I went to the home of Al Pergande, the writer and producer of Chocolate Thunder and White Lightning which will be performed at this year’s Fringe Festival. As he explains, “It is a blaxploitation, written by a white guy. Al handed out the scripts to the cast that was assembled in his living room. Valensy Sylvain played Chocolate Thunder, the old school black cop, and Jackie Pitts played White Lightning, a hip, tech savy British female cop. The straight laced, by the books Chief will be performed by Eric Kuritzky.
The Expositionettes called Nutra Sweet sing introductions to each act, much like the female singers in Little Shop of Horrors. The music must not be ready yet, since Dayana Rincon who sat opposite me, sat silent for most of the read through. Eric Branch will be performing as the villainous Mr. Big and his Minion will be played by Miles Berman. Bill Warriner will get the fight scenes co-ordinated and Desmond Flynn will direct. Judging from the first reading, this could be a fun show.
There will be a mad dash to get the play up to speed for the preview on April 15th. There will be just four performances in the Orange venue at this years Fringe.
May 18th at 5:30PM
May 20th at 10:15PM
May 22nd at 8:15PM
May 25tn at 3:30PM