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My Favorite Animal is an outrageous and refreshing romantic comedy by newcomer Tom Sime.  The Modern Stage and Joe and Sandi Black are presenting a three-week engagement of the work Nov. 12-30 at The 45th Street Theatre in New York City.  The drawing-room comedy, which just completed its run in Texas, brings together star-crossed, zany characters, trying to get uncrossed.

Randi (Catherine DuBord), a vivacious girl with an incredible secret, shows up unexpectedly at psychotherapist Jerry’s (Matt Lyle) office.  While he figures if he’s dealing with a prank, a psychotic or something else, she proves to have attracted a much more dangerous problem.  The cast includes Sylvia Luedtke, Nicholas Venceil and Ben Mayer, all swept into the trouble.

– Lawson Taitte of the Dallas Morning News says, “Apparently being a theatre critic is good training for writing verbally rich, ebullient comedy.  The twists and turns of the plot, and the characters’ quips, are often explosively comical.  Thanks to director Phyllis Cicero, the actors stay well-grounded even in the most far-fetched moments.”
[Ms. Cicero is also Stella the Storyteller on Barney and Friends.]

– Mark-Brian Sonna of PegasusNews.Com says, “Delightful. A potent cocktail of laughs.”

– Martha Heimberg of Turtle Creek News calls My Favorite Animal, “A touching and original love story [that] wraps gender change, role-playing and even the mystical notion of shape-shifting.”

– “Tom is prolific, won some awards, a recovering theatre critic,” Mr. Black says. “It’s adult comedy for straights, straight comedy for gays; fun for most everyone.”

Performance times:  My Favorite Animal runs Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, Sundays at 2 PM. The play runs Nov. 12-30, 2008. Talk-Back sessions are scheduled the first two Thursdays and Sundays with the playwright, director and cast.  Tickets, $35 general admission, $29.50 for both seniors (60+) and young adults (18-30), are available online at www.tix.com, by phone (800) 595-4849 and at the door. 45th Street Theatre is 354 West 45th St., between 8th and 9th Avenues.

For more press information and reviewer tickets, please contact Lisa Taylor of Taylor-Made Press, (214) 943-1099, lisatmp@swbell.net, or Tom at (212) 659-0571, tomsime@verizon.net.

www.themodernstage.com