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CAST & CREATIVE

David Carl, Philip Cruise, and Christopher Lee in FAT CAT KILLERS by Adam Szymkowicz

From left to right: David Carl*, Philip Cruise*, Christopher Lee* - photo by Scott Fetterman

CAST

David Carl* - MICHAEL

David Carl

David Carl is an actor/writer/impressionist/solo-performer, known for solo shows like Gary Busey's One-Man Hamlet (As Performed by David Carl) and Trump Lear: two shows that he has taken to Edinburgh Fringe (Underbelly Cowgate and Pleasance Courtyard) and all over the United States including Chicago Shakespeare Theater with Michole Biancosino (frequent director/collaborator and all the time friend).


The New York Times called his Busey Hamlet a "deliciously deranged...head-spinning performance" and his Trump Lear "quite damning" and "a biting satire".

He also co-created the fictional dark musical comedy David and Katie Get Re-Married with his real wife Katie Hartman, which received two awards at NYC Frigid Fest 2019.

Other NYC stage credits include: The Truth About Santa by Greg Kotis, The Awesome 80s Prom, Point Break LIVE! (playing Angelo Pappas aka Gary Busey), Things that Don't Happen by Lia Romeo (Project Y), 3 seasons on Maude and Betty Night at UCBNY, "The Horton Foote Project" (Slant Theatre), and "The Tempest" with Resounding Live. 

 

TV/Flim Credits include: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Tender Bar, Zero Day, And Just Like That, Tires, Divorce, Mr. Robot, Blue Bloods, Debate Wars, The Big Fib, Guiding Light and All My Children.

David's Website

Philip Cruise* - DAVE

Philip Cruise

Philip Cruise is thrilled to be working with the amazing cast and crew of FAT CAT KILLERS. Theatre: THE SEX WRITER (Thin Duke Productions), THE WAR OF WOO (TDP), FINAL BOARDING CALL (Ma-Yi), PLAYDATE (7 Days Prior), THE LAST BAR AT THE END OF THE WORLD (TDP), REFUSE (Gemini Collisionworks) HARAKIRI KANE (GCW), LET TRUMP BE TRUMP (Making It Happen Productions) and ABORTION: A RACE REDUX (MIH). Film: THE FOX SISTERS (Cineteca Films Summer 2025), THE COUCH, THE FAILURE, PRELUDE TO THE WAR OF WOO, and the upcoming short BIGBY’S DEAD BUNNY. Philip was a staff writer and Voice Artist on the GCW Sci-Fi Podcast LIFE WITH ALTHAAR for three seasons. Directorial credits include TWELFTH NIGHT (or WHAT YOU WILL), KING GEORGE II, THREE DRINKS, BRIGHT DAY, 7 BLOWJOBS, THE LAST BAR AT THE END OF THE WORLD, THE WAR OF WOO, and most recently, the world premiere of Adam Szymkowitz’s THE SEX WRITER. Proud member of Actors Equity Association. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Bernadette and daughter Catherine. 

Christopher Lee* - STEVE

Christopher Lee

Chris is an actor and writer whose training began at North Carolina School of the Arts, continued with extensive classically based studies at Oxford University (Baliol College), and concluded with a Bachelor’s in Theater from Loyola University New Orleans. He has performed in dozens of shows in NYC with multiple appearances at Ensemble Studio Theatre as well as a national tour and studied Improv at UCB. Recent Shows: The "Audience Choice Award" winning sold out run of Clown Bar 2, the world premier of The Sex Writer - both written by ADAM SZYMKOWICZ , DEAN HASPIEL'S The War of Woo, and MARK JASON WILLIAMS' Straight Faced Lies directed by Andrew Block. Television: recurring roles on One Life to Live, All My Children, and As the World Turns. Recent New Media: Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rock* Games), Life with Althaar (Gemini Collisionworks, Apple Podcasts), and Where Does the Light Go? (SparkPlug Productions #wdtlg, Spotify & Apple Podcasts). Upcoming: Steve Space in The Adventures of Steve Space and His Athletic Stratos Commanders. He would like to thank Bex, Fidget & Boo for their support.

Christopher's Website

*Actors appear courtesy of AEA. An approved Equity Showcase

CREATIVE

Andrew Block - Director

Andrew Block - Director

Andrew Block received the Ovation and L.A.Drama Critics Circle awards for Best Director & Production for the world premiere of John Pollono’s Small Engine Repair. Delighted to be working with playwright Adam Szymkowicz and SparkPlug after last season’s NYC Fringe hit Clown Bar 2 (Audience Choice, Most Fringe awards). Selected credits include: Kelley Nicole Girod’s This Stretch of Montpelier & Body of Water (The Fire This Time); Mark Jason Williams’ Straight Faced Lies & The Other Day (Theatre at 14th St Y); John Pollono's Lost and Found (FringeNYC Encore, Lucille Lortel Theatre); David Caudle’s Downward Facing Debbie (World premiere, Paradise Factory); Sondheim's Company (Gallery Players); Why Bother? (Best Director, Planet Connections Festivity); Adam Rapp’s Bingo With the Indians (GLAAD award nomination for Outstanding Theatre, West-coast premiere); Illuminati (Best Director, Network OAF); Bedroom Farce (FAPC); Reach (Ivy Theatre Company);  Avenue Q (Manhattan College); Inherit the Wind (Manhattan College); Rumors (AADA); The Shape of Things (Adelphi University); Recovery (FringeNYC); Andrew also serves as TDF's liaison and representative to NYC's vibrant Off and Off-Off Broadway community. 

Tony Lepore - Stage Manager, Sound Design

Tony Lepore has been involved in theatre for over 25 years as a producer, composer, stage manager, lighting designer, sound designer, and playwright in cities across the US, UK, Canada, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. Films he scored the music to have won awards in film festivals internationally.  You can find him playing jazz drums in clubs around town.  TonyLepore.com

Scott Fetterman - Production Designer

Scott Fetterman is a multimedia designer, video producer, technician, and performer; he currently holds the position of Lead Audiovisual Technician at BAM Fisher in Brooklyn, NY and is a proud member of IATSE Local 4. A product of NYC’s downtown experimental scene, Scott got his start working with Temporary Distortion from 2011-2017 in several capacities; most notably as Video Designer, Assistant Installation Designer, and Musician for the 6-hour-long installation-based performance My Voice Has An Echo In It, which toured within the US and France. Other key collaborations include Oscar-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox (The Truth Has Changed, Staying Home, and The Edge of Nature), One Year Lease Theater Company (Pool No Water and Skin Tight), and director Andrew Block (too many to list).

Rebekkah Ross - Production Manager

Rebekkah Ross is a co-founder and co-Artistic Director of SparkPlug Productions. She is an actor-narrator-author-producer and soon to be woman-behind-the-puppet in The Willy & Fidget Super Funtime Show. Additional upcoming projects include a new podcast from the mind of Christopher Rozzi, and a series of picture books. She has recently completed her first middle grade novel Betty Lou and the Howl of the Rougarou and can't wait for you to read it. www.rebekkahross.com

Adam Szymkowicz - Playwright

Adam Szymkowicz’s plays have been produced throughout the U.S., and in Canada, England, Wales, The Isle of Man, Ireland, Scotland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, Sweden, Austria, Slovenia, Malaysia and Lithuania.   His work has been presented or developed at such places as Portland Center Stage, MCC Theater, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, LAByrinth Theater Company, The Lark, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Primary Stages and The New Group, among others. Published plays include Deflowering Waldo, Pretty Theft, Food For Fish, Hearts Like Fists, Hearts Like Planets, Incendiary, The Why Overhead, Adventures of Super Margaret, 7 Ways To Say I Love You, Rare Birds, Marian Or The True Tale of Robin Hood, Marian Or The True Tale of Robin Hood The Musical, Kodachrome, Clown Bar, Clown Bar 2, Clown Bar Christmas, Mercy, The Bookstore, Old Fashioned Cold Fusion, The Parking Lot, The Night Children, The Wooden Heart, Stockholm Syndrome, When Jack Met Jill, Heart of Snow, Christmas Tree Farm, 100 Things I Never Said To You, 100 Love Letters I Never Sent and Nerve.  His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, Concord/Samuel French, Playscripts, Broadway Play Publishing, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Stage Partners and Original Works Publishing, and are featured in numerous Smith and Kraus and Applause books.  His monologue book, Small Explosions came out from Applause in early 2023.  His book on playwriting, Letters to a Young Playwright comes out from Applause in fall of 2024. He was the premiere Resident Playwright at The Chance Theater in Anaheim, CA and the first playwright to participate in Bloomington Playwrights Projects’ Square One Series.  He has been to The Orchard Project, Green Gulch, Theatre4ThePeople’s the Barn and to JAW at Portland Center Stage, served twice as Playwright in Residence at the William Inge Center, and twice as a Dramatists Guild Fund’s Traveling Masters.  Szymkowicz received two grants from the CT Commission on Culture & Tourism, and has been commissioned by South Coast Rep, Rising Phoenix Rep, Texas State University, The NOLA Project, Single Carrot Theater, Majestic Rep, The Chance Theater, Concord Theatricals/The Educational Theatre Association and Flux Theater Ensemble. Adam received a Playwright’s Diploma from The Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program and an MFA from Columbia University where he was the Dean’s Fellow. Szymkowicz is a two-time Lecomte du Nouy Prize winner, a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writer’s Guild of America, and was a member of Primary Stages’ Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer’s Group, the MCC Playwright’s Coalition and of the very first Ars Nova Play Group.  He has interviewed over 1100 playwrights on his blog.

SparkPlug Productions

SPARKPLUG PRODUCTIONS was founded by Christopher Lee and Rebekkah Ross, Artistic Directors, to create performance opportunities for artists we believe in. Our goal is to produce new works utilizing multimedia and to bring artists from different disciplines together. This cross-pollination of artistic processes creates a cooperative spirit among artists and fosters collaboration. By working together, we hope to develop a platform that allows us to break through boundaries and conventions to create new multimedia works as well as a vibrant community of artists. SparkPlug is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization and donations are tax-deductible. www.sparkplugproductions.com, IG: @splugnyc

Thin Duke Productions

THIN DUKE PRODUCTIONS was founded in 2003 by Philip Cruise, Artistic Director, with the goal of bringing both classical and original works to the New York City stage for an affordable price that are accessible to all. The mission has always been to showcase performers who struggle for a seat at the table due to such classic roadblocks as lack of representation, momentum, or money. Thin Duke and SparkPlug Productions have been producing original works as Thin Duke/SparkPlug Productions since the 2018 world premiere of Dean Haspiel’s THE LAST BAR AT THE END OF THE WORLD.

© 2025 by SPARKPLUG PRODUCTIONS
 

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