In early 2019, when playwright Kirk Wood Bromley was diagnosed with cancer, his fans and collaborators came together to fund and record three of his plays, one of which was Icarus and Aria, an “upgraded Romeo and Juliet” that was originally performed under the dramatory of Aaron Beall at the first New York International Fringe Festival in 1997. This full cast performance was directed by Joshua Spafford.
While riffing off its forerunner, Icarus and Aria is thrillingly situated in the present. Icarus Alzaro is a rookie football star just signed to a high profile contract with the Arizona Aztechs. Jimmy Jones, the Aztechs owner, has a teenage daughter named Aria. The two meet at a party to celebrate Icarus’s joining the team and end up falling in love and running away to the Superstition Mountains together. By the next morning, their disappearance is a media sensation. The two young lovers are eventually brought down by the inexorable forces that surround them. The play includes a cast of characters ranging from Dina, Aria’s smart-mouthed best friend, and Primalo, Icarus’s brother and head of El Imaginero, a crime ring linked to drug-dealing and a spate of murders, to the Channel One News Team, Aria’s spunky stepmom Cindy, her trigger-happy brother Jimmy Junior, Medicine Woman, officers Barcaiolo and Junkfood, and more.
The world’s foremost living verse playwright, Bromley has been compared to Shakespeare and Stoppard, is a member of New Dramatists, and was declared “the verse play champion” by Michael Feingold (Village Voice) in 2005. Bromley and Inverse have won numerous awards, including Best Downtown Theater Company (NY Press 2001), The Berrilla Kerr Foundation Playwriting Award (2001), Best Music/Lyrics (NY Intl Fringe Festival 2002), Excellence in Playwriting (NY Intl Fringe Festival 2003), the first Caffe Cino Award (NY Innovative Theater Awards 2005), and Outstanding Solo Show (NY Intl Fringe Festival 2009).
This full cast reading features Kate Abbruzzese as Aria; Bobby Moreno as Icarus; Satomi Blair as Dina; Christopher McFarland as Jimmy Jones, Ray, and Mover 1; Megan Bartle as Cindy Jones, Maximus, Sissy Rip, and Sandy Waters; Chris Thorn as Jimmy Jones Junior and Warrick Mondragon; Kaili Y. Turner as Trinidad; Timothy McCown Reynolds as Micky, Secretary, and Leslie; Josh Hartung as Damon, Mr. Nite, Photographer, and Ernie; Joshua Spafford as Primalo Alzaro; Jose Perez as Tonka, K2, Sheriff Orpayo, Minister, and Jose Escalante; Melanie Martinez as Luce, Mayor Favor, Malory McGuire, and Medicine Woman; Mark Greenfield as Coach Conrad, Ted Kaczinsky, and Junkfood; Beth Ann Leone as Shareen Stone, Bobby Rivers and Matina; Jeremy Domingo as Barciaolo; Kirk Wood Bromley as Hammer and Mover 1; Ciera Ramz as Priscilla. It was narrated by Kirk Wood Bromley and recorded and mastered by Kevin Blackler at Blackler Studios in Brooklyn, NY.