"Angry Young Women In Low-Rise Jeans With High-Class Issues" goes to Hollywood

After multiple sold-out limited engagements in New York and Sydney, Australia, "Angry Young Women In Low-Rise Jeans With High-Class Issues," the raucous comedy written and directed by filmmaker turned playwright Matt Morillo, will open a six-week run at the Hudson Mainstage on Hollywood's Theater Row on October 3, 2008.

In the last two years, "Angry Young Women" has had three sold out runs in NYC (two Off Off Broadway and one Off Broadway) and two separate four-week runs in Sydney, Australia. It is making its title an idiom in New York and Australia and has amassed an enthusiastic fan base on two continents. The play, Morillo's first, was published this spring by Samuel French, along with Morillo's second play, "All Aboard the Marriage Hearse."

The show's website is www.angryyoungwomen.net

First cast of Australian production of "Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans With High Class Issues."

The play, a light-to-serious look at the psychology of nervous urban goddesses, parades a series of foxy, witty and anxious women who bear the expectations of the world like an itchy muffler. They go head to head with such issues as Electra complexes, bikini waxes, low-rise jeans, oversexed mothers, thongs, brazen teenagers, men's sexual fantasies, side effects of birth control drugs, mean teenagers on the subway, sympathy sex and the artistic integrity of penises and vaginas in independent films. The show bills itself as "An Outrageous Comedy," and its postcards declare "Even though it's a play, it doesn't suck."

In the winter of 2006, writer/director and then-filmmaker Matt Morillo simply wanted to tell some funny stories about relationships and produced "Angry Young Women" as a lark, thinking it would be a one-time thing. However, the show keeps getting new life as new audiences discover its brash wit and cheeky subject matter. The show's success has been attributed to its broad appeal to both sexes. "Men seem to like it for its raunchy subject matter and women like it for its raw honesty and sensitivity to their personal issues," says Richard Barbadillo, co-producer and Matt's partner in KADM Productions.

Morillo's ability to appeal to both sexes stems from not only his own experiences dating women, but to his years as a "platonic friend" to many women. "Every male writer can write about relationships from a man's perspective. That's easy," says co-producer/original cast member Jessica Durdock, "but Matt has a unique perspective because of his numerous female friends. He gets to see and hear a side of us that our boyfriends and husbands or even brothers don't necessarily see, giving him great insight into how we think."

With the play now becoming a national attraction, Morillo hopes the Hollywood production will not only lead to more theatrical success, but will also lead him back to the big screen. "I've had great success in theater and discovered a great love for it, but I have several screenplays ready to go and I would love to get back in the director's chair on a film set. How about an "Angry Young Women" movie?" said Morillo.

Original cast members Jessica Durdock, Tom Pilutik, Nick Coleman and Jason Drumwright will return to reprise their roles. Brooke Hasalton, who was hostess of the New York Off Broadway run and a part-time cast member, will join the cast full time along with Gina Regalbuto. Regalbuto was lauded in Variety and Entertainment Today for her performance in "Romeo and Juliet" at the Art Works Theater in Hollywood last February. Writer/director Matt Morillo and cast members Jessica Durdock, Tom Piltuik and Nick Coleman will be moving to L.A. for the production.

The Hudson Mainstage Theater is located at 6539 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles. Shows will be October 2 to November 9, 2008. Performances will be Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 7:00 PM. (The preview is Thursday, October 2 and the opening night is Friday, October 3.)

PRODUCTION HISTORY
"Angry Young Women In Low-Rise Jeans With High-Class Issues" premiered at the Duo Theater in New York's East Village January 19 to February 25, 2006 and was revived by Theater for the New City, NYC January 4 to February 24, 2007. In Sydney, Australia, Stella Green Productions produced 31 performances with an Australian cast and director from August 14 to September 2, 2007 and revived it with 27 performances from January 9 to February 9, 2008. An Off Broadway production opened at the Players Theater on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village on July 12 and closed October 20, 2007.

ABOUT MATT MORILLO

Playwright Matt Morillo.

Originally a filmmaker, born and raised in Hicksville (Long Island), Matt Morillo made an auspicious theatrical debut in 2006 with "Angry Young Women In Low-Rise Jeans With High Class Issues." His next play, the slightly more serious "All Aboard the Marriage Hearse" (Theater for the New City, 2008) was also extremely successful. Both plays have been issued by Samuel French Inc., making Morillo one of very few playwrights who've had their first two plays immediately published.

Prior to his theatrical shift, Morillo was a fixture on the New York independent film scene for ten years. He debuted at 23 with his romantic comedy, "The Pretenders," a film with a cast of unknowns and a non-existent budget that became an enjoyable, funny and ultimately touching film about twenty-somethings struggling with life's ups and downs. His next project, "Good Tidings," was a fifteen-minute short film about a young girl suffering through her parents' divorce. It received great praise at film festivals for its realism and honesty.

Morillo's third film, "Maid Of Honor," was a true breakthrough. A twenty-five minute comedy about a simple guy trying to hook up with the maid of honor at a wedding, it was a hit on the festival circuit, winning three awards, playing to sold-out theaters and leaving audiences laughing and begging for copies of the film.

Morillo has also written stand-up comedy for some of Los Angeles and New York's up and coming comedians.

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