Media Release: July 2009
For Immediate Release

AS BLACK AS TEXAN OIL…

The Basement Theatre presents
KILLER JOE
A play by Tracy Letts

Move over True Blood: the real trailer trash are coming to town… The Basement Theatre, in fact, from September 11th. Heads roll, shatter and blow in Killer Joe, the savagely funny, pitch-black comedy by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Tracy Letts, making its New Zealand debut.

The play focuses on the Smith family, a greedy, vindictive clan of trailer-trash Texans who hatch a plan to murder their estranged, naggy, alcoholic matriarch to cash in on her insurance policy. Unable to bring themselves to do the deed, they hire Killer Joe Cooper, a full-time cop, part-time contract killer. Once he steps into their trailer, their simple plan quickly spirals out of control.

Shortland Street star Beth Allen appears with real-life love Charlie McDermott (last seen in Silo Theatre’s The Little Dog Laughed) as Dottie, the ingenue younger sister to McDermott’s Chris. “There is a edge of inappropriateness to Dottie and Chris’s relationship”, says Allen. “It is a totally different character to Brooke on Shortland Street; Dottie is sexually unaware, while at the same time providing some of the play’s most shocking moments.”

Alongside them, playing their parents, are Sarah Wiseman (Mercy Peak, Outrageous Fortune) and Craig Hall (Outrageous Fortune’s slippery Nicky). Wiseman and Hall are thrilled to be portraying the brazen Sharla and clueless Ansel. “The family live on a diet of television, fast food and bad decisions,” says Wiseman. “It is fantastic to be part of such a visceral, in-your-face theatre experience.”Colin Moy (In My Father’s Den) will appear as Joe, the well-heeled contract killer who throws the family into disarray.

Black as Texan oil and funny as hell, Killer Joe will be a wild night out at the theatre. Lock up your daughters: Killer Joe is on the loose.

“Deeply Funny [it has] the addictive pull of a classic thriller”
- The New York Times

Killer Joe plays
September 11th – October 3rd 2009 (no shows on Sunday)
Preview Night: September 10th 2009
8PM
The Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Avenue, Auckland CBD
Tickets: Preview: $20, Adults: $30, Concessions: $25, Actors Equity: $20
Bookings through iticket – www.iticket.co.nz, or 09 361 1000
Door sales also available on the night.

ENDS