"GEORGE & MARTHA"
Inaugurates the new Collective: Unconscious
** Limited Engagement! Previews begin September 10 **

Karen Finley, the most controversial woman in performance today, officially inaugurates the new Collective: Unconscious theater complex in Tribeca with, George & Martha. This broad two-character political satire combines the real-life antics of George Dubya and Martha Stewart with Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? duo (and a touch of George and Martha Washington). This co-production between Collective: Unconscious and P.S. 122 stars Finley as Martha and newcomer Neil Medlyn (the self-described "Paris Hilton of Performance Art") as George. Previews begin September 10th with opening night scheduled for Friday, September 17th.

George & Martha is set during a secret rendezvous in a hotel room in New York City during the Republican Convention. Here, they air their embittered legal and political woes into the intimacy of their private relationship. The tragedies and personal triumphs of these self-created icons become intertwined. Their internal struggles become a nightmarish battleground. Bin Laden hides in Bush’s bowels. Martha creates invisible nose hair scissors. Bush relapses into a coke binge and Martha flies into a rage over having to drink from a plastic glass. Their pathos and suffering become connected in their symbiotic need to be loved.

According to Finley, "George & Martha uses dark humor to explore the collision of politics, power, and fame. Bush and Stewart are examples of society’s ‘lucky ones,’ yet they still have unmet needs. Their inner turmoil gives us a glimpse to our own neurotic needs. George & Martha gives a symbolic meaning to pathological destruction and behavior."

Karen Finley is widely regarded as one of the most relentlessly independent and visceral performance artists of her generation. Crossbreeding theater, performance, spoken word, and visual art, Finley’s challenging and darkly humorous work is moving and powerful, edgy and unpredictable. A brave and limitless performer, Finley faces her issues, her critics, and her audiences head-on in a complex, frank, and arresting performance experience.

Since her first performances in the early 1980’s, Karen Finley has become synonymous with performance art. She is the recipient of two Obies, two Bessies, and multiple grants from the NEA and NYSCA. She has toured internationally with pieces including Make Love, The American Chestnut, A Certain Level of Denial and The Return of The Chocolate Smeared Woman. In 1990, Finley became an unwilling symbol for the NEA when she, along with Tim Miller, Holly Hughes & John Fleck, sued the NEA for withdrawing grants on the grounds of indecency.

George & Martha runs September 10 - October 30, Thursday - Saturday at 8:00pm. Tickets are $25. Collective: Unconscious is located at 279 Church Street (at White Street -- accessible from the A,C,E,N,R,Q,W,6,J,M,Z to Canal or 1,9 to Franklin Street). For reservations and information call 212-352-0255 or visit theatermania.com.