"The Penis Responds!" by Oscar winning writer Ernest Thompson July 22, 2006

Bresette Theatre Productions announces the Boston premiere of "The Penis Responds!" by Oscar winning writer Ernest Thompson; directed by Lowell Williams. July 22 through August 5, with a special reception for the playwright following the Sun., July 23, performance. Show times: Wed., Thurs., & Sun. at 7:30 pm; Fri. & Sat. at 8 pm; and Sat. matinees at 4 pm. At the Plaza Black Box Theater at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, South End, Boston. Convenient to the Orange and Silver Lines; wheelchair access provided. Tickets: $15, or pay what you can. For advance tickets and information about the show, contact: BostonTheatreScene.com Box Office at 617-933-8600, www.BostonTheatreScene.com; other advance ticket outlets: the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston or at the BU Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston.

First there was the “Vagina Monologues”, praised as the ultimate girl’s night out. Now Oscar, Golden Globe, and Emmy award-winning playwright Ernest Thompson has countered with a work of phallic proportions.

The New England premiere of Thompson’s "The Penis Responds" launches Bresette Theatre Productions 2006 touring season. BT Productions is not only staging this production to champion Thompson’s new work. They are also honoring the author, who has a home-base in New Hampshire and has been serving as a mentor for this new theater company. Thompson has long been known as being open to the creative input of others and this current collaboration with BT Productions has proven to be a mutually rewarding experience.

Just completing runs at The West Studio Theatre in Portsmouth, NH and the Portland Stage Company in Portland, ME, the 90 minute "The Penis Responds" now takes up an impromptu intimate residency in Boston, providing a tour de force for two actors who play twenty-four characters in twelve scenes focused on 1 subject. Actors Josh Bresette and Billy Butler comprise the two-man cast, portraying a wide array of women, men, children, and aging queens. In turn, the audience will react with laughter, weeping, and squirming in their seats.

Background information on the primary participants:

Bresette Theatre Productions is a new theater company with a unique mission — to bring theater to the masses with an always "pay what you can" admission policy, based on the idea that quality live theater should be for everyone. Founder Josh Bresette had the dream of starting a non-profit theatre company, which would not only offer high-quality drama and comedies, but also bring "something different" to the live theater experience. "I have had this in mind for a while, and performer Billy Butler was the perfect person to help me kick it off. He is a theatrical force," says Bresette. For more information, go to www.BTProductions.org.

Josh Bresette (Producer/Actor) is a double threat theater practitioner, being adept at both producing and acting. He has studied both “method” and “meisner” acting technique in NYC where his first off-off Broadway performance was in “American Heiroglyphics” written by Larry Myers and performed at the Theater for the New City. Bresette has been a member of the Blue Sphere Alliance Theater Company in Los Angeles and is currently a participant in the 3 year Owner/President Program at Harvard Business School. He is President of Bresette + Company, a marketing and consulting firm based in Portsmouth NH, and the Founder/Managing Director of Bresette Theatre Productions.

Billy Butler (AEA Actor) has been honing his craft in the backwoods of New Hampshire and while most people say he is naturally funny others say looks are not everything. Most recently he played Marty in “The House of Yes” and has performed all over the country in almost every capacity in the industry. He once ran away with the 131st Edition of Ringling Brother's Circus but then ran away from them to settle back in NH to help mold young minds at Portsmouth High School. He is a member of the New Hampshire Educational Theatre Guild where his one act “Weapons of Mass Construction” premiered at their one act festival. Butler also performs with the comedy troupe “Rebels Without Applauze” at Improv Boston and plays guitar for the rock band The Imps.

Ernest Thompson (Playwright/Mentor) took the adage “write what you know'” and found the challenge of creating “The Penis Responds” both big and hard. “The Penis Responds” premiered Off-Off-Broadway with Thompson co-starring and directing. His other plays, which his mother finds easier to talk about, include “On Golden Pond” (Tony nominated last year for Best Revival, starring James Earl Jones), “The West Side Waltz” (with Katharine Hepburn), “A Sense of Humor” (with Jack Lemmon), “The One About the Guy in the Bar,” “Murdering Mother,” “Amazons in August” (playing Boston next season), “White People Christmas,” “Another Summer” (the “On Golden Pond” musical version), and the short play collections “Answers and Valentines for Two” and “American Terrorist” (for this year's Boston Theatre Marathon). Films include “On Golden Pond” (Academy Award, Golden Globe, starring Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda), “Sweet Hearts Dance” (with Susan Sarandon and Jeff Daniels), “1969” (with Robert Downey Jr. and Winona Ryder), “The Lies Boys Tell” (with Kirk Douglas), “The West Side Waltz” (with Shirley MacLaine and Liza Minnelli), “Out of Time,” and “The Live On Golden Pond” (with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer). Thompson is currently in preproduction for the Providence, RI shoot of “The Love Line”, in which he co-stars with Boston based actress Pamela Lambert. For more information, log onto www.ernestthompson.net.

Lowell Williams (Director), a well-known local actor and playwright, was a founding member of KISTheater, where nine of his one-act plays were produced in their annual Theatre-By-The-Pool play festival. Other writing credits include the screenplay “All That is Love & Laughter” (finalist in the Chesterfield Film Project, 2001), “Feeding the Ducks” (2002 AACT Drama Festival winner), writer for the NH Theatre Awards, and “The Warmth of the Cold” (winner of the Best Original Play at the NH Theatre Awards for Yellow Taxi Productions in April 2005). Directing credits include “Picasso at the Lapine Agile” for the Nashua Theatre Guild in 2003 and “Tape for Yellow Taxi” in 2004. Williams holds an MFA from Goddard College and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) is an urban cultural village, incubating and showcasing the performing and visual arts and artists of our time. Occupying a city block in Boston's historic South End, the BCA provides a creative home for artists, a welcoming destination for audiences, and an arts connection for youth and community. For more information, visit www.bcaonline.org.

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