Charlie Fink and Lee Seymour Present

WHO’S YOUR BAGHDADDY? Or How I Started the Iraq War
www.whoisyourbaghdaddy.com
Music & Book by MARSHALL PAILET
Lyrics & Book by A.D. PENEDO
Based on a screenplay by J.T. ALLEN

Starring

BRENNAN CALDWELL, JASON COLLINS, BOB D’HAENE, BRANDON ESPONIZA
OLLI HAASKIVI, NEHAL JOSHI, CLAIRE NEUMANN, LARISA OLEYNIK

Directed by MARSHALL PAILET
Choreography by MISHA SHIELDS
Casting: DARYL EISENBERG, CSA, Darryl Eisenberg Casting
Stage Manager: HOPE VILLANUEVA
Associate Director: NORA IVES
Set Designer: CAITE HEVNER KEMP
General Manager: CHARLIE FINK
Costume Designer: SUMMER LEE JACK
Lighting Designer: JEN SCHRIEVER
Assistant General Manager: SEAN SPRINGLE
Assistant Stage Manager: COURTENEY LEGGETT
Musical Director, Pianist & Additional Arrangements by RONA SIDDIQUI
Creative Consultant: BOB DROGIN
Set Associate: KALYANI PRIYADARSAN

Actors Temple Theater
339 West 47th Street (between Eighth & Ninth Avenues)
(212) 239-6200 or www.Telecharge.com
September 26 – November 22, 2015; Opening Night – 10/04/15

Walk into the Actors Temple Theater, and you find yourself in the middle of a support group for people who started the Iraq War. No, Bush and Cheney aren’t there (thank heavens!) but mid-level spies and specialists shared in the terrorist-driven misinformation that ran rampant during the months following September 11th. Throw in some office politics, personal self-aggrandizement, and group hysteria, and the stage is set for chaos and calamity. Marshall Pailet’s and A.D. Penedo’s WHO’S YOUR BAGHDADDY? Or How I Started the Iraq War adds song and dance, along with sophisticated humor, to make the insanity somewhat palatable. This high-energy production is graced with a multi-talented cast who reveal the characters involved in the catastrophe, singing and dancing their hearts out. And the audience enjoys sharing the hilarious and audacious storytelling in the first act.

But alas, WHO’S YOU BAGHDADDY? is based on truth, and no matter how ridiculous the circumstances under which the United States went to war with Iraq, there were and still are consequences for that decision. Some of them are dealt with in the second act. Unless you are one of those rare people who think the war was a reasonable and justifiable reaction to 9/11, you feel the anger and despair returning as if was 2003 all over again. Based on a screenplay by J.T. Allen, Penedo and Pailet use comedy to remind us of a tragedy, and they do it brilliantly. Go see WHO’S YOUR BAGHDADDY? It is totally unique.

- Laurie Lawson -