Los Angeles writer/director Fletcher Rhoden is now booking theater and campus appearances of his new play Last Tango With Marlon. The February 2008 run was called, “...Fascinating... fast-moving... intensely comedic,” by the Tolucan Times, “...Deliciously funny... exquisite...” by CurtainUp.com, and praised by Uncle Sam’s Sister City as, “...A funny and touching play.”

The 80-minute two-act play delves into the lives and friendship of actors Marlon Brando and Wally Cox. The play covers their Illinois childhood through their years as roommates in 1950’s New York and into their relationship during the ‘60’s and ‘70’s.

But that’s only the beginning of this complex, layered piece. “The play is as much about inherited patterns of destructive behavior, about how we treat ourselves and each other, universal themes of identity and loyalty, as it is about the particulars of the friendship between Brando and Cox,” said Rhoden, 41.

Still, Rhoden is fascinated by the dynamic between the hulking, sexual Brando and the owlish, timid Cox. “Like a lot of friendships, theirs was a balance between love and hate. Their friendship was a union of opposites and a meeting of like minds. I drew upon certain friendships of my own to tell this story. That’s why I think it will resonate with a lot of people, because almost everybody has had at least one complex, difficult friendship in their lives.”

But there’s an even more personal twist to Rhoden’s fascination with his subjects. “My stepfather (Bill Armstrong) and my mother (Adrienne Armstrong Adler) both worked on the original Hollywood Squares. Besides Brando and Wally’s wives, I think the person closest to Cox was Bill. He was the one who found Wally dead. Although I don’t have any memories of Wally, he did leave me and my brothers each a box of rocks from his collection in his will. Bill said he always wanted to take us rock climbing, and since I was such a huge Underdog fan as a kid, it’s one of my great disappointments that we never had that chance.” Bill Armstrong succumbed to throat cancer in 2000 and Adrienne Armstrong Adler later co-wrote Backstage With the Original Hollywood Square (Rutledge Hill) with Squares host Peter Marshall.

Rhoden has written a novella, Last Tango With Marlon, published by the Canadian house Trafford Publishing for a March 2008 release. Discounted, autographed copies will be for sale at upcoming play performances.

Rhoden won acclaim for his 2001 novella, The Trial Of Davy Crockett (Trafford), called, “A must-read and not to be missed ... thoughtful yet riveting from the first page to the last,” by Midwest Book Review and has been featured on several Alamo recommeded-reading lists. It currently carries a 5-star rating on Amazon.com. Other recent accomplishments for the multitalented Rhoden include a screening of his animated short subject A Gentle Reminder at Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation’s “Gauntlet” during the San Diego Comicon 2007, a solo exhibit of his seascape and marine life paintings in the NoHo arts district (Fletcher Rhoden Sleeps With The Fishes, Enchanted Deva’s) which was extended to two months, and his first credited feature film production with the multi-award-winning indie slasher Stump the Band (Boathouse Studios, ‘story by’). Rhoden is also an acclaimed festival-favorite short subject writer/director (The Christopher Walken Ecstatic Dance Academy) whose animated and live-action shorts have become internet staples. Rhoden’s first play was 1999’s Soul Cancer, which yielded a dvd video release and festival screenings and was performed live in excerpt at Madison Square Garden. Rhoden is represented by Lew Weitzman at Preferred Artists in Los Angeles.

Marlon Brando is played by Frank Cavestani, a New York native who has worked with some of the century’s greatest talent. As an actor, he shared the stage with Shelly Winters (Days Of the Dancing), the TV screen with E. G. Marshall (The Defenders) and has been directed by Andy Warhol (Women in Revolt). Cavestani wrote and directed the multi-award-winning Ron Kovic documentary Operation Last Patrol, now a permanent addition to the film collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and went on to work as the technical advisor and actor in Oliver Stone’s Born On the Fourth Of July. He has also worked with Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and helped found The Los Angeles Weekly. He is currently running his own website, actingontheWeb.com, which he says is, “Designed to bring professional acting techniques and theater culture to the masses.” Of playing the acting legend Brando, Cavestani says, “It is an honor and a delight to pretend to be Marlon for a few hours. I am sure every male and female actor would love to do this role. One forgets how much fun he was to listen to and watch. Marlon taught us all how to act.”

Wally Cox is played by Raf Mauro, whose extensive list of film credits include Mel Brooks’ Life Stinks, Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl, and the Robert Zemeckis classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He has appeared on television series as diverse and popular as House, Desperate Housewives, Pushing Daisies, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Seinfeld and The Jamie Foxx Show. He has appeared in stage productions of The Seagull, Room Service, Arsenic and Old Lace, Guys and Dolls and many others and is currently writing an original musical for the stage. Mauro is delighted to be working once again with Frank Cavestani, whom he met in 1962 at New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

fletcherrhoden@yahoo.com or (323) 667-9113, 7 days a week, business hours only.
Check website for details: www.fletcherrhoden.com/lasttangowithmarlon

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