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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE

“MESSY WHITE GAYS”
BY DREW DROEGE
ANNOUNCES CAST
AND BEGINS POWERHOUSE THEATER
WORKSHOP AT VASSAR COLLEGE

MESSY WHITE GAYS KEY ART AVAILABLE HERE
HEADSHOTS AVAILABLE HERE

New York, NY (July 9, 2024) – Messy White Gays, the new play written by and starring Drew Droege, has announced the cast for its workshop at the 38th Powerhouse Theater Season at Vassar College, which starts rehearsals today.

Directed by Mike Donahue, Messy White Gays will star Drew Droege, Nico Greetham (“American Horror Story”), Aaron Jackson (Dicks: The Musical), Jeffery Self (“Search Party”), and Pete Zias (The Groundlings).

The workshop will culminate in three public presentations of the play July 19th and 20th at 8pm, and July 21st at 2pm, at the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College (124 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY).

Tickets for Messy White Gays are on-sale now. All tickets are $30 and will be found at https://www.vassar.edu/powerhouse/season or at the Powerhouse Box Office. Box office hours are Thursday-Sunday, 2:00PM – 6:00PM.

Messy White Gays is produced by The Fabulous Invalid with casting by Ryan Bernard Tymensky of RBT Casting. Michal V. Mendelson serves as the Production Stage Manager and Mary Garrigan as the Assistant Stage Manager. Joey Monda of Sing Out, Louise! Productions is the General Manager.

Sunday morning. Hell’s Kitchen. Brecken and Caden have just murdered their throuple-mate and stuffed him into a Jonathan Adler credenza. Unfortunately,

they’ve invited friends over for brunch. Feel bad for them! They’re MESSY WHITE GAYS!

BIOGRAPHIES

Drew Droege (Playwright/Karl) has appeared Off-Broadway in Titanique and his solo shows, Happy Birthday Doug and Bright Colors And Bold Patterns, for which he received Outstanding Performance at OutFest film festival (both shows streaming on Broadway HD). He’s best known for his Chloe Sevigny parody videos (featured in Entertainment Weekly, The Advocate, Time Out New York, Out magazine’s Out 100, a Marc Jacobs campaign, and HBO’s doc Wig) and performs regularly in Los Angeles with The Groundlings, “The Golden Girlz Live”, and Charles Busch’s Die Mommie Die! at Celebration Theatre/ Kirk Douglas Theatre and Psycho Beach Party at Matrix Theatre. He has written for Netflix’s “AJ And The Queen” and “Big Mouth”. His recent film/tv credits include “Bob’s Burgers”, “Search Party”, “The Goldbergs”, Fool’s Paradise, Me Time, Poolman, “The Great North”, “Your Honor”, “Drunk History”, “Heathers”, and Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming film Queer.

Aaron Jackson (Caden) is the star, writer and executive producer of A24’s first musical feature, Dicks: The Musical, alongside collaborator Josh Sharp. The film was directed by Larry Charles and stars Jackson, Sharp, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally, Bowen Yang and Megan Thee Stallion. It was adapted from Jackson & Sharp and Karl St. Lucie’s long-running off-off-Broadway production, F@cking Identical Twins. Previously, Aaron was correspondent on Comedy Central’s late night series, “The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper”. Aaron’s debut novel, The Astonishing Life of August March, was recently published by HarperCollins.

Nico Greetham (Addison). First generation Colombian-Scottish American. Theatre: Disney’s Newsies (Broadway), One of The Good Ones (Pasadena Playhouse). Television includes: “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Love, Victor,” and Ryan Murphy’s anthology series “American Horror Story” (Season 10) and “American Horror Stories” (Seasons 1 and 2). Film includes: Netflix’s The Prom, Dinner in America, and Dramarama. Thanks to all those involved in this production, his family, and his team. @nicogreetham

Jeffery Self (Brecken) A hilarious multihyphenate, Jeffery recently filmed a supporting lead role in the Blumhouse thriller DROP, alongside Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar. In 2023, he recurred on the Amazon series “The Horror of Dolores Roach”. Best known for his multi-season recurring role on the hit HBO Max series “Search Party”, Jeffery also played supporting roles in the Focus Features drama Spoiler Alert, directed by Michael Showalter and starring Jim Parsons, as well as Mack & Rita. He is the author of “Straight People: A Spotter’s Guide to the Fascinating World of Heterosexuals”, “50 Shades of Gay”, “Drag Teen”, and “A Very, Very Bad Thing.”

Pete Zias (Thacker) is an alum of and regular performer of The Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles. He performed his solo show, The Teddy Teddy Show, at the NYC International and Hollywood Fringe Festival. Pete appears in the popular web series “Dumpster Oueens”. He hosts “Total Trash Live!” where he reads from his extensive tabloid collection. His web series “Friday Night with Crystal” and “I Remember You” can be viewed on his YouTube channel “The Pete Zias Show.” Pete has appeared on OUT TV’S “Dr. Jackie” and his film credits include Grandmother’s Gold, The Never List, Cock N’ Bull 3, Pig Hag, and the upcoming feature film thriller, Ganymede!. Pete has performed at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, The Hollywood Improv, The Comedy Store, and Gotham Comedy Club NYC. He studied Theatre at Marymount Manhattan College.

Mike Donahue (Director) select credits include: the LA premiere of Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance (Geffen Playhouse); Little Shop of Horrors with MJ Rodriguez, George Salazar and Amber Riley (Pasadena Playhouse); and the world premieres of Matthew Lopez’s The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC, The Geffen, Denver Center), Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage (MCC, Woolly Mammoth), Ana Nogueira’s Which Way To The Stage (MCC), Jordan Seavey’s Homos (Labyrinth), and Highway Patrol (The Goodman), which he co-created with Dana Delany, Dane Laffrey and Jen Silverman. Mike’s award-winning OSCAR qualifying debut short film, Troy, premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and has gone on to screen at another 70 festivals internationally, including the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It has won numerous awards, including the Jury Award for Best Comedy at Aspen Shortfest 2023, the Audience Award for Best Narrative Short at Outfest 2022, the Vimeo ‘Unofficial Award’ for Best US Narrative Short at Sundance and Vimeo Staff Pick Best of 2023. Troy is featured online in The New Yorker’s Screening Room. Mike and writer Jen Silverman are currently working on their first feature, with Pacific Electric producing.

ABOUT THE POWERHOUSE THEATER AT VASSAR COLLEGE

The 38^th Powerhouse Theater Season at Vassar College features a slate of musical and play workshops, readings, and performances. Upcoming includes: Plays: Messy White Gays (July 19-21); Musicals: Absolute Zero (July 12-14) and Shanghai Sonatas (July 26-28); Training Company: Twelfth Night (July 12-14), The Taming of the Shrew (July 19-21), We are Gathered Together (July 11,18, 25), Marathon (July 21-22), and New Works Play Festival (July 27); and Special event: Performing Art (July 14).  Previous productions that have already been presented

in the 38th Powerhouse Season include: A Simple Herstory, This Place Is Definitely Haunted, Extinction, Holes in the Shape of My Father, Possessed (or, “the Crazy African Girl” play), Ping Pong Play and 3 Graces.

Now in its 38th season, Powerhouse Theater (Ed Cheetham, Michael Sheehan, Producing Directors) is dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works. For five weeks every summer, the Powerhouse Theater Program comes to life on the Vassar College campus to provide a nurturing environment in which passionate theater lovers from students to professional practitioners and audience members learn from one another. The Powerhouse Theater Training Program provides aspiring theater professionals a chance to immerse themselves in acting, directing, and playwriting. The program’s Training Company also offers free performances throughout the season. Established as a joint endeavor with New York Stage and Film, Vassar College continues to produce The Powerhouse Season, alongside new partnerships with theater institutions and individual artists. Together with our adventurous partners, students, and dedicated audiences, we create a crucial community—one that gives time, space, and voice to artists of the American theater.

Recent projects that have premiered in New York City developed by Powerhouse include: The Notebook (Broadway), The Connector (MCC Theatre), Luna and the Starbodies (Lincoln Center), Sweet Chariot (The Public), Sanctuary City (New York Theatre Workshop), Diana (Broadway), Head Over Heels (Broadway) The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic Theatre Company), The Great Leap (Atlantic Theatre Company), Alice by Heart (MCC Theatre), A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (St. Ann’s Warehouse) and The Wolves (Broadway–Lincoln Center Theater). Other projects developed at the Powerhouse include the Tony Award-winning Side Man and Tru; the multi-award-winning Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; the groundbreaking Broadway musical Hamilton; and Stephen Karam’s The Humans.

Vassar College, founded in 1861, is a highly selective, residential, coeducational liberal arts college. Consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the country, Vassar is renowned for pioneering achievements in education, for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the beauty of its campus.

ABOUT THE FABULOUS INVALID

The Fabulous Invalid is a theatrical production company founded in 2018 by Jamie DuMont and Rob Russo with the mission to illuminate untold stories and fascinating personalities on air and on stage with a reverence for the past, a bold outlook for the future, and a dash of panache. The company takes its name from the title of a 1938 backstage play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart that has since become a loving nickname for Broadway itself — always deemed on the verge of decline, yet always bouncing back: the fabulous invalid! Projects to date include The Wiz and Bob Fosseʼs Dancinʼ on Broadway, Call Fosse at the Minskoff, Broadway Barbara Live! Off-Broadway, and Messy White Gays, in addition to four podcasts for the Broadway Podcast Network, and several additional projects in development.

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