BLACKBIRD PRESENTS: BLACKBIRD's CHARLES LEO GEBHARDT IV in THE 50 GREATEST LADIES and GENTLEMEN written, produced, performed by THE MISSOULA OBLONGATA

The Missoula Oblongata
~presents~
The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen

August 15&16, 2009
8 pm

Theater Off Jackson

Tickets $15
No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

The Missoula Oblongata

Nationally acclaimed experimental theater company the Missoula Oblongata (www.themissoulaoblongata.com) presents their fourth full-scale touring production, The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen. As always, the company has created their own homemade lighting system—run from the stage by the performers, as well as an interactive set made of junk, and an original score played live by the composers-turned-actors.

The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen

The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen takes place just after the Treaty of Versailles. A veteran who is genetically predisposed to cowardice searches for his brother from whom he’s received a mysterious letter. When the veteran comes upon the town from whence the letter came, he finds that his brother (and the rest of the town) have been caught in a dance mania—a hysterical mass tarantism. With no one else around, the veteran befriends a spider—likely the one who is responsible for the tarantism, and together, they go up against the town doctor who believes that breakfast is beneath love.

Written and performed by Donna Sellinger and Madeline ffitch

Music and lyrics written and performed by Travis Sehorn and Charles Leo Gebhardt IV

Directed by Sarah Lowry.

Praise for The Missoula Oblongata:

““Twisted and beautiful…the stage is transformed into a place of magic again and again. 4.5 stars. [out of 5]” – Edmonton Sun

"The romance of vaudeville, the adrenaline of punk, and the playfulness of the Children's Television Workshop...packing the house with theatre buffs as well as with those who tend to fidget in velvet seats." --St. Louis Magazine

"A night at the theater has never looked so delightfully weird…Bizarrely frolicsome, cogently playful, sweetly surreal...Such is the genius of The Missoula Oblongata--quirky, but also exquisitely made and elegantly presented." -- The Santa Fe Reporter

"An ingenious musical playlet"-- The Knoxville Voice

“Gorgeous, poetic, funny, moving…I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.” --The Urbana News-Gazette

“Top Ten” -- 2006 Montreal Fringe Festival

“Best of the Edmonton Fringe Festival”-- See Magazine (Edmonton, AB)

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For more info about The Missoula Oblongata please visit:
www.themissoulaoblongata.com

For tour dates, visit:
www.myspace.com/themissoulaoblongata

For more information, press queries, interviews, etc. Please contact Becky Renfrow at Future Now Productions:
becky@futurenowproductions.com.