Dead End
Written by Sidney Kingsley
Directed by Randy Sharp
April 26 - May 20, 2017Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm
Additional performance Monday, May 1 at 7pm
Adults $30; Seniors/Students $20; Artists/Under 30 $15 | Veterans & Active U.S. Service Members and Their Families, FREE
A Broadway hit in 1936 Dead End was later made into a film starring Humphrey Bogart which included the first appearance of The Bowery Boys who went on to become the iconic "kid gang" of American movies. DEAD END takes place in a New York where tenement houses and luxury apartments stand side by side and extreme wealth and abject poverty intersect every day. Gangsters and bankers, prostitutes and lost children, failure and dreams of the future all live on this street. Axis Company illuminates these stark contrasts with an understanding of their mythology as well as their contemporary mirror in the city of today.
Featuring: Spencer Aste, Shira Averbuch, Brian Barnhart, Regina Betancourt, George Demas, Britt Genelin, Phil Gillen, Laurie Kilmartin, Emily Kratter, Jon McCormick, Lynn Mancinelli, Jake Murphy, Brian Parks, Katie Rose Summerfield
Production Stage Manager - Jessica Lavesque
Asst. Stage Manager - Lindy Lofton
Lighting Designer - David Zeffren
Asst. Lighting Designer - Amy Harper
Original Music - Paul Carbonara
Musicians - Paul Carbonara, Frederika Krier, Sam Quiggins, Ron Wilkins
Costume Designer - Karl Ruckdeschel
Asst. Costume Designer & Wardrobe Supervisor - Jess Gersz
Set Designer - Chad Yarborough
Properties Designer/Construction - Lynn Mancinelli
Carpenters - Matt Doliner, Luke Thorensen, Carmine Intravaia, Mikey Bajor, Bill Baker
Set Painter - Jenna Snyder, Justin Joseph, Leann A. Maldonado
Photographer - Pavel Antonov
Box Office Manager - Erik Savage
Graphic Design - Ethan Crenson
PR - Blake Zidell & Assoc.
AXIS COMPANY
Artistic Director - Randy Sharp
Producing Director - Brian Barnhart
Executive Producer - Jeffrey Resnick
“Director Randy Sharp has turned Sidney Kingsley's Depression-era relic into something still relevant, while keeping the aesthetic of an old black-and-white movie.”
—Theater Is Easy
“Dead End is...like a surreal snapshot of Depression-era Manhattan... (that) hovers slightly above reality to allow your mind to wander beyond the literal milieu...the ethereal atmosphere is heightened by (Randy) Sharp's abstractly curated cast...It's a dramatic world Sharp has built for what is already a dark story, and it's an engaging one in which to exist for an hour and twenty minutes.”
“Dead End, like others of Axis's productions, eschews traditional storytelling in favor of a more expressionistic approach. But unlike other abstract or surrealistic works you may be familiar with, the characters slowly emerge from a sea of nameless faces and types to take on an unexpected level of humanity and individuality... Randy Sharp, who directs the production, and the committed cast and crew, do an excellent job in bringing this stark play from the Depression era to a contemporary audience.”
—Talkin' Broadway
“Do You Really Know the Hooker With a Heart of Gold?”
—by Gavin Whitehead, TDF STAGES
“Axis Theatre Company gives new life to 'Dead End'”
—by Trav S.D., CHELSEA NOW
WATCH the trailer for DEAD END
