An Axe-mas Story

Tickets Now On Sale

Come see AN AXEMAS STORY at 54 Below December 10th @ 9:30 pm

About the Show:

An AXEMAS Story is a holiday-themed take on 80s slasher films, set on a Christmas tree farm - and taking place from the perspective of the trees.

In an attempt to bond with his grand daughter (Small Paulette), Grandpa (Old Small Paul) invites her to participate in dramatic retelling of a Christmas back in the 1980’s where Trees mysteriously began disappearing.

It’s a bloody (“sappy”) send-up of capitalism, Christmas shows, sexist 80’s tropes, and the religious right - but mostly, it's a very silly musical with a lot of tree puns.

About the Team:

Anthony DeAngelis

is a composer, arranger, and pianist/conductor living in NYC. As a composer, he’s had shows produced at The Utah Fringe Festival, by FUSE Productions in State College, PA, The PIT, WSU’s musical theater incubator program, CAP 21, 54 Below, The Players Theatre, and Nazareth University. His TYA show The Prince’s New Pet will be licensed by Dramatic Publishing in the coming months. His musical, An Axemas Story will be back in NYC again this holiday season. His orchestrations and arrangements have been played by The New York Pops, The Cincinnati Pops, and The American Pops Orchestra with performances of his music featured on multiple PBS programs as well as at Lincoln Center. In addition, he’s contributed charts to Randy Rainbow’s “Hey Girl, It’s Christmas.” He’s a member of the BMI Workshop. As a pianist and conductor he’s worked on over 20 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. He was the associate musical director of Bright Star (by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell) as well as Kid Victory and Pacific Overtures.

Patrick Spencer

is an actor/writer living in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated with a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of Arizona. A proud member of the Dramatists Guild, alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, and a creator/room-lead within ADIM (Rob McElhenney and Keyonna Taylor), Patrick has written music and lyrics that have been performed at 54 Below, The Pit, The Tank, The Players Theatre, The Duplex, The Shapeshifter Lab, The Bitter End, Mercury Lounge, The University of Arizona, Nazareth University, The University of Oklahoma, CAP21, and more. Current works include: Saw the Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of Saw (music and lyrics by Patrick Spencer and Anthony De Angelis) in its second year Off Broadway and touring Nationally.

Charlie O'Leary

is a playwright, lyricist, and librettist. He is an alumnus of the 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, the BMI Workshop, the Brooklyn Generator, Crashbox Theatre Company's Write Play Launch, the Fornés Playwriting Workshop, the Project Y Playwrights Group, and the Road Theatre Company’s Under Construction Playwrights Group. His plays and musicals have additionally been developed and presented by the Artist Co-op, CAP21, the Dare Tactic, Dartmouth College, Dixon Place, Dreamwell Theatre, the Flea Theater, the Fresh Fruit Festival, the Habitat, the Iowa New Play Festival, Jersey City Theater Center, Loading Dock Theatre, Middle Voice at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, the PIT, Pipeline Theatre Company, the Players Theatre, the Samuel French OOB Festival, Shuga Pie Supreme, the Tank, and the University of Notre Dame. His short works have been published by Methuen Drama, Smith & Kraus, and Theatre Now New York, with licensing by Music Theatre International. He has been a finalist for the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, the DVRF Playwrights Program, the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Sanguine Theatre Company's Project Playwright, the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and the Woodward/Newman Drama Award, as well as the recipient of a New York Innovative Theatre Award and an Iowa Arts Fellowship. His song “A Date” (music by Helen Park) was a selection of the BMI Workshop Smoker; his songs have also been performed at places like 54 Below, Don’t Tell Mama, the Duplex.