Verbatim Verboten

Director John Pinckard and producer Vicki Quade (creator of Late Nite Catechism) present the New York debut of Michael Martin’s long-running Chicago and New Orleans hit Verbatim Verboten. The show is a hysterical, ever-changing revue of illicitly recorded and uncensored conversations from public figures. Never meant for public hearing, these words now live on through this unique live theatrical production. Like the title says, these are performed “verbatim,” with all of the scary and confusing parts intact. The line-up of pieces changes every night, with about a dozen pieces performed per show selected from a constantly updated collection of nearly 100 transcripts.

Creator Michael Martin brings a new dimension to the practice of “eavesdropping,” and has spent over ten years collecting transcripts featuring the uncensored and illicitly recorded words of celebrities, politicians, criminals, athletes, and power brokers. The words and rantings of Britney Spears, Enron and Texaco executives, Louie Armstrong, Madonna & Lourdes, Joe DiMaggio, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Durst, Marion Berry and Michael Alig are in regular play, along with extended and more challenging pieces from the mouths of British royalty, Jim Morrison, Orson Welles, and Mafia Dons.

The cast includes some of the hottest up-and-coming performers on the downtown and Off-Broadway performance scene: Chad Beckim (Partial Comfort Productions), David Drake (The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me), Tate Ellington (Dog Sees God), Carolyn Ficksman (Protean Theatre Company), John Flynn (Themepark Superstar, Dances with Pitchforks), Molly Franklin, Gary Hall (aka Shequida), Wayne Henry, Justin McElwee, Jonny McGovern (aka The Gay Pimp), Leslie Meisel (Second City), Susan O’Connor (Never Swim Alone, St. Scarlet), Olevia White and Tony White.