Coming Soon
AFTER THE WALL

Written and directed by Melba LaRose

A project about walls around the globe and throughout time - why we build them, how we've lived with them (or not), what we dream will happen when they fall, and what really happens.

Festivals
Festival founder Melba LaRose and
Supervising Director Tony Spinosa
Interview on NBC

NEW YORK MAGAZINE

Critics' Pick: International CringeFest ’10

If you love theater, you sometimes love awful theater. That could be the motto of the International CringeFest, the irreverent series trafficking in supremely bad taste and over-the-top political incorrectness. This year’s installment includes nearly three dozen new one-acts, all organized around six tawdry themes that include “Psycho Bitch Party” and “Dow Jones Meets Deep Throat.” Agony never sounded like so much fun.

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YOUTUBE

See clips from previous International CringeFests!


In 2005, the International CringeFest premiered as the Bad Plays Festival, followed the next year by the Bad Musicals Festival. With a sprinkling of bad films, it has been roaring ever since. The International CringeFest has garnered great reviews, visibility in the industry, and celebrity attention. A festival of truly GOOD plays that are cutting-edge, politically incorrect and satirical, irreverent, and somewhat naughty, it aims to make us have a good laugh at ourselves. The festival has performed at Downeast Art Center, the Player's Theater, and the Producer's Club. This event provides exposure for more than 300 artists annually, including playwrights, composers, lyricists, directors, musical directors, choreographers, designers, filmmakers, and performers. The festival is supported by the Dramatist Guild Fund and individual donors. Proceeds from the festival go to support the company's dedicated outreach efforts.

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BROADWAYWORLD

International CringeFest '10 Announces Fruit Cup Awards


At the wind-up of International CringeFest '10 on August 8 at the Producers' Club, the FRUIT CUP AWARDS were bestowed upon a cocktail of wildly diverse plays, musicals & films -- 36 in all that formed six rotating theme nights. Winners were chosen by audience vote after each and every performance, so this is very much a community affair... a community that loves to push the envelope in every direction possible!

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NITE LIFE EXCHANGE

Nothing To Cringe About: "Rockin' Roles" RULES!


Aside from their flawless presentation of the yearly Golden Pineapple Awards for excellence in theatre (an annual event in which this season's recipients included playwrights Charles Busch, Israel Horovitz and Doric Wilson, and Back Stage editor-at-large Sherry Eaker), the International CringeFest (also known as the ICF) takes place at the Producer's Club on 44th Street, and in every way possible comes up swinging mightily against all of the other Off-Off-Broadway gatherings of the same type every summer, namely the Fresh Fruit Festival, the Midtown International Theatre Festival and, of course, the New York Fringe Festival.

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RATT FINK MAGAZINE

August 2010 issue!!!!!


Cringefest 2010. Prepare to be shock and awed with: Sex Encounters of a disturbed mind

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RATT FINK MAGAZINE

Cringer, I hardly know her!


You’re going to read this article and think I am the type of person who is easily amused. It will cross your mind, at least a few times, that the show I saw at last month’s Sixth Annual New York International Cringe Festival, Featured at the always enjoyable Producers Club, could not be as awesome as I am telling you it was. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I will just give up my two cents and explain why I loved Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind, Directed by Robert Bartley.

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PLAYBILL

Halston, Busch and More at Golden Pineapple Awards


Charles Busch, Israel Horovitz, Doric Wilson, Julie Halston, Sherry Eaker and Ellie Covan were among those on hand July 23 at the Honorary Golden Pineapple Awards, part of International CringeFest '10.

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PLAYBILL

PHOTO CALL: Halston, Busch and More at Golden Pineapple Awards


Charles Busch, Israel Horovitz, Doric Wilson, Julie Halston, Sherry Eaker and Ellie Covan were among those on hand July 23 at the Honorary Golden Pineapple Awards, part of International CringeFest '10.

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THE CLYDE FITCH REPORT

5 Questions I’ve Never Been Asked: Melba LaRose


In the whimsically upside-down world of NY Artists Unlimited, whose mission it is to deliver professional theater to “under-served audiences,” bad theater can sometimes be good theater and the cringe-worthy can sometimes be highly alluring.

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NITE LIFE EXCHANGE

Honorary Golden Pineapple Award Presented July 23rd


On Friday, July 23rd, at the Honorary Golden Pineapple Awards of International CringeFest '10, the coveted golden fruit will be served up to: Broadway & Off-Broadway playwright-actor Charles Busch, Broadway & Off-Broadway playwright Israel Horovitz, Off-Broadway playwright & Gay Rights activist Doric Wilson, BackStage's Editor-at-Large Sherry Eaker & Dixon Place's Founder & Executive Director Ellie Covan. The event takes place in the Grand Theatre at the Producers' Club. Admission for the evening's theme, Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind, directed by Robert Bartley & starring Richard Pryor Jr.,

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GAY CITY NEWS

THROUGH SUN.AUG.8: Cringeworthy, A Festival


“The International CringeFest ‘10” is a seriously irreverent annual festival of short plays presented in theme evenings by NY Artists Unlimited.

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FUSE

New York: Charles Busch, Israel Horovitz, Doric Wilson, et al. to Receive Honorary...


Be the first to comment! Playwrights Charles Busch, Israel Horovitz, and Doric Wilson will be among the recipients of Honorary Golde...

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UNITED STAGES

On Golden Pineapple: Melba’s CringeFest 2010


NY Artists Unlimited founder Melba LaRose is particular about the quality of writing she accepts for her now-infamous five-year-old summer festival of bad plays and musicals.

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THEATERMANIA

Casting Announced for 6th Annual Cringefest; Charles Busch, Israel Horovitz, Doric Wilson, et al. to Receive Honorary Golden Pineapple Awards


Casting has been announced for the 6th Annual Cringefest, running July 19-August 8 at the Producer's Club.

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PLAYBILL

Bartley to Direct Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind


Robert Bartley, creator and director of the annual Broadway Backwards benefit concert, will helm Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind, which will be part of the 6th Annual Cringefest that launches July 23.

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BROADWAYWORLD

Pryor, Jr. Headlines SEX ENCOUNTERS in CringeFest, 7/23-8/4


Richard Pryor Jr. (1st-born son of the late great) stars in International CringeFest '10, the seriously irreverent annual festival presented by NY Artists Unlimited at the Producers' Club, 358 W. 44 St., July 19-August 8. Richard appears in multiple roles in the theme evening SEX ENCOUNTERS OF A DISTURBED MIND, directed by Robert Bartley. SEX ENCOUNTERS opens on Friday, July 23rd, the night the Honorary Golden Pineapple Awards will be presented to Broadway, off-Broadway, and independent theatre movers 'n shakers...

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BROADWAYWORLD

6th Annual Cringefest Presents ZOMBIE STRIPPERS


THE 6TH ANNUAL CRINGEFEST (2010) announces Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind, a collection of eight short plays directed by Robert Bartley (creator and director of Broadway Backwards) including the premiere of the outrageously over-the-top musical - Zombie Strippers, will kick off the festival on Friday, July 23, 2010. The cast of Zombie Strippers will be lead by Michael-Kennon Miller, recently featured in The National Tour of Footloose (Willard), Jennifer Leigh Gottleib, from the National Tour of The Wedding Singer (Linda) and Jeannine Elizabeth (TV's Gossip Girl), joined by Richard Pryor, Jr. (son of famed comedian Richard Pryor and co-starring in the upcoming feature film Stork with Ed Asner, Joyce Dewitt and Kim Fields) in two of the other "Sex Encounter" plays, After Life and Chat Room.

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CULTURE MOB

International Cringefest 2010, Bad Plays, Bad Musicals, Bad Films, July 19 to August 8


No matter how bad a year it may be for such televised award shows as the Oscars, the Grammys and the Tonys, it can never get too bad for the the International Cringefest, whose motto is Bad Musicals, Bad Plays, Bad Films, and where the audience annually decides which shows get The Golden Pineapple, Silver Tomato, and Bronze Banana… and which actors get the Jack Lemons.

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