Details
Warning: this production will feature the use of strobe lights
Running time: Approximately 80 minutes, with no intermission
$5 NIGHT: February 14, 7:30 pm (Tickets on sale at 4:30 pm)
LOWELL NIGHT: February 21, 7:30 pm (Tickets on sale at 4:30 pm)
ASK THE ARTISTS POST-SHOW DISCUSSION: February 15, after the 7:30 pm show
EDUCATOR DISCOUNT DAY: February 24, 4:00 pm
MILITARY DISCOUNT DAY: February 24, 4:00 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: March 1, after the 7:30 pm show
SaveSave
SaveSaveSaveSave
SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
Creative Team
Kristen is thrilled to be making her Lowell debut as both an actor and MRT Patriot in Lost Laughs... She recently completed a year and a half on the road in the First National Tour of the Tony Award winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Off-Broadway she has performed in NEWSical The Musical, and many editions of Forbidden Broadway (including the original cast recording of FB Goes to Rehab). Regionally she has performed at Geva Theatre Center, Gateway Playhouse, Moonlight Stage, North Coast Repertory Theatre, The Theatre in Old Town (Miracle Theatre Productions), The Welk Theatre and Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre. Television: Veronica Mars (Co-Star). From 2007-2009, Kristen was the co-founder/co-producer of Ampersand Theatre Company in New York City. Kristen is a graduate of San Diego State University’s Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre program. Following graduation, Kristen taught for two years as a part-time professor with the same university. A native of Wichita, KS, she holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from Emporia State University. Love and admiration go to Aaron Muñoz and Andy Bayiates for writing this story, Aaron for being the best Roscoe to this Will, and to Nathan Keepers for helping us bring this crazy #losttruehollywood story to life. kristenmengelkoch.com
Aaron is thrilled to bring the world premiere of Lost Laughs to MRT’s stage. In addition to being an MRT Patriot, Muñoz was seen last season in 45 Plays for 45 Presidents. As an actor, favorite roles include Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Francis in One Man, Two Guvnors, Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Michal in The Pillowman, Studio Theatre, and Macduff in Macbeth, Nashville Shakespeare Festival. Other Theatres include: Geva Theatre, Northern Stage, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, About Face Theatre, First Folio Shakespeare Festival, and Nashville Children’s Theatre. As a playwright and theatre maker: 2 Households, 2 Assholes: Shakespeare’s R & J (co-creator), Soho Playhouse, Early to Rise (playwright), Actor’s Bridge. Film/TV: Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Cadillac Records, The Saurus (SXSW), Yinz. Muñoz is the founding Artistic Director of Nashville Story Garden, recently producing Love Song and the Mr. Mysterio Podcast. He is a Suzi Bass Nominee (Outstanding Lead Actor) and recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission. He holds a B.A. from Columbia College Chicago, and a M.F.A. from Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s professional actor training program. Aaron is so happy to work with such talented collaborators, especially Andy, Sean, John, Nathan, and Kristen. Love to Liz & Mabel. AaronMunoz.com
Nathan is Co-Artistic Director of The Moving Company in Minneapolis. Since 2009 MoCo has been creating original work including: Come Hell and High Water, Werther and Lotte, Out of the Pan Into the Fire, All’s Fair, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Liberty Falls 54321, Every Sentence is for the Birds, Refugia (in association with The Guthrie Theater), and most recently Speechless. Along with these productions, MoCo has held residencies at Stanford University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Iowa, University of Minnesota, and UC Davis. Nathan spent 11 seasons as a company member of Theatre de la Jeune Lune (2005 Tony Award winner). In the Twin Cities, Nathan has performed at The Guthrie, The Jungle Theater, Ten Thousand Things, Sod House Theatre, and Children’s Theatre Company. Nationally, Nathan works regularly, as an actor and director, with Actors Theatre of Louisville and has traveled to Berkeley Rep, American Repertory Theatre, The Alley Theatre, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, The Shakespeare Theatre (DC), The Folger Theatre. Nathan studied at The Burlesk Center with Pierre Byland in Switzerland, and Ecole Philippe Gaulier.
is a Chicago-based playwright and Neo-Futurist alumnus who was born in Lowell and raised next door in Billerica. He’s founding father and co-writer of 45 Plays for 45 Presidents, which has received 132 productions in theatres and schools across the country since 2002. He founded and directed the Plays for Presidents Festival in 2012, which inspired 44+ separate productions of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents across the country in the months leading up to the 2012 Presidential Election. He wrote and performed in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind in Chicago from 1998-2005. Bayiates’ A 60-Minute History of Humankind (2003) appeared on NBC reality TV show Starting Over, and was the jumping-offing point for A History of Human Stupidity, which premiered in Berkeley, California in 2010 and was previewed in American Theatre Magazine. Mr. Bayiates’ work is also published in Humana Festival 2001: The Complete Plays, 200 More Neo-Futurist Plays, and The Absolutely Worst Places to Live in America. He was the astrology columnist for Time Out Chicago Magazine (2005-2007) and wrote non-astrology for Time Out Chicago and the Southern Illinoisian newspaper. Currently, Bayiates is developing two plays: 45 Plays for America’s First Ladies with his team of co-writers, and The Curious Distraction of Mr. Lincoln’s Social Media which was recently honored with a Kennedy Center award.
Selected credits: Cute Activist (The Bushwick Starr, dir. Morgan Green); Once (Weston Playhouse, dir. Michael Berresse); Harbored (River to River Fesitval, dir. Jimmy Maize); The Temple Bombing (Alliance Theater, dir. Jimmy Maize); Peer Gynt and the Norwegian Hapa Band (Ma-Yi Theater Company, dir. Jack Tamburri); The Snowy BingBongs Across the North Star Combat Zone (film, dir. Alex Fischer and Rachel Wolther); Heartbreak (The Bushwick Starr, dir. Ariel Stess); The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go (Ma-Yi Theater Company, dir. Ralph Pena); Hamlet (Yale Repertory Theater, dir. James Bundy). Selected Associate Design: Amélie the Musical (dir. Pam MacKinnon, des. David Zinn), The Spongebob Squarepants Musical (dir. Tina Landau, des. David Zinn). Meredith is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Yale School of Drama.
MRT: Debut. Off-Broadway: Our Town (Barrow Street Theatre). Regional: Angels in America, Airness, The 39 Steps (Actors Theatre Louisville); Yeomen of the Guard (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Flick (Steppenwolf); The Sign in Disney Brustein’s Window (Goodman). Education: B.S. in Speech, Northwestern University.
Recent credits: Medea, Margherita, Risurrezione (Wexford Festival Opera), La bohème (Opera di Firenze); Star Wars en Concert (Orchestre National de Lyon); Don Giovanni, The Importance of Being Earnest (Northern Ireland Opera), world premiere of 4.48 Psychosis (Royal Opera House – Lyric Hammersmith); Norma (Gran Teatre del Liceu); Don Giovanni (Bergen Nasjonale Opera); L’heure espagnole, Gianni Schicchi, Candide, The Importance of Being Earnest (Opéra National de Lorraine); Silent Night, Don Bucefalo, Salomé (Wexford Festival Opera); La Favorite (Oper Graz); L’Enfant et les sortileges (The Bolshoi); Il trittico (Royal Opera House – Convent Garden); Le nozze di Figaro, La bohème (Boston Lyric Opera); Maria Stuarda (Seattle Opera); Anna Bolena (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Euryanthe (Bard Summerscape); Kansas City Choir Boy (New York, Boston, L.A., Miami) and El Chico de Oz (Teatro Municipal – Lima, Preu). Ms. Wood’s work in theatre includes designs for Young Vic, American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF), Primary Stages (NYC), NYSF – The Public Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Children’s Theatre Company – Minneapolis, Baltimore CenterStage, Trinity Repertory Company, and Philadelphia Theatre Company. Ms. Wood received the U.K.’s 2012 Knight of Illumination Award for her design of Suor Angelica (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden). Upcoming designs: 4.48 Psychosis (Royal Opera House – Lyric Hammersmith), Medea, L’eliser d’amore (Opera Omaha), and Mamzer Bastard (Royal Opera House – Hackney Empire).
Stowe is a Sound Designer based in New York. MRT: 45 Plays for 45 Presidents, Tinker to Evers to Chance. New York: queens, The Wolves (Lincoln Center); Miles for Mary, Samuel & Alasdair (Drama Desk nomination; The Mad Ones); Small Mouth Sounds (Lucille Lortel Nomination; Ars Nova); Animal Wisdom (Bushwick Starr); The Skin of Our Teeth (TFANA); Indian Summer (Playwrights Horizons); The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, The Wayside Motor Inn (Signature); Buyer & Cellar (Barrow Street). Regional: The Roommate (Williamstown); What Would Crazy Horse Do? (Kansas City Rep); Cry it Out, I Now Pronounce, The 39 Steps (Actors Theatre of Louisville). www.wingspace.com/stowe
Photos
"Lost Laughs" Photos
Written by Andy Bayiates and Aaron Muñoz
Directed by Nathan Keepers
Press wishing to download high-res photos can do so from our Flickr collection.
Video
Reviews
THE REVERE JOURNAL: 'Lost Laughs...' a candid glimpse into Hollywood's Silent Film Gilded Era
MERRIMACK VALLEY MAGAZINE: A Tragic Spin on the Rise and Fall of the World’s Most Famous Comedian
ARTS FUSE: 'Lost Laughs' — The Rise and Fall of a Silent Star
BROADWAY WORLD: Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle Brings Laughter and Sorrow to Merrimack Rep
LOWELL SUN: 'Lost Laughs' one of MRT's best shows in years
INDEPENDENT REVIEWERS OF NEW ENGLAND: Boston & Beyond's Susan Mulford's reviews MRT's 'Lost Laughs'
LOWELL SUN BLOG - NANCYE TUTTLE: MRT shares Fatty Arbuckle’s story in ‘Lost Laughs’
PRESS RELEASE: LOST LAUGHS: THE SLAPSTICK TRAGEDY OF FATTY ARBUCKLE PREMIERES AT MRT