Lypsinka Returns To Studio Theatre

Join us for the 25th Anniversary of the creation of the Goddess of Show-Biz, Lypsinka! With uncanny precision and unforgettable pizzazz, John Epperson - also known as Lypsinka - pays homage to ultimate screen-queen Joan Crawford. Using the actress' own words, The Passion of the Crawford is a fantasia on the persona of this 20th Century cultural icon.

City Paper has called Lypsinka "certifiably fabulous," while the Los Angeles Times dubbed her "a geyser of glamour!" Daily Variety raved: "Watching a Lypsinka show is like channel-surfing in Heaven." Directed by Kevin Malony and featuring Steve Cuiffo as the interviewer, The Passion of the Crawford runs February 7 - February 25, 2007. Tickets are on sale now at The Studio Theatre, 14th and P Streets NW, 202-332-3300 or www.studiotheatre.org.

After taking Washington, DC by storm in 2002, Epperson received the 2003 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Non-Resident Production for Lypsinka! The Boxed Set. In 2004, Epperson and Lypsinka returned to The Studio Theatre for a three-event festival that included Lypsinka: As I Lay Lip-Synching, the autobiographical piece John Epperson: Show Trash and his play, My Deah, an adaptation of the Medea tale set in The New South.

In The Passion of the Crawford, Lypsinka gives audiences an evening with the legendary Miss Crawford, recreating performances of two of her favorite works of literature - "Desiderata," the classic poetic declaration of what is essential to one's life and how to live peacefully and, just to prove that she hasn't lost her touch, a 'dramatic interpretation' of a text about the importance of caring for our children, written especially for her. The Passion of the Crawford also offers a live interview - one of her last public appearances - in which Miss Crawford shares with her fans the exciting details of her fabulous career, her life and her loves.

JOHN EPPERSON, the Helen Hayes Award-winning creator and performer of 2002's Lypsinka! The Boxed Set at The Studio Theatre, has come a long way from his boyhood home: Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Epperson launched his theatre career as Lypsinka in I Could Go On Lip-Synching! This smash hit ran for a year Off-Broadway and later played Los Angeles in 1991, partly financed by Madonna. Epperson went on to create another five Lypsinka star vehicles: The Fabulous Lypsinka Show; Lypsinka! Now It Can Be Lip-Synched; Lypsinka! A Day in the Life; Lypsinka Must Be Destroyed! and Lypsinka! As I Lay Lip-Synching, which premiered in 1994 and has been produced from San Diego to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Lypsinka entered the live sound era only a few years ago, appearing in the TWEED Fractured Classicks Series productions of Caged!, The Children's Hour, The Women and Lypsinka IS Harriet Craig! Epperson and Lypsinka are the subjects of an Emmy Award-winning television documentary for PBS.

Epperson is the composer/lyricist/book writer of two musicals. He was seen in the films Vampire's Kiss with Nicolas Cage, HBO's cult favorite Witch Hunt starring Dennis Hopper and Julian Sands, Wigstock: The Movie, Red Ribbon Blues, PBS' The United States of Poetry, Angels In America, Kinsey, and Another Gay Movie. In New York, Epperson has directed the comedy troupe The Nellie Olesons and made his dramatic stage debut in Messages for Gary at the New York Fringe Festival in 1999. Recently Epperson played The Stepmother in the New York City Opera production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella at the New York State Theater at Manhattan's prestigious Lincoln Center.

He provided the preface for the Rizzoli photo book Persona and he is the author of a new screenplay - Picture People.

KEVIN MALONY (Director) has worked as a director, producer and writer at Lincoln Center's Serious Fun Festival, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, The John Houseman Theater, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, The Joyce Theatre P.S. 122, and The Town Hall. He produced John Epperson's early musicals at the Pyramid Club and later presented Lypsinka's first theatrical engagement The Many Moods of Lypsinka. Since that time he has directed full productions and personal appearances with Lypsinka around the world. He is the co-founder and artistic director of TWEED TheatreWorks, a non-profit producing organization that has been a forerunner in downtown arts community for seventeen years. In 1996 he initiated The TWEED Fractured Classicks Series which fully staged readings of classic plays and movies featuring, well, unique casting choices.

STEVE CUIFFO (The Interviewer) is an actor and a magician. Recent credits include Steve Cuiffo Is Lenny Bruce at Joe's Pub; Rinne Groff¹s Orange, Lemon, Egg, Canary at P.S. 122; Lypsinka's The Passion Of The Crawford; New York Theatre Workshop's Patriot Act; The Foundry Theatre's The Roaring Girle; The Wooster Group¹s North Atlantic and Brace Up!; Donald Byrd's Byrdlesque at the New Victory Theatre, Broadway. He has worked as a consultant with David Blaine. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from New York University 's Tisch School of the Arts. He has trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory in New York City and the British American Drama Academy in London. He is on the board of directors for the Conjuring Arts Research Center.

Featuring: John Epperson as Lypsinka as Joan Crawford and Steve Cuiffo as The Interviewer.

Director and Designers: Kevin Malony (Director), Luciana Stecconi (Set Designer), Cathy Eliot (Lighting Designer), Grady Hendrix (Projections), Ramona Ponce (Costume Design), Robert Sorrell (Jewelry), John Epperson (Soundtrack Design) and Paul Huntley (Wig Design). -- www.studiotheatre.org