Icarus and Aria

In early 2019, when playwright Kirk Wood Bromley was diagnosed with cancer, his fans and collaborators came together to fund and record three of his plays, one of which was Icarus and Aria, an "upgraded Romeo and Juliet" that was originally performed under the dramatory of Aaron Beall at the first NY International Fringe Festival in 1997. This full cast performance was directed by Joshua Spafford and recorded by Kevin Blackler.

By riffing off its source, Icarus and Aria is thrillingly situated in the present. Icarus Alzaro is a rookie football star just signed to a high profile contract with the Arizona Aztechs. Jimmy Jones, the Aztechs owner, has a daughter named Aria. The two meet at a party to celebrate Icarus's joining the team, fall in love, and run away to the Superstition Mountains. By morning, their disappearance is a media storm. The two young lovers are eventually brought down by the inexorable forces that surround them. The play includes a cast of characters ranging from Dina, Aria's smart-mouthed best friend, and Primalo, Icarus's brother and head of El Imaginero, a crime ring linked to drug-dealing and a spate of murders, to the Channel One News Team, Aria's spunky stepmom Cindy, her trigger-happy brother Jimmy Junior, Medicine Woman, officers Barcaiolo and Junkfood, and more. Full cast info is at inversetheater.org

The world's foremost living verse playwright, Bromley has been compared to Shakespeare and Stoppard, is a member of New Dramatists, and was declared "the verse play champion" by Michael Feingold (Village Voice) in 2005. Bromley and Inverse have won numerous awards, including Best Downtown Theater Company (NY Press 2001), The Berrilla Kerr Foundation Playwriting Award (2001), Best Music/Lyrics (NY Int’l Fringe Festival 2002), Excellence in Playwriting (NY Int’l Fringe Festival 2003), the first Caffe Cino Award (NY Innovative Theater Awards 2005), and Outstanding Solo Show (NY Int’l Fringe Festival 2009).