Tartuffe, Kiss My Ass!
Written and directed by Joey Marcacci
Flamboyán Theatre (The Clemente Center), Lower East Side, NYC
May 15th - 17th, 2026
Follow Along!
Please note that any and all profit made from this project will go back to the actors and the creative team involved.
About This Project - A Letter from Joey :)
During my senior year of college I was struggling with a kind of hilarious yet pretty serious question: what was I going to do with my Theatre degree? A true testament to the artist lifestyle I had chosen, or if I am to be as pretentious as my friends say, the artist lifestyle that chose me.
Being from Silicon Valley, I already felt massive pressure to succeed, especially since I had chosen a path without numbers or a code to weigh my worth. I felt like a true clown, explaining to my parents, friends, and neighbors that I was pursuing my love to play pretend. At a certain point, it was easier to disguise my passion and manufacture a false story for myself just to deflect the looks of confusion and pity. This practice of telling ambivalent stories of my interests and planned life path left me stranded in a gray desert of questions. If I can’t believe myself, then who can I believe? Do I actually believe anything myself or am I just believing what I am told I should? Is art even worth it in the first place or should I be doing something more practical or productive with my life? And am I even deserving of this privilege to pursue art or am I just a good actor pretending to care through the art I make? No matter which question I would think I finally had the answer to, I always ended up feeling inferior. Like an imposter, if you will. This had me starting to think about this idea of ‘inferiority’ and what it means to disguise it.
In 2022, when I was asked to adapt a play for my senior year directing thesis, I’d like to think everything that had been on my mind subconsciously led me back to a play I had read in high school: Tartuffe by Moliére. An early piece of the French Enlightenment era that pushed the intellectual revolution of the time as critiques of the Church’s role in government flooded the public domain. In simplest terms, the play is a satire on religious hypocrisy. From the slough of questions that filled my mind before, this play focused them into one idea, and not only from a personal perspective, but on a macro-scale: who are modern-day imposters? This is the question that catapulted me into researching the history of the play, learning about Moliére himself, and why I think his original piece has much more to give now in the 21st century.
In the spirit of the original text, through studies of commedia dell’arte and clowning, and along with inspirations from vaudeville and burlesque, I wrote the first version of Tartuffe, Kiss My Ass! in 2022. In 2023, I was able to present the 30-minute piece that gave a taste of what the world of this play would be and the ideas I was working with. Now, in 2026, after many re-writes and read-throughs, I am so excited to be bringing this piece to New York City. This full-length adaptation will build on the work from three years ago and bring audiences into this re-imagined classical play.
After pursuing stand up comedy in both San Francisco and Brooklyn for the past two years, I am beyond excited to make my directorial debut in New York City with Tartuffe, Kiss My Ass!. This show has been years in the making and this is just another step toward what I see being a much more extensive process. The excitement and belief I have in this piece is unmatched with anything I’ve creatively pursued in my life. I do hope you consider donating, and know that no matter how much or little you are able to give, it is truly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my little spiel and I hope to see you at the Big Top (whether in person or in spirit) this May.
Much gratitude,
Joey
Organizer
