JAMES FRANCO’S STUDIO 4
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PRESENTS

1959 PINK THUNDERBIRD
by JAMES MCLURE

Technical Supervisor FARRON GARLING
House Manager/Associate Producer JASON ADRIAN
Stage Manager YASMEEN JAWHAR
Photography CARRIE KING
Press Representative SCOTTI RHODES
Marketing Director/Associate Producer REEMA SAMPAT

Cast
Christie Pierce – Michelle Scarr – Reema Sampat
Steven Anderson – Peter Angelinas – Tim Cordell

Studio 4’s production of James McLure’s 1959 PINK THUNDERBIRD ran for three performances October 5-6, 2015 at the Producer’s Club Theatre in New York City.

Set in 1978, the production is comprised of two one-acts plays, LAUNDRY & BOURBON and LONE STAR that show different aspects of life following a Vietnam veteran’s return to Maynard, Texas. Both plays feature plenty of drinking, sex talk and some fighting, and are almost Seinfeld-esque in terms of them seeming to be about nothing but the minutiae of one afternoon in a backyard and one night outside a bar.

In LAUNDRY & BOURBON Hattie (Michelle Scarr) stops by to visit Elizabeth (Christie Pierce) to escape her three children. The two talk and drink bourbon while folding laundry and watching television. It is soon revealed that Elizabeth has been on the lookout for her husband Joe’s 1959 Pink Thunderbird. Not the same since he returned from Vietnam, he has been gone for two days. Enter Amy Lee Fullernoy (Reema Sampat) with a mysterious big box. There is more drinking, sparks fly, shoes are thrown, and eventually Elizabeth is back on her own, searching the landscape.

In LONE STAR veteran Roy (Steven Anderson) is alone and drinking. Soon joined by his brother Ray (Peter Angelinas) Roy opines on topics as vast as the correct way to have candy and beer, the things he witnessed in Vietnam, and his overriding love of his 1959 Pink Thunderbird. The entrance of Amy Lee’s husband, Cletis T. Fullernoy (Tim Cordell) adds fuel to this play as well, as what he comes to tell Ray could have devastating consequences for Roy.

Overall, this production of 1959 PINK THUNDERBIRD was performed with a lot of energy and enthusiasm by the cast. These are darker comedies with a real nod to the slow pace of life in the small town they take place in and draw their humor from everyday circumstances, not big plot points. These performances were also the first full-length production by Studio 4 in New York, and a respectable introduction for the company in New York.

- Kessa De Santis -