Chao premieres Can't Get Started

UNENDURABLE LONELINESS
HAS NEVER BEEN FUNNIER IN TOM X. CHAO’S
CAN’T GET STARTED
Begins September 22 at the St. Marks Theater

On Friday, September 22, Tom X. Chao begins performances of his new comedy Can’t Get Started as part of the Red Nights Performance Series at St. Marks Theater. Written and directed by Chao, featuring Basey Newborg with lighting design by Henry Bial and dramaturgy by Bial and Seth Madej, the evening sets out to prove that unendurable loneliness (especially Chao’s) has never been funnier.

In Can’t Get Started, Tom Chao walks on stage to discuss the musical attributes of the group King Crimson, inadvertently interrupting a monologue he’s written which is being performed by a young woman named Sarah. Sarah takes the opportunity to suggest improvements for the monologue. A series of hilarious sketches in the guise of acting exercises ensues exploring male/female relationships from prehistoric days to the depths of outerspace to that of geometrical shapes, but the riotous collage of sketch comedy ends when Sarah confronts Tom with his total lack of knowledge about women. It is up to Tom to find hope in a mystical vision of the world which he and Sarah are left to create.

Tom X. Chao has performed his one-man show, The Negative Energy Field–"chillingly perceptive,"FringeNYC Propaganda (1999)–at New York venues including Pink Inc., Timsloft (One Dream), The Knitting Factory, P.S.122, Theater For the New City, Dixon Place, HERE, on WBAI-FM, and in The New York International Fringe Festival. He's also presented solo performances at Chez LaRoe, Rumble in the Red Room (Ensemble Pulse Theater), and The Cornelia St. Cafe. As an actor he has appeared in Tennessee Apocalypse (dir: Andrew Van Dusen), Deb Margolin's Critical Mass (P.S. 122). Chao was chosen to direct his original one-act play, Summer, Deepening Then Gone, for the Directing Cabaret of The American Living Room Festival at HERE, presented in association with Lincoln Center Directors Lab. He also appeared in the 1999 Fringe Festival and the Pure Pop Festival, making him likely the only artist selected for the "Triple Crown" of summer festivals in the same season.

The Red Nights Performance Series, now beginning its third year, was created to give artists a chance to produce works that have already been proven hits, on an open-ended run basis. The series presents work in a variety of disciplines, from comedy to performance art. Past smash Red Nights include Amanda Vogel’s I Am My Own Cheap Thrill, Assurbanipal Babilla’s Something Something Uber Alles, Daniel MacIvor’s Never Swim Alone, Casey Fraser’s Why We Don’t Bomb the Amish, Big Art Group’s The Balladeer, and the smash hit Bac k Seats and Bathroom Stalls by Rob Mersola.

Can’t Get Started runs Sept. 22 - Oct. 27 Fridays at 10:30pm. Tickets are $12. The St. Marks Theatre is at 94 St. Mark’s Place (Between First Avenue & Avenue A – accessible from the N/R at 8th Street or the #6 at Astor Place). For information and reservations call 212-539-7686.