By Patrick Nash
Directed by Jesse R. Tendler
With Karen Genaro Dosanjh, Clara Francesca, Jud Meyers, Jesse R. Tendler, and Tommy Vance
Funny Guy is a twisted exploration of the fragile underpinnings of love, friendship, and ambition. As two young couples chase relevance and meaning, a towering neon marionette stalks the stage challenging them to confront their own identities, desires, and motives. Funny Guy, by Patrick Nash, directly challenges us to question our most intimate relationships and understanding of ourselves.
Please note this production contains strong language, drug use, and scenes of a sexual nature
Part of 59E59 Theaters' East to Edinburgh 2024
Patrick Nash (Playwright) is an artist, writer, musician, and neon guy living in New York. He studied Film and Media with Tony Conrad at SUNY Buffalo, graduating in 1982. He began making kinetic and electric sculpture in the New York’s East Village in the 1980s for performance art and music concerts. In addition to Funny Guy, he has written and produced four musicals: Hellfire Club, Oh No! My Leg!, Burisma Affair, and Beulah Land. His most recent interactive performance On and On was presented CC122 art space in New York’s Lower East Side in July of 2023, along with an immersive neon installation called “Vomitorium.” More information is available at www.patricknashtheatrical.com
Jesse R. Tendler (Director/Actor) Spanning 4 decades, Jesse’s credits include: Theater - 2-Faces (EdFringe 2023), Hamlet, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party. TV/Film: The Ellen Burstyn Show (series regular), The Thorns (series regular), The Secret (Youth in Film Awards nomination: Best Child Actor), Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Law & Order, Leaving Circadia, The Unborn, Frankie, etc. 100+ national network TV commercials (Clio Award Winner: Best Child Actor), radio spots, and video games (Bully, Grand Theft Auto, etc.). As creative director and co-founder of Intimation Productions, Jesse directs and produces a diverse range of projects, including short & feature length narrative fiction films, theater, episodic projects, music videos, commercials, documentaries, and educational content. Past films have won awards at a multitude of film festivals, including being selected for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for the 2016 Oscars. Jesse is programming director for the Climate Film Festival, director of episodic programming for the Lighthouse Int’l Film Festival, a TV pilot screener for SXSW (since 2018), a freelance script doctor, an acting coach, a professional photographer & videographer, and an avid ping pong player.
Clara Francesca (Actor) An alumnus of Anne Bogart’s SITI Company’s Inaugural Conservatory, Clara’s work ranges from traditional acting to poetic immersive avant-garde. Theatrical works include: The Brick Theater (Macbeth, Three Sisters), Medicine Show Theater (Uncle Vanya), Nyack Live Arts The Phoenix Theatre (Skin of Our Teeth, Wind In The Willows), Theatre For The New City (Freedom Summer), NYC’s Hayden Planetarium (MarsBand), La Mama (The Well), Malthouse (Tunnel Rat), Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Manifesting Mrs Marx), and Firenze Cinema la Compagnia (Speaking Dante: The Divine Comedy in 24 hours). Clara's selected television credits include: FBI (CBS) opposite Jeremy Sisto, and New Amsterdam (NBC) opposite Ryan Eggold. Film credits include supporting roles playing Lance Henriksen’s daughter in Reklaw, as well as co-starring in award-winning Johnny Ghost. www.clarafrancesca.com
Jud Meyers (Actor) British National Theatre Award for Romeo & Juliet at the Royal Exchange Theatre (w/ Michael Sheen), UK Evening News Award for the British premiere of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues. World premiere of Sonya (w/ Julie Harris) and Comedians at NY’s Phoenix Theatre, world premiere of Himself (w/ Timothy West) at the Theatre Royal UK (and tour), Shimmer, a one-person show at the Irish Repertory Theatre and LA transfer (directed by Tony Award winner David Elliott), The Entertainer (Long Wharf), Missing Marissa (JP Shanley - NY premiere), world premiere of Furious (National Theatre Alliance - The Araca Group), Cocoon (Gene Frankel Theatre - premiere). TV/Film: The Blacklist, Law & Order, First Years (NBC), Atonement (BBC), Candyman, Night Games.
Karen Genaro Dosanjh (Actor) recently played Mrs.Voinitsky in Uncle Vanya (Shapiro Theater, dir. Marina Montesanti), Mother in Root Rot, (Lensfest Theater), Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (GAAR/The Mirror Theater), Linda in Alle Mim’s play Pink (Shapiro Theater) as well as Irina in The Seagull, Lubov in The Cherry Orchard and Ariel in The Tempest. She co-starred in the film The Gingerbread Kids which has its NYC premiere this August and recently completed filming the comedy short Interesting Americans with Chloe Troast and Richard Perez. She is thrilled and honored to be working with the brilliant cast of Funny Guy.
Tommy Vance (Actor) was most recently seen as Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol. Some of his favorite roles have been Joseph Breen in Come Up and See Me, Jerry Cohan in George M, and Don Kerr in A Chorus Line.