Love Kills announces cast: including Deirdre O'Connell, John Hickok, American Idol Finalist Marisa Rhodes, Eli Schneider

LOVE KILLS, the new emo rock musical, announces a cast.  Eli Schneider and American Idol finalist Marisa Rhodes portray a real-life murderous young couple drunk on love, Charlie Starkweather and Caril Fugate. Stage and screen actress Deirdre O’Connell along with Broadway star John Hickok complete the cast.

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LOVE KILLS, the new emo rock musical, announces a cast.  Eli Schneider and American Idol finalist Marisa Rhodes portray a real-life murderous young couple drunk on love, Charlie Starkweather and Caril Fugate. Stage and screen actress Deirdre O’Connell along with Broadway star John Hickok complete the cast. Nebraska, 1958: the world is closing in on Charlie Starkweather and Caril Fugate, teenage lovers charged with committing eleven murders in the course of a week. Under pressure to confess by dawn, facts blur and loyalties shift, and the question remains: how far will you go for someone you love? Based on the true story that inspired the films Badlands and Natural Born Killers, this world-premiere emo rock musical by OBIE Award-winning playwright Kyle Jarrow (...Children's Scientology Pageant; and Gorilla Man) explores the intersection of love and desire.  With shades of Romeo and Juliet and resonance with of the current dark trend of school violence, it’s a dramatically cutting-edge new musical, filtered through Jarrow’s uniquely iconoclastic style.  Jason Southerland directs. JOHN HICKOK (Merle Karnopp) has starred in the Broadway productions of Little Women, Aida, Parade, and Our Country's Good, as well as in productions at the Irish Repertory Theatre, York Theatre, and more.   DEIRDRE O'CONNELL (Gertrude Karnopp) Deirdre O'Connell's close to fifty theatre credits include the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (directed by JoAnne Akalaitis); numerous productions at the Los Angeles Theatre Center including Stars in the Morning Sky (Dramalogue Award and Los Angeles Critics Award), Three Ways Home, The Geography of Luck, Etta Jenks (Dramalogue Award); Agnes of God (with Sandy Dennis and Geraldine Page) at Westport and Cape Playhouse; The Tempest (directed by Robert Woodruff) at La Jolla Playhouse, Fool for Love at Trinity Repertory Company (directed by David Wheeler); A Lie of the Mind at Promenade Theatre (directed by Sam Shepard); Mud at the Signature Theatre; In the Blood at the New York Shakespeare Festival; and The Front Page at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Lincoln Center (directed by Jerry Zaks). She has appeared on television in the series “The Practice,” "Second Noah," “L.A. Doctors,” “Law and Order,” “Chicago Hope,” “Sirens,” “Kate and Allie,” “Kansas,” and the HBO film From the Earth to the Moon,  among others. Her film credits include Hearts in Atlantis, City of Angels, Smoke, Fearless, Leaving Normal, State of Grace, Tin Men, and Anna.   MARISA RHODES (Caril Ann Fugate) was was one of the top 13 females on American Idol in 2006.  In addition, she performed as a singer opening for Taylor Swift and Kat McPhee and has acted in numerous regional productions in Pennsylvania and California.  This is her NYC stage debut.  She hails from  Bethlehem, PA.   ELI SCHNEIDER (Charlie Starkweather) New York debut.  His regional credits include: Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Ritchie Valens) with the Worcester Foothills Theatre Company, and Where has Tommy Flowers Gone? with the Berkshire Theatre Festival where he was also featured as a singer in a gala honoring Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson.  Before this production, Eli was also involved in the workshop of Love Kills in the same role with Boston Theatre Works.  He graduated with a B.A. in Theater Arts with departmental honors from Brandeis University.  Henry Russell Bergstein was the casting director.