If you’ve been contemplating political questions like, “Who manages the news we receive and for what purpose?“ Italian playwright Dario Fo explores the question in his zany farce Il Ratto Della Francesca. The American premiere, titled Abducting Hillary, is an American adaptation by Larry Larson and Eddie Levi Lee, running at Atlanta’s Horizon Theatre Company May 16-June 29.

Examining the power and values of media moguls in our society, Abducting Hillary follows the abduction of Hillary Cox-Turner, by three incompetent former employees. While Cox-Turner takes control of her abductors, Geraldo Rivera airs exclusive clips of the kidnapping and producers argue for the rights to the story and media event.

Is this "Hillary" supposed to be America's First Lady? Well, the British version of . . .Francesca was ironically titled Abducting Diana. But co-adapter Larson says, “Hillary Cox-Turner is not supposed to suggest any one person. Rather, this character is a larger than-life composite that allows us to satirize the system as a whole and our cultural values in a very, very humorous way.” Larson calls . . .Hillary “a comic vehicle for dealing with people’s feelings about power and the media.”

Italian playwright, director and actor Dario Fo is one of Italy's most widely known and represented playwrights today. His plays, We Won’t Pay, We Won’t Pay! and Accidental Death of an Anarchist have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Larry Larson and Eddie Levi Lee have been writing and adapting plays that circulate the regional theatres for more than a decade. Lee is currently the Artistic Director of Seattle’s Empty Space Theatre, and has collaborated with Larson on Some Things You Need to Know....The Illuminati, Tent Meeting, The Blood Orgy Trilogy and The Salvation of Iggy Scrooge, a pop rock version of A Christmas Carol, which premiered in Seattle. Actor, director and playwright Larson appears as the Chief Kidnapper in . . .Hillary. He is joined by Lorilyn Harper, Robin Bloodworth, Jim Roof, Trent Blanton, Mary Jean Feton, and Carl Espy.

For tickets or more information about Abducting Hillary at the Horizon Theatre, call (404) 584-7450, or refer to the regional listing on Playbill On-Line.

--By Blair Glaser