and appreciation for the arts throughout southern Louisiana.
Aaron Latham was inspired to write POGO & EVIE: A ZYDECO MUSICAL after visiting Lafayette, Louisiana. "In Lafayette, everybody has two identities," said Latham, "Insurance salesman/bass player, auto-repairman/accordian player... In this swampy corner of Louisiana, you are always your everyday self and your better self simultaneously."
The hurricanes of 2005 hit Louisiana just as Latham was finishing the final draft of POGO & EVIE. He felt compelled to use the musical to help benefit the culture and the people who touched him so deeply. Workshop performances of POGO & EVIE went up at Jacques-Imos Cajun Creole restaurant on the Upper West Side for six weeks in the summer of 2006. Latham committed to donating 25% of the musical's gross profits from all six workshop performances; an amount totaling $570.
Project HEAL has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and covered by such prestigious media organizations as the LA Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Orlando Sentinel and Rolling Stone.
Contact: Jenny Rose Costuros (917) 705-9202 cleverjenny@gmail.com Rose Macaluso (375) 768-0132 rose@acadianaartscouncil.org