" 'OTHELLO' MEETS 'SPINAL TAP' "   MEDIA RELEASE   Monday April 21, 2003 - For immediate release   PLAY READING of Paul Gibson’s THAT BOY*    *best new play: 2003 Toronto Fringe Best New Play Contest “I’ve heard from several people it was a smashing success” was the comment from someone who’d been unable to attend the March 31st, 2003 reading of Paul Gibson’s new award-winning play THAT BOY.  The sixty or so people who did attend burst into applause at the end of the reading (someone even yelled ‘Bravo!’) of this “very funny, very smart” play about two back-up singing, guitar-playing sidemen who co-write a song for the breakthrough album of a pop-rock diva with whom they are both romantically linked.  Michael Healey, (playwright: The Drawer Boy) said, “It’s great.  Great characters, great dynamic, full of delightful surprises.”  Jon Kaplan (NOW magazine) nodded, gave Gibson a big hug and said, “We’ll talk”.  James Kudelka (Artistic Director, National Ballet) scratched his chin and said, “There seems to be a lot of dancing in this…”. Others in attendance included: theater artists Alison Lawrence (Bittergirl), Liza Balkan, Kate Ashby (Second City), Irene Poole (Fighting Words), Nola Augustson, Maev Beaty and Alan Dilworth (Belltower Theatre), Gina Clayton, and Miriam Newhouse (Canadian Actor’s Equity); musicians Mark Kersey and Arlene Zock; performance artists Kristi ‘Madame Buskerfly’ Heath and Greg Tarlin; and producer Carla Nolan.   Comments included: “This is a very good and very funny play.   Well done.” “It’s a great idea for a play.” “A very smart play.” “What an exciting project.” “The promo song is brilliant.”