When last heard from, the Off-Broadway production, which stars actor Kevin Shinick as the hotel heiress, had extended to Oct. 25. It began at Off-Broadway's Blue Heron Arts Center July 26. It was to have closed Aug. 30, but then extended a month to Sept. 28. The one-person staging is directed by Timothy Haskell (Corporate Rock, Road House).
Shinick plays Paris (and not in drag) while she prepares to take her shot at being the fifth co-host on the ABC talk show "The View." As she waits in the green room of the show, she recalls the ups and downs of her socialite life and ponders over topics ranging from terrorism to hair care.
The gender-blind casting follows suit of such recent New York stagings of Matt & Ben — which posed two women as title Hollywood men Damon and Affleck — and the current Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q — which casts actress Natalie Venetia Belcon as child star Gary Coleman.
Playwright Doug Field is known to New York audiences for his plays, Down South and An Enola Gay Christmas. Other plays include Jeannie Fitzpatrick Is Angry, C-Cup, The Last Generation and The Flower of Dubuque.
Actor Shinick is known for his hosting duties on the television show "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?" He has performed on Broadway in Night Must Fall, The School For Scandal, The Seagull, The Government Inspector, Timon of Athens and Saint Joan. Also a writer-director, he has starred in his McBeth — Over 2 Million Slain at the New York Fringe Festival and in his touring stageshow Spider-Man Live! For tickets to I Love Paris at the Blue Heron Arts Center, 123 East 24 St. (at Park Avenue South), call (212) 868-4444.
