“My personal experiences, along with those of other performers on the TV show Alias El Mexicano, are combined to create a stage work in a TV style, about real actors trying to play real people and their aliases on a fake TV show somewhat based on reality.” Thaddeus Phillips, director

“A brilliant, hilarious theater installation/conspiracy theory/telenovela/true-life drama.” Toby Zinman, The Philadelphia Inquirer*

Go back to the 1980s with the infamous American drug runner Barry Seal, the Colombian drug lords, the CIA agents, and the fixers via the actors who play them on a modern day TV show. A theatrical adventure that exists between myth and history, reality and make-believe, get set for another mind-bending meld of stage design, action, and storytelling from director–performer Thaddeus Phillips. Journey through the “War on Drugs” by way of a television production soundstage—replete with the lighting, booms, cranes, cameras, sets, and props that seek to recreate the “reality” of the past.

ALIAS ELLIS MACKENZIE follows the potentially real adventures of the American pilot Barry Seal—drug runner, informant, and Iran-Contra Affair player— and his relationship with Colombian drug lords, nefarious co-pilots, clandestine runways, his family, the DEA, FBI, CIA, and three US presidents.

In Spanish with English subtitles.

Directed and Conceived by Thaddeus Phillips Text by Tatiana Mallarino & Company Music Supervision DJ Mario Cotto Set Jeff Becker Performers Thaddeus Phillips, Juan Sebastian Calero, Victor Rodriguez, Diana Calderon, Ean Sheehy, Chris Davis, Ama Bollinger, Paloma Irizarry, Newton Buchanan, Mario Cotto

*Review of the prequel work, The Incredibly Dangerous Astonishing Lucrative and Potentially Completely True Adventures of Barry Seal.

Alias Ellis Mackenzie has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

Star Producers 
David and Linda Glickstein
Producer
Holly and David Stichka
Co-Producers
Herbert and Sissie Lipton
Nicholas Plagge
Edward and Anne Wagner
Barbara and Stephen Gold

About Thaddeus Phillips

Thaddeus Phillips played Barry Seal on the TV show, Alias El Mexicano (MundoFox 2013), from where he drew his inspiration for ALIAS ELLIS MACKENZIE. Joining Thaddeus onstage are three Colombian TV stars from the show including the show’s star, Juan Sebastian Calero, along with a “Greek chorus” of Philadelphia-based actors who playing the Spanish speaking TV film crew.

Thaddeus Phillips is a theater director, stage designer, and film/TV actor originally from Denver, Colorado. On screen he has appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Alias El Mexicano, El Capo 3, Celia Cruz and the upcoming Narcos on Netflix. His stage work has been seen at Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, Barrow Street Theatre, PS 122, HERE Arts Center and La MaMa ETC, as well as at MassMOCA, The Walker Art Center, Miami Light Center, On the Boards, The Painted Bride, Buntport Theater, ArtsEmerson, and in Spain, England, Ireland, Holland, Serbia, Mexico, Slovenia, Colombia, Costa Rica & Italy.

Past Festival shows include RED-EYE to HAVRE de GRACE, ¡EL CONQUISTADOR!, and WHaLE OPTICS.

Press reviews of the prequel to Alias Ellis Mackenzie

This show’s prequel, The Incredibly Dangerous Astonishing Lucrative and Potentially True Adventures of Barry Seal, was presented at FringeArts in May 2015.

Medellin Cartel Pilot inspires FringeArts shows by Arturo Varela, Al Dia

Excerpt:
The mystery and conspiracies surrounding the life and death of Barry Seal, the drug smuggler and aircraft pilot who flew flights for the Medellin Cartel in the 80s, inspired theatre artists Thaddeus Phillips to produce a hybrid between a play, concert and installation performance, in collaboration with DJ Mario Cotto and installation artist Jeff Becker.

“The Incredibly Dangerous Astonishing Lucrative and Potentially True Adventures of Barry Seal” took place last weekend at Fringe Arts. If you missed it, Phillips already has another show in the works, also based on Seal, which will have its world premiere at the 2015 Fringe Festival this September. Read the full article.

REVIEW: The Incredibly Dangerous Astonishing Lucrative and Potentially True Adventures of Barry Seal by Toby Zinman, Philadelphia Inquirer

Excerpt:
A work of bizarro genius, The Incredibly Dangerous Astonishing Lucrative and Potentially True Adventure of Barry Seal, at Fringe Arts only through Saturday, is not to be missed. Thaddeus Phillips gives us a brilliant, hilarious theater installation/conspiracy theory/telenovela/true-life drama about the drug smuggler and CIA agent named Barry Seal . . .

. . . The prequel to this show was probably Phillips’ 2010 El Conquistador!, also about telanovelas in South America. The sequel to this show will be his big Fringe show this fall called Alias Ellis MacKenzie, especially since, in true telenovela style, the story continues.  I can’t wait. Read the full article.