‘Curtis Drake Shepard: UnMasked’ Premiers Sept. 1-9 at Chicago Fringe Festival!

Aug. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- (Cincinnati, OH)  Curtis Drake Shepard, of Cincinnati, OH, will perform his fifty-six minute one-man show UnMasked, playing the parts of eight characters whose stories are told with poetic humor and brutal honesty, at the Chicago Fringe Festival, downtown Chicago, IL, August 30-September 9, 2012.

Shepard, who also developed and wrote the script of UnMasked, will present five performances of his unique brand of dramatic story-telling at Both Sides Art Gallery, 1840 S. Halstead St., Chicago, IL 60608.  Performances are Sept. 1 and 3 at 8:30 PM, Sept. 2 at 4 PM, Sept. 8 at 7 PM, and Sept. 9 at 5:30 PM.  Tickets are $15 and available online at www.Chicagofringe.org

An extraordinary actor, writer, spoken word artist and story-teller, Curtis Drake Shepard, AKA ‘Curt from Detox,’ has been entertaining and delighting audiences in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio area for the past twenty-eight years.  His bold solo stage performance of UnMasked is a regional premiere for the Chicago Fringe.  Shepard debuted UnMasked to a sold-out, standing room only crowd at the Dukester Jazz and Supper Club in Cincinnati, OH and then later reprised his solo performance at the 2008 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, where he garnered great reviews:
               
“… An ingenious actor … [Shepard] demonstrates in UnMasked, he is also
an ingenious and energizing writer. He has that rare playwright’s knack for imagining a character, then arranging a spare dozen or two words that, when spoken, will ignite into a portrait. Not a caricature, mind you. Not a sketch or
a type. A multi-dimensional character.” — Tom McElfresh, Critic’s Pick - Cincinnati Fringe Festival

Says Shepard, “We all wear masks--at work, at home, at the club or on the street, to ignore the homeless or to keep peace when in-laws visit; always the Mask is there. From abandonment to abuse, to addiction and isolation, to homelessness and dereliction, whatever our struggles, we are never alone.” Adds Shepard, "It's important that we UnMask and discover that we're all the same.  We all want to be loved and accepted and respected."  

For more information about UnMasked or to schedule an interview with Mr. Shepard, please contact Greg Stallworth at (513) 919-3201 or emeraldtrulyblessed@yahoo.com . For more information about Curtis Drake Shepard, go to http://www.curtfromdetox.com .  For more information about the 2012 Chicago Fringe Festival, visit http://www.Chicagofringe.org .