Director Lear deBessonet reunites with playwright Thurber for the production, which is described as "a dark, epic tale of singing teenage fascists, magic, war, and love — a disturbing retelling of the hero's tale with a girl as the hero and an unheroic ending."

Running through July 19, Monstrosity features Carlo Alban (References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot), Reyna de Courcy (The Secret Agenda of Trees), Frank De Julio, J.D. Goldblatt (Les Miserables), Andy Grotelueschen, Ben Hollandsworth (From Up Here), D.J. Mendel, Robert Saietta, Samantha Soule (The Philanthropist), Kristina Valada-Viars (August: Osage County), Michael Warner (The Language of Trees) and The Teen Army.

The production has set design by Peter Ksander, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Justin Townsend, sound design by M.L. Dogg and movement by Tracy Bersley.

Thurber is the author of Bottom of the World, Don Quixote, Where We're Born, Ashville, Scarcity, Killers and Other Family and Stay.

Lear deBessonet is currently at work developing the new music-theatre piece On the Levee with playwright Marcus Gardley and composer Todd Almond for Yale Repertory Theatre. She most recently staged Don Quixote, a collaboration with Lucy Thurber and the punk-gypsy ensemble The Psalters, in Philadelphia. Tickets are available by phoning (866) 811-4111 or by visiting MonstrositythePlay. The Connelly Theatre is located at 220 East 4th Street.