Gus and Fred Smash the TV

Following up last year’s sold-out run of Have U Seen My Soul? writer/director Harold Lehmann returns with another high-octane spin on identity and reality in the millennial age. Gus and Fred tells the story of a couple of slackers who climb inside their TV set, searching for their true selves, for the "show that frames them right." Lehmann combines elements of Brechtian alienation, physical theatre, and video collage against a driving poetic text. Tickets are available for advanced purchase exclusively through theatermania.com (212-352-3101).

A typical night for Gus and Fred: frozen dinners and congealed TV that is until Doktor Cathode appears on the screen. The pixilated peddler offers these unlikely spectators the ultimate product: to see themselves "for real." They just have to climb inside.

What follows is an absurd expedition through original "shows," including a game show starring Friedrich Nietzsche and a diabolical Western. Alternately hilarious and terrifying, Gus and Fred draws its inspiration from sources disparate as Genesis (not so much the band), the Epic of Gilgamesh, vaudeville, 1980’s music videos, daytime television in general and Sergio Leone Westerns. As the characters leap from role to role, they are forced to confront the anxiety of perception and the essential conflict between fabrication and authenticity in human history.

"So very smart and entertaining that you will have a really good time, … a terrific example of how alive the theater scene is… Kick back and get ready to laugh." — Robin Reed, nytheatre.com (2004)

Box Office Hours: box office opens 30 minutes prior to curtain

Group Sales Number (8+): 212-677-8621

Appropriate For Ages: 10+