Vatican Falls
World Premiere at The Tank in NYC. Exclusive Engagement: October 27-November 20, 2022—Thurs-Sun
Vatican Falls
Is a sweeping, fast-paced suspense thriller, spanning decades and multiple locales, examining truth, power, conscience, forgiveness and revenge.
Based on factual accounts, spanning decades and set against the backdrop of the continuously-swelling Catholic sex abuse scandal, VATICAN FALLS is
a sweeping multi-genre work that follows survivor journeys examining the feelings of shame and confusion that ultimately turn to anger and revenge. This fast-paced, non-linear suspense-thriller jets from Boston to Rome to New York to Los Angeles as our radicalized protagonist falls in love with a Vatican operative and, along with his Fellowship, plots vengeance on the institutional power players that allowed the rape and torture of countless children and young adults.
The play features three prominent LGBTQ+ characters including the fellowship leader, Vi, a proud queer whose desire for retribution fuels the group.
High Voltage Productions was birthed by Ashley Garrett and Frank J. Avella. HVP produced the award-winning short film, “Fig Jam,” in 2021.
Frank J. Avella recently wrote and directed his first film, the multi-award-winning short “Fig Jam.” He is the recipient of an International Writers Residency at Arte Studio Ginestrelle (Assisi, Italy), a Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship, a Helene Wurlitzer Residency Grant and a NJ State Arts Council Fellowship Award. Frank’s feature length screenplays include “Consent,” “Lured,” and “Screw The Cow” which, along with “Fig Jam” and his new short script, “Happy Boy,” have won 33 awards and are selections/finalists in over 200 Festivals/Contests worldwide. He has written numerous plays including “Vatican Falls,” (2021 O’Neill semifinalist), “Lured” (2018 O’Neill semifinalist, produced in NYC & Rome), “Consent” (2x O’Neill semifinalist) and most recently, “Lockdown.” More information about Frank here.
Ashley Garrett is an American photographer based in New York. She specializes in production photos for theater, music and dance, and portraits of individuals and groups. A co-founder (with the playwright, director and producer, Frank J. Avella) of High Voltage Productions, Ashley has produced a number of independent and short films, including Fig Jam and Letters from Baghdad. Ashley is excited to be working with Frank in a producing capacity, having photographed many of his plays, including Lured, Consent, and Vatican Falls. www.AshleyGarrett.Photo. @AshleyGarrettPhoto.
Cast & Crew
Actor, Producer, Singer, Songwriter, BMI Pop Award Winner, Broadway star in HAIR & GREASE, Ace Young is a man of many talents. This Grammy Nominated Songwriter has performed for millions on both stage and screen, like American Idol, Bones, World Tours and more. Ace is privileged to share the story of VATICAN FALLS raising awareness and support for survivors everywhere.
Carlotta Brentan is a New York-based theater artist specializing in the development of new plays as an actor, producer, director and translator. Stage highlights: World Premieres of Frank J. Avella's Lured, (also co-directed, sold-out runs at Theater for The New City in NYC and OnStage! Festival in Rome), Paolo Bignami’s The Journey I Never Made (Cherry Lane Theatre), Erik Ehn’s Clover (La MaMa ETC) Carlotta is also a film actor, prolific voiceover artist and award-winning audiobook narrator.
Alice Barrett-Mitchell - Theatre: Jake’s Women on Broadway, The Plantation, Major Barbara, Doubt, American Clock, Farhenheit 451, Television: "Heels," "The Thing About Pam," "Chicago Med, " "Billions," “Law & Order: SVU,” “Another World”, many other shows and commercials. Film: Soulmates, Choke, Brooklyn’s Finest, Depraved, Weakness, Twelve, 13, among others.
Tucker Aust (he/him) is a New York based actor and creator. Recent credits include You Can Tell From the Twisted Juniper (Chautauqua Theatre Company), Moonchildren (Theatre 54), and Can't You Tell! (Kraine Theatre, Queerly Frigid Fest Audience Choice Award). He has appeared in several short films, most recently Frank Avella’s Fig Jam. Tucker is also a co-founder of the The Queer Ensemble, a collective of LGBTQ+ performers and artists dedicated to enhancing queer voices in the American Theatre.
Brooklyn-based actor, singer and writer. Recent theater credits include Claude in Hair (New Repertory Theatre) and Prince Topher in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (Virginia Repertory Theatre). BFA in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory. Currently developing his first solo play "I and Love and You" to premiere in 2023. Thank you to Judy, Frank and Carlotta for bringing me on. For Ben and my parents. Instagram: @edwardsimon23.
Danny Hilt is an actor and writer who can currently be seen as Bomb Tech Aaron Hill on the CBS show, FBI. Other TV and Film credits include: The Deuce, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos, Power Book III, What Would You Do, Law & Order, Benji’s Hour (upcoming), American Gangster and the Oscar nominated, Foxcatcher. Some favorite Theater credits include: Good People, Detroit, Straight Faced Lies, Bash, Smiles to Saturn, The Psychiatrist Is Out and King Lear. As a voice over artist he’s voice
Theatre: Appointment With Death (Gallery Players), Katzelmacher, USA (The Cell), The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever (Actors' Playhouse), Browsing (Fringe), Woodhull (Fringe), Small Talk (Manhattan Repertory Theatre). Film/Television: The award winning series The Blessing (www.blessingseries.com), Pro Bono Means Free, Mysteries at the Museum, The Hunt with John Walsh. Thank you Judy Bowman, Frank J. Avella, and Carlotta Brentan. Love to Jeffery. com @ryguybread
recently graduated, can't wait to be making his Tank debut with Vatican Falls! He is thrilled to be apart of this team and help tell this incredibly important story. He had a blast getting to work on multiple theatrical shows and indie films in college. Theatre credits include: "Exit Strategy", "The Lower Depths", "Wyrd". Film credits include: "Quiet valley", "This table is crooked", "Two-story house", "A Guy Named John". (Tisch Drama '22)
(he/him)Select: On The Grounds of Belonging (World Premiere), Long Wharf Theatre; Damascus (SW Premiere), Florida Rep.; Luna Gale, Cleveland Play House; Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Colonial Theatre; Readings: Phaedra Michelle Scott’s Plantation Black, Playwrights Horizons; Lia Romeo’s Ghost Story, New Jersey Rep. Co.; Meg Miroshnik’s Utopia, MN, Cleveland Play House. TV/Film: “Gilded Age”, “A Far Few Years from Now”, “No Place is Home”. IG: @jeremiah.clapp
Gallery
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Press
"You won’t find Vatican Falls on any map about picturesque raging waters. No, Frank J. Avella’s new play, Vatican Falls, is, instead, a passionate, sometimes humorous, indictment of the Catholic Church and its long history of concealing the sexual abuse suffered by hundreds of young men at the hands of priests…Ultimately all the individual strands of a complicated story come together in a dramatic flourish." - Theatrescene.net
"I was blown away by this current production. The layers of the story take you on an emotional journey that I believe everyone and anyone can find elements they relate to. The entire cast gives phenomenal, emotional performances that are sure to impact any audience." - TEECO 71 Entertainment
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