World Premiere

A cinematic hybrid play/concert/installation performance featuring remixed hit music from the 1980s, absurd phone conversations, and an almost-full-size Caddy.

In 2013 theater artist Thaddeus Phillips played the infamous drug smuggler Barry Seal on the MundoFox TV show Alias El Mexicano. What began as an exciting and slightly frustrating job led him down a rabbit hole into the history, mysteries, and conspiracies surrounding Barry Seal, a Louisiana pilot whose thirst for adventure made him one of the most compelling yet largely unknown characters of the 20th century. Phillips collaborates with DJ Mario Cotto and installation artist Jeff Becker to create a cinematic portrait of Seal set in the Salvation Army parking lot in Baton Rogue where Mr. Seal was assassinated in his white Cadillac Fleetwood in 1986.

The tale continues at the large-scale international production Alias Ellis MacKenzie, created in collaboration with Colombian actors and which will premiere in September as part of the 2015 Fringe Festival.

Alder ‘Barry’ Seal was the most notorious drug smuggler in U.S. history. He began his career as TWA’s youngest pilot, later ran arms to Cuba, set up the most extensive and almost undetectable smuggling routes for the Medellin Cartel, had strange links to the Iran/Contra scandal, then Vice-President Bush & then Governor Clinton, and was about to take down Pablo Escobar and the rest of the Colombian cartel heads when he was assassinated in Baton Rogue in 1986.

Thaddeus Phillips is a director, designer and actor whose previous FringeArts presentations include: 17 Border Crossings, Red-Eye to Havre de Grace, WHaLE OPTICS, and ¡El Conquistador!
Mario Cotto is a Los Angeles based DJ for KCRW and has been presented at Cochlea, opened for New Order, and spun at venues across L.A. from Malo Taco to the Venice Beach Pier.
Jeff Becker is a New Orleans based set designer and installation artist who creates large-scale theatrical works in collaboration with Art Spot, Mundo Bizarro and Elizabeth Streb among others.

“Watching Thaddeus Phillips at work is like being on a mind-altering drug.” The Philadelphia Inquirer

Project Conception & Direction Thaddeus Phillips
Co-Creation, Music Supervisor & DJ Mario Cotto
Co-Creation & Set Designer Jeff Becker
Co-Creation & Dramaturg Tatiana Mallarino
Performance Thaddeus Phillips & Mario Cotto
Light Engineer David Todaro
Sound Engineer Dan Little
Design Fabrication + Artistry Case Miller
Developed in residence at Catapult in New Orleans, Mapa Teatro in Bogota, and FringeArts.

The Incredibly Dangerous Astonishing Lucrative and Potentially Completely TRUE Adventures of Barry Seal has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage .

In the Press
FringeArts Blog: Thaddeus Phillips on set in Colombia
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Another long, strange trip with Thaddeus Phillips 
Philadelphia Metro: The strange true tale of Barry Seal at FringeArts

$25 / Members save 30%