Asolo Rep Press Releases - Online Grants and Applications

Transcription

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 8, 2014
Asolo Repertory Theatre Presents
the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training
2014 New Stages Tour: A Midsummer Night's Dream
(SARASOTA, September 8, 2014) — From September through November 2014,
Asolo Repertory Theatre presents the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training
New Stages Tour production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's
Dream. This whimsical farce will be directed and adapted by New York City-based
theatre/opera director Jen Wineman. There will be a special opening night
performance on Thursday, October 2 at 7pm in Asolo Rep's Cook Theatre.
In Shakespeare's most beloved romantic comedy, four young lovers just can't
seem to get it together. To escape from prying parents, Hermia and her beloved
Lysander run away together. Demetrius, who also loves Hermia, and Helena, who
loves Demetrius, secretly join the runaways in one spirited night of mischievous
fairies and magical mayhem.
This season's New Stages Tour has a modern twist. Instead of Ancient Greece as
its backdrop, this adaptation is set in a modern-day high school, a pressure-cooker
of cliques, outsiders, jealousy, gossip and first love.
"The city of Athens becomes Athens Academy, a prestigious private school
Helena, Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander all attend. Hippolyta and Theseus rule
-more-
Midsummer
Page 2 of 5
the school as dean and principal, while the fairies are represented by rebellious
teens who would rather hang out in the woods near the academy than go to class,"
said director Jen Wineman. "While Midsummer deals heavily with magic, my hope
is that students will be able to connect with the very human experiences the
characters are dealing with: unrequited love, parental disapproval, a desire to
rebel, and a need for self-expression. As Puck so aptly puts it, 'Lord, what fools
these mortals be!'"
This season marks the fifth annual New Stages Tour, which presents innovative
45-minute adaptations of classic theatrical works to schools and community
venues throughout the state of Florida, from Tallahassee to Miami. Last season's
New Stages Tour production of Romeo and Juliet reached more than 14,000
students and community members. New Stages Tour productions are designed to
travel, with minimal yet highly imaginative costumes and props. Asolo Rep's
award-winning Education and Outreach Department provides multimedia study
guides and other interactive classroom tools and programming to supplement the
tour's school performances. Insightful post-show talkbacks with the performers
follow the majority of performances.
“Teachers always want their students to make meaningful, personal connections
when they read and analyze literature. Our artists are modeling that very same
relationship with Shakespeare each time they interpret a text and bring it to life."
said Kathryn Moroney, Asolo Rep's education and outreach director. "Many
educators in the community requested Midsummer for the New Stages Tour, and
we’re thrilled to offer this unique look at a play that is so well known and loved.”
This season, there will also be the first-ever New Stages Tour Family Day outdoor
performance on October 11 at 2pm, which will be preceded by a warm-up and
introduction to the story, and followed-by a picnic. In the spirit of Shakespeare in
the Park, the play will be performed free of charge in the outdoor amphitheater on
the Out-of-Door Academy’s Siesta Key campus. The event is recommended for
ages 9 and up; capacity is limited and reservations are required through the Asolo
Rep Box Office.
The New Stages Tour company is comprised of third-year FSU/Asolo
Conservatory for Actor Training students. The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor
Training, hailed as one the top 10 actor training programs in the country by U.S.
News and World Report, is a comprehensive three-year Master of Fine Arts
-more-
Midsummer
Page 3 of 5
graduate degree program. Each season, thousands of aspiring actors across the
country audition for 12 elite spots. During the third year of the program,
Conservatory students join Asolo Rep's professional company of actors to perform
in the theatre's mainstage productions.
“Asolo Rep’s commitment to serving our whole region through inspiring theatre
performances extends to our youngest audiences, many of whom experience live
theatre for the first time through our New Stages Tour,” said Michael Donald
Edwards, producing artistic director of Asolo Rep. “Shakespeare’s timeless stories,
our virtuoso ensemble of MFA Conservatory actors, and the education
department’s dedicated work with teachers and schools all combine to bring
outstanding artistry to the audiences and artists of the future.”
CAST
(In Alphabetical Order)
Andrea Adnoff
Matt Andersen
Gracie Lee Brown
Michael Frishman
Allie Henkel
Paul Herbig
Jory Murphy
Matthew R. Olsen
Brian Owen
Olivia Williamson
Philostrate/Puck
Lysander/Mustardseed/Starveling
Helena/Cobweb
Egeus/Quince
Hermia/Peaseblossom/Snout
Oberon/Snug
Demetrius/Moth/Flute
Oberon/Snug
Theseus/Bottom
Hippolyta/Titania
SELECTED ARTIST BIO
Jen Wineman (Director) is a director and choreographer living in New York City.
Recent credits include the world premiere of Charise Castro Smith’s play The
Hunchback of Seville (Washington Ensemble Theatre, Seattle, WA); the world
premiere of Bubble Boy (American Theater Group, Rahway, NJ); the Off Broadway
production of F#%king Up Everything (Off Broadway Alliance Best New Musical
Nomination); the world premiere of The King’s Whore (Walkerspace, NYC); Donald
Margulies’ Shipwrecked! (Triad Stage, Greensboro, NC); and Roller Disco The
Musical! (OBERON at the A.R.T, Cambridge, MA), which she co-wrote with Sam
Forman and Eli Bolin. Jen most recently directed Fable, a new musical by H.S.
-more-
Midsummer
Page 4 of 5
Kaufman and Chris Anselmo (NYMF/Signature Theatre, NYC). Next season, she
will direct The 39 Steps (Triad Stage, Greensboro, NC) and devise a new play
about white culture’s fascination with Hip Hop at PlayMakers Rep with playwright
Sarah Gancher. Education/Training: B.A. Vassar College, M.F.A. Yale School of
Drama. www.jenwineman.com
TICKETS
Tickets for the Thursday, October 2 opening night performance of A Midsummer
Night's Dream are $25 and available by calling or visiting the box office
(941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388; 5555 N. Tamiami Trail). For more information
about Asolo Rep and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, visit
www.asolorep.org.
SHAKESPEARE IN THE COMMUNITY
In addition to dozens of school visits, the 2014 New Stages Tour includes several
community performances that are open to the public. Please contact each
individual venue for ticket information.
October 11 at 1:30pm
Family Day at A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sarasota, FL)
Outdoor amphitheater on the Out-of-Door Academy’s Lower School campus
Tickets are free but reservations are required; this special family performance
includes a pre-show introduction for young audiences (recommended for age 9
and up), and a chance to meet and mingle afterwards.
941-351-8000; www.asolorep.org
October 17
Shadow Interpreted Theatre Performance
South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (Culver Bay, FL)
Shadow Interpreted Theater utilizes specially trained American Sign Language
(ASL) Interpreters who perform as “shadows” during a live stage production
alongside voiced actors. Shadow Actors are integrated into the performance by
mirroring A Midsummer Night’s Dream voiced actors, while interpreting the
character they are shadowing in ASL. In this way, all audience members can enjoy
-more-
Midsummer
Page 5 of 5
the full richness of the theater experience rather than having to watch a single
interpreter located off stage, and thereby missing much of the action taking place
on stage. This is a cutting-edge arts offering that makes the arts accessible,
genuine and fully enriching for all audiences.
786-573-5300; www.smdcac.org
October 23
Glenridge Performing Arts Center (Sarasota, FL)
941-552-5325; www.GPACTIX.com
November 5
Florida Theatre Conference at Santa Fe College (Gainesville, FL)
727-544-8915; www.flatheatre.org
November 8
Fogartyville Community Media & Arts Center (Sarasota, FL)
941-894-6469; wslr.org/station-events
Current as of 9/8/14; for current listings please
visit: http://asolorep.org/education/new-stages-tour-2014
SPONSORS
The New Stages Tour is sponsored in part by:
Asolo Repertory Theatre Guild; Cordelia Lee Beattie Foundation; Linnie E.
Dalbeck Memorial Foundation Trust; Mandell and Madeleine Berman Foundation;
Andrew R. Ferrell Foundation; Harold C. and Jacqueline F. Bladel Foundation;
Plantation Community Foundation.
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
Public Relations Manager
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
###
***For Immediate Release***
October 13, 2014
Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC
Opens Asolo Rep's 2014-15 Season
(SARASOTA, October 13, 2014) — Asolo Repertory Theatre launches its 201415 season with SOUTH PACIFIC, Rodgers and Hammerstein's glorious classic
that poetically captures the sweet intricacies of wartime romance. The original
1949 Broadway production, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "Tales of
the South Pacific," by James A. Michener, garnered 10 Tony Awards®, including a
still unprecedented sweep of all four acting categories. The acclaimed 2008
Lincoln Center Theater production received seven Tony Awards, the most of any
musical revival. Directed by Rob Ruggiero (Asolo Rep's Show Boat 2013), SOUTH
PACIFIC opens Friday, November 14, 2014 at 8pm, with previews Tuesday,
November 11 at 7:30pm and Wednesday, November 12 and Thursday,
November 13, 2014 at 8pm. The 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner will run
-more-
SOUTH PACIFIC
Page 2 of 8
through the holiday season and close Sunday, December 28, 2014.
Come away to a lush, remote island in the South Pacific during World War II where
U.S. Navy officers, Seabees and nurses discover and embrace unfamiliar people
and cultures in a place so very far from home. Cockeyed optimist Nellie Forbush, a
nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas, falls deeply in love with Frenchman Emile De
Becque, a widowed plantation owner who has lived on the island for many years
with his biracial children. But their enchanted love story is threatened by Nellie's
racist roots that she so deeply wants to outgrow. Ivy League hero Lt. Joseph Cable
must also face his own moral struggle when he becomes enraptured with Liat, a
beautiful island girl.
"The work of Rodgers and Hammerstein is timeless," said director Rob Ruggiero.
"SOUTH PACIFIC is remarkable in its expression of a very strong and, in its time,
very progressive message on racism. The musical’s unforgettable characters and
relationships, great humor and extraordinary music have made SOUTH PACIFIC
an engaging and moving classic since 1949. I’m thrilled to direct this brand new,
richly intimate production.”
The brightest stars from Broadway and London's West End lead this fresh,
talented cast. Loretta Ables Sayre (Bloody Mary) originated the role of Bloody
Mary in the Lincoln Center revival of SOUTH PACIFIC and received a Tony
nomination for her performance. Ben Davis (Emile De Becque) appeared as
Gaylord Ravenal in Asolo Rep's 2013 hit production of Show Boat and recently
appeared on Broadway in Violet alongside Sutton Foster. Kelly Felthous (Nellie
Forbush) performed the role of Glinda in the national tour of Wicked. Anthony
Festa (Lt. Joseph Cable) recently starred as Tony in West Side Story on the West
End.
The production's exotic island will come to life with a magnificent revolving set
designed by Michael Schweikardt.
"The turntable provides the show with a sweeping grandeur that reflects the epic
landscape of the South Pacific, and it allows the show to flow in a seamless and
cinematic way that perhaps wasn't technically possible in the time in which the
show was written," said Michael Schweikardt. "Different facets of the set provide
-more-
SOUTH PACIFIC
Page 3 of 8
different locations, but seeing it revolve from place to place provides a continuity
that shows us how interconnected we all are – no one is an island."
SOUTH PACIFIC is studded with the most unforgettable songs of all time,
including "Some Enchanted Evening," "There is Nothin' Like a Dame," "Bali Ha'i"
and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out-a My Hair." The glorious score will be
brought to life by a richly intimate eight-piece orchestra, led by music director
William Waldrop. This grand production will feature all-new orchestrations created
especially for Asolo Rep by Brad Haak, who is the music director of the highly
anticipated spring 2015 Broadway premiere of An American in Paris.
Asolo Rep is proud to host military personnel, veterans and their families at the
first preview performance of SOUTH PACIFIC. All current military and veterans
receive one free ticket and a second ticket for a guest at just $10. Two additional
family members can receive half-price tickets. As a longstanding Blue Star
Theatre, Asolo Rep will offer a discount of 20 percent off up to four tickets for
veterans and current military personnel throughout the run of SOUTH
PACIFIC and for all of the theatre's productions.
SOUTH PACIFIC kicks off the third season of Asolo Rep's American Character
Project, a close examination of this country's political, social and historical
anatomy. This Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, which boldly premiered in
1949 just four years after the conclusion of WWII, explores the increasingly
relevant themes of racism and the cruelties of war. The musical aptly follows last
season's Show Boat, which examined similar social themes at an earlier point in
U.S. history, and the 2012 production of 1776, in which America's founding fathers
vehemently debated the equality and rights of its prospective citizens.
"SOUTH PACIFIC's heroine, Nellie, is a true emblem of America’s involvement in
World War II and the remarkable social change that was just around the corner for
our country," said Michael Donald Edwards, producing artistic director of Asolo
Rep. "We are thrilled to rediscover and present this extraordinary American
musical theatre masterpiece that not only examines highly charged social issues
but also features some of the most exquisite music ever written."
-more-
SOUTH PACIFIC
Page 4 of 8
CAST
(in order of appearance)
Zachary Jones
Sophia Cavalluzzi
Gregory L. Williams*
Kelly Felthous*
Ben Davis*
Loretta Ables Sayre*
Matthew Amira*
Ryan Cavanaugh*+
Steven Grant Douglas
Benjamin Howes*
Jeffrey Todd Parrott
Matt Faucher*
Anthony Festa*
Jim Sorensen*
Peter Reardon*
Meggie Cansler*
Laura Gepford
Willow Schneider
Autumn Ogawa*
Jerome
Ngana
Henry/James Hayes, sailor
Ensign Nellie Forbush
Emile De Becque
Bloody Mary
Seabee Morty Wise
Bob McCaffrey, sailor
Seabee Bill Whitmore/Lt. Buzz Adams
Luther Billis
Professor
Stewpot
Lt. Joseph Cable
Cmdr. William Harbison
Capt. George Brackett
Ensign Dinah Murphy
Ensign Genevieve Marshall, nurse
Ensign Cora Macrae, nurse
Liat
Matthew Amira*, Meggie Cansler*, Ryan Cavanaugh*+,
Steven Grant Douglas, Matt Faucher*, Laura Gepford, Willow Schneider,
Gregory L. Williams*...…Islanders, Party Guests, Pilots, Radio Operators, French Girls
Patrick Enright
Milaan T. Smith
Jerome Alternate
Ngana Alternate
Gracie Lee Brown
Brian Owen
Female Swing
Male Swing
* = Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage
Managers in the United States.
+ = Dance Captain
SELECTED CREATIVE TEAM MEMBERS
Director
Orchestrations & Arrangements
Music Direction
Choreographer
Set Design
Costume Design
Lighting Design
Sound Design
Rob Ruggiero
Brad Haak
William Waldrop
Ralph Perkins
Michael Schweikardt
Leon Dobkowski
John Lasiter
Michael Miceli
-more-
SOUTH PACIFIC
Page 5 of 8
SELECTED ARTISTIC BIOS
LORETTA ABLES SAYRE* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Bloody Mary)
NYC and Broadway debut as Bloody Mary in Lincoln Center Theater’s revival
of SOUTH PACIFIC (Tony Award nomination and Theatre World Award) and
London debut at Barbican Theatre, and U.K. tour. Theater: Bloody Mary in SOUTH
PACIFIC (The MUNY) (Paper Mill Playhouse), Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
(Hawaii Theatre), You Somebody (Diamond Head Theater), Dreamgirls (Hawaii
Theatre), Song for the Navigator (Honolulu Theater for Youth - U.S. tour including
Kennedy Center and Australia.) Concerts: opening for the Beach Boys, Kenny
Loggins, James Brown, Four Tops. TV: Hawaii Five-0, Beyond the Break, North
Shore, Hawaii, Baywatch Hawaii, The Byrds of Paradise. Movies: Sex and the City
2, dress.www.LorettaAblesSayre.com
BEN DAVIS* GUEST ARTIST, SECOND SEASON (Emile De Becque) Starred in
London this summer as Fred Graham in Kiss Me, Kate as part of the BBC Proms
at Royal Albert Hall. Billy, Anna Nicole the Opera (BAM, Lincoln Center); Brom
Broeck, Knickerbocker Holiday. Broadway: The Preacher, Violet; Mr. Lindquist, u/s
Carl-Magnus, Fredrik, A Little Night Music; Javert & Enjolras, Les Miserables;
Trevor Graydon, Thoroughly Modern Millie; Marcello, Baz Luhrmann’s La
Boheme (2003 Tony Honor). Tour: Galahad, Spamalot. Regional: Emile de
Becque, South Pacific (The MUNY); Capt. Von Trapp, The Sound of Music (Paper
Mill Playhouse) and Ravenal, Show Boat (Goodspeed & Asolo Rep).
Film/TV: Mozart’s The Magic Flute directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, 30 Rock,
and Numb3rs. Visit www.BenjaminJayDavis.com
KELLY FELTHOUS* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Nellie Forbush) most
recently performed both the roles of Glinda and Nessarose in the national tour of
Wicked. Kelly also originated the role of Gloria in Flashdance and Eva in Bring it
On. Other favorite credits include Grease (Marty), Seussical (Mayzie), Legally
Blonde(Elle), A Chorus Line (Val), Boeing-Boeing (Gloria), Singin’ in the Rain
(Kathy), Gypsy (June), Urinetown (Little Sally). Alumna of NYU/CAP21.
ANTHONY FESTA* FIRST SEASON (Lt. Joseph Cable) starred as Tony in West
Side Story on London’s West End as well as the UK and International tour of the
production. Other credits include the recent revival of Bare in NYC, How Deep is
-more-
SOUTH PACIFIC
Page 6 of 8
the Ocean at NYMF, Billy Elliot, Hairspray and The Full Monty. Mr. Festa was also
recently seen in the Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall presentation of Andrew
Lippa’s I Am Harvey Milk. www.AnthonyFesta.net
ROB RUGGIERO GUEST DIRECTOR, THIRD SEASON (Director) directed Ella at
Asolo Rep in 2007 and last season’s Show Boat. On Broadway, Rob directed
Looped (starring Valerie Harper), and High (starring Kathleen Turner); both
productions toured nationally. Off-Broadway he conceived and directed the original
musical revue Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn (Drama Desk/Outer
Critics Circle Nominations). Rob is also the Producing Artistic Director of
TheaterWorks in Hartford, CT. At TheaterWorks, he has directed more than 50
productions, and recently conceived a new holiday comedy, Christmas on the
Rocks. Rob’s work has been seen at regional theaters around the country,
including multiple shows at Goodspeed Musicals, where he recently completed an
acclaimed 50th anniversary revival of Fiddler on the Roof. This spring he will
direct Fiddler on the Roof in Athens, Greece. www.RobRuggiero.com
SOUTH PACIFIC PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
Family Day at SOUTH PACIFIC
Saturday, November 22 at 2pm; pre-show activities begin at 11:30am
Asolo Repertory Theatre
Tickets are $60 for a family of four; two tickets must be for patrons under the age
of 18. Additional tickets for children under age 18 are available for $12.
Dance in the "SOUTH PACIFIC Music Video" to upbeat, re-mixed versions of the
musical's classic hits. Learn simple choreography and then perform in this sure-togo-viral music video. This family friendly event will also feature interactive activities
exploring the world of the musical prior to the performance and a post-show
discussion with the cast.
Carefully Taught: Singing Social Change
Sunday, December 14 at 7pm
FSU Center for the Performing Arts
Cook Theatre
Tickets are $15
-more-
SOUTH PACIFIC
Page 7 of 8
Sample songs from the last century of American musical theatre and listen for the
sounds and sparks of change in this intimate educational performance.
ONGOING PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
The Scoop
One hour prior to every performance of SOUTH PACIFIC
Asolo Rep's Mezzanine
Arrive one hour before curtain to hear the ideas and inspirations that contributed to
the making of SOUTH PACIFIC.
Tuesday Talkbacks
Every Tuesday performance
Join us for an intimate post-show discussion with featured actors or guests
following every Tuesday performance of SOUTH PACIFIC.
Meet the Actors
Sunday, November 30 at 2pm
Asolo Rep's Mertz Theatre
Immediately following the 2pm matinee, ask questions and learn more from
members of the cast at this intimate discussion.
TICKETS
Tickets for SOUTH PACIFIC and the entire 2014-2015 Asolo Repertory Theatre
season are on sale now. To purchase tickets, call 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388,
visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office, located in
the lobby of the theatre. Asolo Repertory Theatre is located at 5555 North Tamiami
Trail in the Florida State University Center for the Performing Arts. The box office
is currently open Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm. Box office hours in season,
beginning October 29, are Monday 10am – 4pm, Tuesday 10am - 7:30pm,
-more-
SOUTH PACIFIC
Page 8 of 8
Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 8pm, and Sunday 10am – 2pm. The box office
closes at 4pm when there are no evening performances and phone lines close one
hour prior to the start of any performance. Season subscription packages are also
available online and by visiting or calling the box office.
SPONSORS
Asolo Rep is able to present SOUTH PACIFIC because of the generosity of its
sponsors. Corporate sponsors for SOUTH PACIFIC are Sarasota Magazine,
Herald-Tribune Media Group, SNN Suncoast News Network, Hyatt Place,
Michael’s on East, 107.9 WSRZ, and Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Asolo
Rep’s major season sponsors are Florida State University, Virginia B. Toulmin
Foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Designing Women Boutique, The
Shubert Foundation, Publix Super Markets Charities, The Woman’s Exchange,
Inc., Tropical Cadillac, and Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Asolo
Rep’s artistic programs are paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist
Development Tax revenues. Asolo Rep is sponsored in part by the State of
Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on
Arts and Culture.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
December 5, 2014
Adventure Awaits in Asolo Repertory Theatre's
Production of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker
"The Matchmaker is a match – many matches – made in heaven."
- The National Post
(SARASOTA, December 5, 2014) — Asolo Repertory Theatre kicks off its 2014-15
rep season with three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thornton Wilder's uproarious
romantic comedy, THE MATCHMAKER. Directed by Peter Amster, the play opens
Friday, January 9, 2015 at 8pm, with previews Tuesday, January 6 at 7:30 pm,
Wednesday, January 7 and Thursday, January 8 at 8pm. THE MATCHMAKER,
which was adapted into the Tony Award®-winning musical Hello, Dolly!, runs in
rotating rep through Saturday, April 11, 2015.
Set at the dawn of the 20th century, THE MATCHMAKER chronicles an eccentric
band of characters as they frolic through New York City in search of love, fortune
and adventure. When the brusque and affluent merchant Horace Vandergelder
wants a wife, he seeks the assistance of sprightly matchmaker Dolly Gallagher
Levi. He intends to marry Irene Molloy, a widowed, disenchanted milliner, but Dolly
-more-
The Matchmaker
Page 2 of 6
has already secretly concocted a plan to marry him herself. Vandergelder's
madcap employees Cornelius and the young Barnaby are never far from their
boss' quest for a wife, leaving a sticky trail of shenanigans along the way.
"Some might ask why Asolo Rep would not just do Hello, Dolly!" said
Amster. "Well, it turns out that the play offers pleasures and insights into the
American character that the musical does not. Dolly Gallagher Levi, as conceived
by Wilder, is every bit as deliciously sly, witty, and entertaining as Jerry Herman
and Michael Stewart’s Dolly, but she’s more than that. She’s a shrewd philosopher,
with many truths to share with us about character and economics. Things don’t
always go her way."
Peggy Roeder, who played Madge, Sonia, and Ma Joad in last season's
Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and The
Grapes of Wrath, stars as the magnetic Dolly Levi. Steve Hendrickson, who
played Andrew McNair in Asolo Rep's 2012-13 season production of 1776, plays
Horace Vandergelder.
Celebrated American author Thornton Wilder penned two Pulitzer Prize winning
plays: Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and his novel The Bridge of San Luis
Rey received the Pulitzer Prize in 1928. Wilder also wrote the screenplay for Alfred
Hitchcock's 1943 film Shadow of a Doubt.
Set designer Russell Metheny, who has designed the sets for Asolo Rep's
productions of Philadelphia, Here I Come!, 1776, My Fair Lady and Twelve Angry
Men, brings Wilder's world of turn of the century Yonkers and New York City to life
with an imaginative set that reflects the upbeat, highly active feel of the play.
"It was important to design the sets for THE MATCHMAKER to allow a continuous
fluid non-stop action," said Metheny. "The first two acts are designed to move from
one to the other without stopping, in view, to keep the action, energy of the
performances and story flowing. As the first act ends the set rides upstage away
from the audience's view as the Act 2 set rides on from both sides of the stage. In
this transition we travel as if we took the train from Yonkers to Manhattan,
accented by a vista of a bustling elevated train station."
-more-
The Matchmaker
Page 3 of 6
Infused with joyful original music composed by Gregg Coffin, THE
MATCHMAKER merrily continues the third season of Asolo Rep's American
Character Project, a five-year celebration of this country's diverse culture and
people. This season, a common thread of money, power and sex weaves through
each production. The central theme of Wilder's longest-running Broadway play is to
take chances and embrace love and adventure, which remains a core
American value.
“Filled with wit and wisdom, THE MATCHMAKER is a brilliant comedy that evokes
a 19th century version of Match.com," said Michael Donald Edwards, producing
artistic director of Asolo Rep. "At the same time it captures the heart of the human
dilemma we understand so well in America: how to achieve financial security while
at the same time experiencing the unbridled joy of living in the moment."
CAST
Steve Hendrickson*
Paul Herbig
Brian Owen
Tyla Abercrumbie*
Buddy Haardt*
Andrea Adnoff
Douglas Jones*
Peggy Roeder*
Owen Teague*
Olivia Williamson
Allie Henkel
David Breitbarth*
Matthew R. Olsen
Matt Andersen
Michael Frishman
Jory Murphy
Carolyn Michel*
Gracie Lee Brown
Horace Vandergelder
Ambrose Kemper
Joe Scanlon/Gypsy Musician
Gertrude
Cornelius Hackl
Ermengarde
Malachi Stack
Dolly Levi
Barnaby Tucker
Mrs. Molloy
Minnie Fay
Cab Man
Rudolf
August
Waiter
Waiter
Miss Flora Van Huysen
Miss Van Huysen’s Cook
*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in
the United States.
-more-
The Matchmaker
Page 4 of 6
Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Composer
Peter Amster
Russell Metheny
Virgil C. Johnson
Paul Miller
Matt Parker
Gregg Coffin
(in alphabetical order)
PETER AMSTER SEVENTH SEASON (Director, The Matchmaker) returns to
Asolo Rep where he directed Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, You Can’t
Take it With You, Fallen Angels, Deathtrap, The Perfume Shop, This Wonderful
Life, and choreographed 1776. In Chicago, he was nominated for Joseph Jefferson
Awards for directing Once on This Island, The World Goes Round, The
Rothschilds (Apple Tree Theatre), and Pride and Prejudice (Northlight Theatre).
Other Chicago area theatres include Steppenwolf, The Goodman, The Court, Live
Bait, Pegasus, and Route 66. Regional theatres include the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theater, Syracuse
Stage, Geva Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theater,
Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Peninsula Players, Weston Playhouse, Maltz
Jupiter Theatre, and Laguna Playhouse. Peter has directed and choreographed
operas for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Skylight Opera in
Milwaukee, and Light Opera Works in Evanston, IL.
STEVE HENDRICKSON* GUEST ARTIST, SECOND SEASON (Horace
Vandergelder) made his 2012 Asolo Rep debut as Andrew McNair in 1776. He
reprised the role in the 2013 remount at the American Conservatory Theater. He’s
appeared at Barrington Stage, Syracuse Stage, the Folger, Chicago and Orlando
Shakespeare Theatres, Arizona Theatre Company, The Old Globe, Cincinnati
Playhouse, and Florida Stage. At home in Minneapolis he has appeared at the
Skylark Opera, Park Square, Guthrie, Jungle, CTC, Chanhassen, History, and
Pillsbury House Theatres. Awards include a 2000 CityPages Best Actor Award for
Threepenny Opera (Macheath), 2003 and 2005 Star-Tribune Best Actor Awards
for Camelot (Arthur) and Merchant of Venice (Shylock), and 2005 and 2009 Ivey
Awards for Cyrano de Bergerac and Tyrone and Ralph. In 2001 he became the
first performer to receive Dayton-Hudson Distinguished Artist Fellowship. He’s the
founder of Audio-Visceral Productions at http://audio-visceral.com.
-more-
The Matchmaker
Page 5 of 6
PEGGY ROEDER* GUEST ARTIST, FIFTH SEASON (Dolly Levi) has appeared at
Asolo Rep in The Grapes of Wrath; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and
Spike; Philadelphia, Here I Come!; You Can’t Take It With You; and My Fair Lady.
Favorite roles nationally include The Dresser (Steppenwolf), Romeo and
Juliet (Goodman), The Clean House (Milwaukee Rep), Kabuki Macbeth (Chicago
Shakespeare), The Cider House Rules (Atlantic Theater Company), The How and
the Why (Etopia Productions), The Big Meal (ATC), Cabaret (Peninsula
Players), Float (About Face), The Busy World is Hushed (Next). Her work has
garnered four Jeff Awards, three Artisan Awards, two After Dark Awards. Film and
TV credits include Groundhog Day, Road To Perdition, Were the World
Mine, Stranger Than Fiction, Star Trek: DS9, Law & Order.
PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
Tuesday Talkbacks
January 6, February 3, March 24, 2015 (following the 7:30pm performance)
following every Tuesday performance of THE MATCHMAKER.
Meet the Actors
Sunday, February 8, 2015
(Following the 2pm matinee)
members of the cast.
TICKETS
Tickets for THE MATCHMAKER and the entire 2014-2015 Asolo Repertory
Theatre season are on sale now. Tickets for THE MATCHMAKER start at just $22.
To purchase tickets, call 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388, visit www.asolorep.org, or
visit the Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre.
Asolo Repertory Theatre is located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the Florida State
University Center for the Performing Arts. The box office is open Monday 10am –
4pm, Tuesday 10am – 7:30pm, Wednesday - Saturday 10am – 8pm, and Sunday
-more-
The Matchmaker
Page 6 of 6
10am – 2pm. The box office closes at 5pm when there are no evening
performances and phone lines close one hour prior to the start of any
performance. Season subscription packages are also available online and by
visiting or calling the box office.
SPONSORS
Asolo Rep is able to present THE MATCHMAKER because of the generosity of its
sponsors. Corporate sponsors for THE MATCHMAKER are The Jewish
Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, Tidewell Hospice, Morton's Gourmet Market &
Catering, ABC 7, The Observer and Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Asolo
Rep’s major season sponsors are Florida State University, Virginia B. Toulmin
Shubert Foundation, The Woman’s Exchange, Inc., and Tropical Cadillac. Asolo
Rep’s artistic programs are paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist
Development Tax revenues. Asolo Rep is sponsored in part by the State of Florida,
Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts
and Culture.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
December 11, 2014
Asolo Repertory Theatre's 2014-15 Season Continues
with David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People
(SARASOTA, December 11, 2014) — Asolo Rep's 2014-15 season continues
with GOOD PEOPLE, David Lindsay-Abaire's 2011 Tony® nominated play
that cracks open the gritty world of the blue collar worker to reveal America's often
rigid social strata. Academy Award®-winning actress Frances McDormand
received a Tony Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the play's central
character, Margie Walsh, in 2011. This sharp comedy-infused drama
opens Friday, January 16, 2015 at 8pm, with previews Wednesday, January
14and Thursday, January 15 at 8pm. Directed by Greg Leaming, Associate
Artistic Director of Asolo Rep and the Director of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for
Actor Training, GOOD PEOPLE will close on Sunday, March 1, 2015.
Margie Walsh has just been fired from yet another minimum-wage paying job in the
impoverished South Boston neighborhood she never escaped. With an adult child
with disabilities to care for, she lives paycheck to paycheck and is desperate to
make ends meet. Her brief high school flame, Dr. Mike Dillon, has managed to
-more-
Good People
Page 2 of 7
break the "Southie" chain and is a successful, wealthy physician with a beautiful
young wife and daughter. After more than 30 years apart, she visits Mike hoping to
find a job and, instead, slowly unravels the tightly wound web of their messy,
wrong-side-of-the-tracks adolescence.
"What makes this play so thrilling for me is that playwright David Lindsay-Abaire
brings to it the same kind of absurd sense of humor and enormous heart that
overflows in his plays like Fuddy Meers, Kimberly Akimbo, and the musicals Shrek
and High Fidelity," said Leaming. "Lindsay-Abaire has a winning sense of humor
and such a passionate connection to his characters that, no matter where the plot
might take them, these people always seem to have the kind of spirit that allows
them to find hope in the darkest of situations. Margie may be struggling, but she
has a sharp, edgy sense of humor that keeps her afloat at all times."
Playwright, screenwriter and lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire is one of the
most provocative and raw voices in American theatre and film. His 2006
play Rabbit Hole received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He also wrote the
screenplay for the film version of the play, which starred Nicole Kidman. Mr.
Lindsay-Abaire wrote the book and lyrics for Shrek: The Musical.
GOOD PEOPLE continues the third season of Asolo Rep's in-depth American
Character Project, a five-year exploration of where the U.S. is as a nation and
where it came from. GOOD PEOPLE poignantly delves into the explosive collision
of class and race, an issue that remains a national and global hot topic.
“GOOD PEOPLE is a striking contemporary piece that deals with a very present
economic reality,” said Michael Donald Edwards, producing artistic director of
Asolo Rep. “Margie represents so many who are constrained by their upbringings
and must truly fight to climb to another socioeconomic class. Playwright David
Lindsay-Abaire has placed a magnifying glass on an impoverished South Boston
neighborhood and, in turn, has artfully illuminated the challenges that this country
must still overcome.”
-more-
Good People
Page 3 of 7
CAST
Denise Cormier*
Jory Murphy
Peggy Roeder*
Anne-Marie Cusson*
Tim Grimm*
Tyla Abercrumbie*
Margaret
Stevie
Dottie
Jean
Mike
Kate
*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the
United States.
Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Hair/Wig & Make-Up Design
Greg Leaming
Bill Clarke
Dane Laffrey
Eric Southern
Matt Parker
Michelle Hart
TYLA ABERCRUMBIE* GUEST ARTIST, THIRD SEASON (Gertrude, The
Matchmaker; Kate, Good People) is excited to return to Asolo Rep, under the
direction of Peter Amster and Greg Leaming. She appeared in last season’s Vanya
and Sonia and Masha and Spike and The Grapes of Wrath. Regional credits; Next
Theatre, Northlight, TimeLine, The Goodman, Court Theatre, Portland Theatre
Company, Pittsburgh Public, Milwaukee Repertory, ATL, St. Louis Black
Repertory, Victory Garden, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Studio Arena, Onyx
Theatre Company, Coronet Theatre. Film & Television Credits: The Poker House,
Crisis, Low Winter Sun, The Mob Doctor, Chicago Code, Detroit 187, The Beast,
ER, and the 2015 spring release of the film Unexpected.
DENISE CORMIER* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Margaret, Good People)
credits include the Broadway national tour of The Graduate, the long-running OffBroadway Bill W. and Dr. Bob, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ Good People,
-more-
Good People
Page 4 of 7
Actors Theatre of Louisville and Cleveland Play House’s Intimate Apparel, Indiana
Repertory Theatre and Pioneer Theatre Company’s The Diary of Anne Frank,
Northern Stage’s Clybourne Park, and the world premiere of Annapurna at Magic
Theatre, as well as seasons at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and Theatre
at Monmouth. Her TV and film credits include Law & Order CI, Six
Degrees, Guiding Light and The Big Gay Musical. MFA: Shakespeare Theatre
Company – Academy for Classical Acting at GWU. www.denisecormier.com
TIM GRIMM* GUEST ARTIST, SECOND SEASON (Mike, Good People) As an
actor, Mr. Grimm's regional theatre credits include work at Indiana Rep, Syracuse
Stage, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, The Goodman, Centre Stage, Phoenix
Theatre, Cleveland Play House, and The Chester Theatre. His film and TV credits
are numerous and include Clear and Present Danger, opposite Harrison Ford and
two seasons co-starring on NBC's Reasonable Doubts. As an award-winning
singer-songwriter, Tim tours North America and Europe with his unique brand of
roots-folk-Americana music. He has released numerous recordings (most recently
The Turning Point) that consistently reach the top of the Folk and Euro-Americana
charts. Tim leads small group tours to Ireland and The Netherlands each year. For
more information visit: www.timgrimm.com
GREG LEAMING TENTH SEASON (Director, FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor
Training; Associate Artistic Director, Asolo Rep; Director, Good People) For Asolo
Rep, he has directed his own translation/adaptation of Anything to Declare?; as
well as Hearts; The Imaginary Invalid; The Play’s the Thing; Boeing, Boeing; The
Game’s Afoot; Other Desert Cities; and the world premiere of Jason Wells’ Men of
Tortuga. For the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, he has directed The School for Lies,
Twelfth Night, Cloud Nine, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Pericles, Blue Window,
Murder by Poe, and The Mystery Plays. He was the Director of Artistic
Programming for Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT, as well as Acting Artistic
Director for the 2001-2002 seasons. There he directed, among others, the world
premieres of Going Native, Abstract Expression, The Third Army, Syncopation,
and An Infinite Ache (also for Stamford Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in
the Park and Merrimack Repertory Theatre). Other credits include numerous
productions around the country, including the world premieres of Losing Father’s
Body, Church of the Sole Survivor, Jeffrey Hatcher’s The Turn of the Screw, as
well as many other productions at Portland Stage Company, Contemporary
American Theatre Festival, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Clarence Brown Theatre
Company, Stage West, Shakespeare Sedona, Southwest Shakespeare, and
Banyan Theater Company. His adaptation/translation of Pierre
-more-
Good People
Page 5 of 7
Feydeau’s Le Dindon titled The Patsy will premiere at the Resident Ensemble
Players in Delaware in fall of 2015.
SPECIAL PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
Inside Asolo Rep
Wednesday, January 28 at 11am
Cook Theatre
Tickets for Inside Asolo Rep are $5 for the general public and free for donors and
Asolo Rep Guild members.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at David Lindsay-Abaire's Tony nominated
Broadway play, GOOD PEOPLE. This panel discussion, led by Asolo Rep's
dramaturg/literary manager Lauryn Sasso, will feature Greg Leaming, director
of GOOD PEOPLE and Asolo Rep's Associate Artistic Director/Director of the
FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training; and Peggy Roeder, who plays the role
of Dottie in GOOD PEOPLE, as well as Dolly Levi in Asolo Rep's upcoming
production of The Matchmaker.
Inside Asolo Rep is sponsored by the Observer Media Group and Hotel Indigo.
Faces of Change
March 19 & 20; 7:30pm
Cook Theatre
Local residents lend their voices and their talents to our third annual documentarystyle outreach production. Inspired by GOOD PEOPLE, we asked "When times are
tough, what's the hardest choice you have to make?"
Faces of Change is sponsored by the Koski Family Foundation and SunTrust
Foundation
The Scoop
One hour prior to every performance of GOOD PEOPLE
Arrive early to get "The Scoop" from a member of the cast who will share the ideas
and inspirations that contributed to the making of the production.
-more-
Good People
Page 6 of 7
Tuesday Talkbacks
January 27, February 10 and February 24
following every Tuesday performance of GOOD PEOPLE.
Meet the Actors
Sunday, February 22
TICKETS
Tickets for GOOD PEOPLE and the entire 2014-2015 Asolo Repertory Theatre
season are on sale now. Tickets for GOOD PEOPLE start at just $22. To purchase
tickets, call 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388, visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the
Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre. Asolo
Repertory Theatre is located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the Florida State
SPONSORS
Asolo Rep is able to present GOOD PEOPLE because of the generosity of its
sponsors. Corporate sponsors for GOOD PEOPLE are SRQ Magazine, Modern
Events, and Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Asolo Rep’s major season
sponsors are Florida State University, Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Gulf Coast
Community Foundation, Designing Women Boutique, The Shubert Foundation,
The Woman’s Exchange, Inc., and Tropical Cadillac. Asolo Rep’s artistic programs
are paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Asolo
-more-
Good People
Page 7 of 7
Rep is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of
Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
December 19, 2014
Directed by Tony Award-Winner Frank Galati,
Both Your Houses Opens January 23 at Asolo Rep
"As timely as tonight's CNN News" – Variety
(SARASOTA, December 19, 2014) — The old adage, "the more things change,
the more they stay the same," rings resoundingly true in this Pulitzer Prize-winning
American classic. Helmed by Tony Award®-winning director Frank Galati, Maxwell
Anderson's scintillating political satire BOTH YOUR HOUSES opens Friday,
January 23, 2015 at 8pm at Asolo Rep, with previews Wednesday, January 21
and Thursday, January 22 at 8pm. The play runs in rotating rep through Sunday,
April 12, 2015. The title of this smart production derives from Mercutio's famous
line in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: “a plague on both your houses.”
In the early 1930s, rookie representative Alan McClean is determined to clean up
Capitol Hill. His tenacity is challenged by an ironclad political machine led by
seasoned congressmen who are more interested in their own financial gain than
their constituents' welfare – sound familiar? When Alan discovers that he can't beat
his opponents at their own game, he shakes things up and what unfolds is a
spirited, riveting political chess match.
“Maxwell Anderson’s BOTH YOUR HOUSES is a shrewd, fast-paced and witty
play about getting a bill through congress," said Michael Donald Edwards,
-more-
Both Your Houses
Page 2 of 6
producing artistic director of Asolo Rep. "This gripping satirical masterpiece will
take our audiences on an exhilarating ride as they experience what it’s like to be at
the center of political contention and its startling resolution.”
Anderson is a highly acclaimed playwright, journalist, author and poet who wrote
several American classics, including Winterset, Bad Seed and Knickerbocker
Holiday and historical dramas including Elizabeth the Queen and Mary of
Scotland. BOTH YOUR HOUSES continues the third season of Asolo Rep's
American Character Project. Director Frank Galati kicked off the five-year
exploration with his highly acclaimed production of 1776, a look at the birth of this
nation. In BOTH YOUR HOUSES, Galati visits America's decision makers in the
1930s and examines how these leaders, and their motives, have
changed. Because the Maxwell Anderson Estate has given Frank Galati the
opportunity to revisit the original text, he has sculpted it in a way that gives the
second act an exciting velocity.
"In Anderson's satire both houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of
Representatives, are equally venal and corrupt," said Galati. "Everyone in the play
is an American character but only one of the Americans in the play has real
character – the young congressman at the center of the action provides a moral
compass in a tempest of graft and corruption. This play was awarded the Pulitzer
Prize in 1933 and 81 years later we still want to scream, 'a plague on both your
houses.'”
CAST
Katie Cunningham*
Gracie Lee Brown
Ben Diskant*
Douglas Jones*
Jeffrey Todd Parrott
David Breitbarth*
Steve Hendrickson*
Michael Frishman
Matthew R. Olsen
Marjorie Gray
Bus Nillson
Eddie Wister
Solomon Fitzmaurice
Mark
Simeon Gray
Levering
Merton
Dell
-more-
Both Your Houses
Page 3 of 6
Brian Owen
Carolyn Michel*
Mark Konrad
Don Walker
Matt Andersen
Tom Coiner*
Paul Herbig
Sneden
Miss McMurtry
Wingblatt
Peebles
Farnum
Alan McClean
Ebner
*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in
the United States.
SELECT CREATIVE TEAM MEMBERS
Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Frank Galati
Russell Metheny
Mara Blumenfeld
Paul Miller
Matt Parker
SELECTED ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
(In alphabetical order)
DAVID BREITBARTH* ASSOCIATE ARTIST, NINETEENTH SEASON (Cab
Man, The Matchmaker; Simeon Gray, Both Your Houses) Over 70 productions at
Asolo Rep including: The Grapes of Wrath, Glengarry Glen Ross, Clybourne Park,
God of Carnage, Once in a Lifetime, Twelve Angry Men, The Front Page, The
Immigrant, world premieres of Men of Tortuga and Perfect Mendacity, The Winter’s
Tale, A Few Good Men, Laughing Stock, A Flea in Her Ear, Rounding Third, Art,
Hobson’s Choice, and Nicholas Nickleby. Broadway 1st National Tour: Spring
Awakening. Off-Broadway: Short Change, Perfect Crime, Fluorescent
Hunger, and This Hard Life. Los Angeles: Life in the Trees (West Coast premiere)
and David’s Mother. Film and television: Frasier, Taken!, Law & Order, and
Fame. He has appeared regionally around the country; most recently in Tribes at
Florida Repertory Theatre, where he is a member of their Ensemble of Theatre
Artists. David is a proud 2013 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow selected by the prestigious
Ten Chimneys Foundation and he is married to the actress Kate Hampton.
-more-
Both Your Houses
Page 4 of 6
TOM COINER* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Alan McClean, Both Your
Houses) is delighted to be making his Asolo Rep debut. He’s performed around the
country, treading the boards at Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the Denver Center
for the Performing Arts, PlayMakers Rep in North Carolina, Rochester’s Geva
Theatre, and close to home at the Cape Playhouse on Cape Cod. His TV credits
include appearances on Person of Interest, Boardwalk Empire opposite Steve
Buscemi, and the upcoming HBO mini-series Crime starring John
Turturro. www.tomcoiner.com
FRANK GALATI FIFTH SEASON (Director, Both Your Houses) is a member of the
Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Over the years, he has received nine
Joseph Jefferson Awards for his work in Chicago theatre. Here at Asolo Rep he
has directed Philadelphia, Here I Come!; 1776; My Fair Lady; and the awardwinning Twelve Angry Men. He has directed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
Berkeley Rep, Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater,
San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, The Metropolitan
Opera, The Stratford Festival in Canada, and the Roundabout Theatre in New
York. For twenty years he was an Associate Director at the Goodman Theatre in
Chicago. He won two Tony Awards in 1990 for his adaptation and direction of the
Steppenwolf production of The Grapes of Wrath on Broadway and was nominated
again in 1998 for directing the musical Ragtime on Broadway. In 1989, Mr. Galati
was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay (with Lawrence Kasdan)
of The Accidental Tourist. In 2000 he was inducted into The American Academy of
Arts & Sciences. Mr. Galati is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of
Performance Studies at Northwestern University. He lives in Sarasota.
SPECIAL PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
Inside Asolo Rep
Wednesday, February 25 at 11am
Cook Theatre
Asolo Rep Guild members.
Michael Donald Edwards, Asolo Rep's producing artistic director and director
-more-
Both Your Houses
Page 5 of 6
of Our Betters, and Frank Galati, the Tony Award-winning director of BOTH YOUR
HOUSES, will shed light on their creative processes in this dynamic behind-thescenes discussion. Led by Asolo Rep's dramaturg/literary manager Lauryn Sasso,
the panel will also feature actress Katie Cunningham, who plays Marjorie Gray
in BOTH YOUR HOUSES.
Tuesday Talkbacks
February 17, March 3, March 17, 2015
following every Tuesday performance of BOTH YOUR HOUSES.
Meet the Actors
Sunday, January 25, 2015
TICKETS
Tickets for BOTH YOUR HOUSES and the entire 2014-2015 Asolo Repertory
Theatre season are on sale now. Tickets for BOTH YOUR HOUSES start at just
$22. To purchase tickets, call 941.351.8000 800.361.8388 visitwww.asolorep.org,
or visit the Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre.
Asolo Repertory Theatre is located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the Florida State
-more-
Both Your Houses
Page 6 of 6
SPONSORS
Asolo Rep is able to present BOTH YOUR HOUSES because of the generosity of
its sponsors. Corporate sponsors for BOTH YOUR HOUSES are Plumbing Today,
Sarasota Magazine, SNN Suncoast News Network, Gold Coast Eagle Distributing,
and Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Asolo Rep’s major season sponsors are
Florida State University, Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Gulf Coast Community
Foundation, Designing Women Boutique, The Shubert Foundation, The Woman’s
Exchange, Inc., and Tropical Cadillac. Asolo Rep’s artistic programs are paid for in
part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Asolo Rep is
sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural
Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
Directed by Michael Donald Edwards, OUR BETTERS
Opens March 13 at Asolo Rep
"A more devious Downton Abbey." – NowToronto.com
(SARASOTA, February 5, 2015) — Before there was Downton Abbey, there
was Our Betters, W. Somerset Maugham's fiery romantic dramedy about the
invasion of sly social-climbing American heiresses into British society. The fifth
play in the third season of Asolo Rep's five-year American Character
Project illuminates a sect of wealthy, early 20th-century American women who
yearned for the pomp and circumstance – and parties – of the British
nobility. Directed by Asolo Rep's producing artistic director Michael Donald
Edwards, Our Betters opens Friday, March 13, 2015 at 8pm and runs through
Sunday, April 19 at Asolo Rep, with previews Wednesday, March 11 and
Thursday, March 12 at 8pm.
In early 20th-century England, broke British aristocrats desperately needed money
to maintain their ornate estates, and wealthy American women desperately wanted
-more-
Our Betters
Page 2 of 7
the prestige of marrying well. After marrying a baronet, American hardware heiress
Lady Pearl Grayston appears to have everything a girl could want – a posh title, a
throng of adoring lovers, and the crème de la crème of British society, including a
princess and a duchesse, at her beck and call – but she wants more. When Pearl's
little sister, Bessie, crosses the pond to join her sister's enviably glamorous life and
find a noble husband of her own, she is unprepared for the scandal that is about to
erupt behind closed manor doors.
“Brimming with dynamic and passionate women of position, prestige and
wealth, Our Betters reveals how they prevailed in a society with limited options for
women," said Michael Donald Edwards. "One of the most thrilling elements of
directing this piece is the opportunity to look at it as a contemporary play – a new
play, set in the period – rather than a revival. The discussion about women and
their role in society, the workplace, and in politics, is far from over. It is my hope
that our production sparks that conversation in our community.”
In the U.S., author and playwright W. Somerset Maugham is best known for his
novels, including Of Human Bondage, Cakes and Ale, and The Razor's Edge.
Throughout his career, Maugham also found great success as a playwright,
penning such revered theatrical works as The Constant Wife and Our Betters,
which premiered on Broadway in 1917 and was adapted into a 1933 film. Asolo
Rep worked closely with the playwright's estate to create an abridged twoact version of the original play and is thrilled to present this brand new production
to the Sarasota community.
PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
Inside Asolo Rep
Both Your Houses & Our Betters
Wednesday, February 25 at 11am
Cook Theatre
Asolo Rep Guild Members.
-more-
Our Betters
Page 3 of 7
Michael Donald Edwards, Asolo Rep's producing artistic director and director of
Our Betters, and Frank Galati, the Tony Award®-winning director of Both Your
Houses, will shed light on their creative processes in this dynamic behind-thescenes discussion. Led by Asolo Rep's dramaturg/literary manager Lauryn Sasso,
the panel will also feature actress Katie Cunningham, who plays Marjorie Gray
in Both Your Houses and Lady Pearl Grayston in Our Betters.
The Scoop
One hour prior to every performance of Our Betters (Opening Night March 13
excluded)
the making of Our Betters.
Tuesday Talkbacks
March 31, April 7, April 14, 2015
following every Tuesday performance of Our Betters.
Leading Ladies
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Asolo Rep’s Mezzanine
Immediately following the 2pm matinee, discuss the depiction of women and
gender roles with guest panelists and fellow audience members.
Meet the Actors
Sunday, March 22, 2015
-more-
Our Betters
Page 4 of 7
CAST
Elizabeth “Bessie” Saunders
Pole
Lady Pearl Grayston
Fleming Harvey
Thornton Clay
Duchesse de Surennes
Anthony Paxton
Princess Della Cercola
Lord Bleane
Arthur Fenwick
Ernest
Maid
Maid
Footman
Footman
Footman
Allie Henkel
Brian Owen
Katie Cunningham*
Buddy Haardt*
Tom Coiner*
Anne-Marie Cusson*
Ben Diskant*
Denise Cormier*
Matt Andersen
Jonathan Epstein*
David Breitbarth*
Andrea Adnoff
Gracie Lee Brown
Michael Frishman
Paul Herbig
Matthew R. Olsen
United States.
Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Composer / Sound Designer
Hair/Wig & Make-Up Designer
Voice & Dialect Coach
Michael Donald Edwards
Lee Savage
Tracy Dorman
Jen Schriever
Fabian Obispo
Michelle Hart
Patricia Delorey
-more-
Our Betters
Page 5 of 7
DENISE CORMIER* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Margaret, Good
People; Princess Della Cercola, Our Betters) credits include the Broadway national
tour of The Graduate, the long-running Off-Broadway Bill W. and Dr. Bob,
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ Good People, Actors Theatre of Louisville and
Cleveland Play House’s Intimate Apparel, Indiana Repertory Theatre and Pioneer
Theatre Company’s The Diary of Anne Frank, Northern Stage’s Clybourne Park,
and the world premiere of Annapurna at Magic Theatre, as well as seasons at
Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and Theatre at Monmouth. Her TV and film
credits include Law & Order CI, Six Degrees, Guiding Light and The Big Gay
Musical. MFA: Shakespeare Theatre Company – Academy for Classical Acting at
GWU. www.denisecormier.com
KATIE CUNNINGHAM* GUEST ARTIST, SECOND SEASON (Marjorie Gray, Both
Your Houses; Lady Pearl Grayston, Our Betters) Katie's Asolo Rep appearances
include Annette in God of Carnage; Hamlet, Prince of Cuba; Once in a Lifetime;
and Hamlet in Hamlet Redux. Recently, Katie played Brooke in Noises Off
(BroadwayWorld Nomination, Best Actress); Lady of the Lake in Spamalot; and
Betsy/Lindsey in Clybourne Park. Her Off-Broadway credits include the American
Place Theatre and NY Fringe in addition to numerous regional theaters. Katie is a
teaching artist at McCarter Theatre Center, a proud Equity member, and alumna of
UNC Chapel Hill and FSU/Asolo Conservatory (MFA). www.katiecunningham.com
ANNE-MARIE CUSSON* GUEST ARTIST, SECOND SEASON (Jean, Good
People; Duchesse de Surennes, Our Betters) is delighted to return after last
season’s Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike, Philadelphia, Here I Come! and The
Grapes of Wrath. NYC: Broadway’s Magic/Bird (u/s); off-Broadway’s Stalking The
Bogeyman, Echoes of the War opposite Richard Easton and Schnitzler’s Far And
Wide at The Mint Theatre. Ms. Cusson toured the country as Truvy in Steel
Magnolias. Regional: All My Sons, Arms and The Man, The Diary of Anne Frank,
The Clean House, Our Town, A Moon For The Misbegotten and Defying Gravity.
As company member of Alabama Shakespeare Festival: Nurse in Romeo and
Juliet and Hermione Danglars in The Count of Monte Cristo. TV and Film: Law &
Order, SVU; As The World Turns; The Good Shepherd; My Dead Boyfriend; Feral
Mix. New Hampshire native and proud member of Actors Equity.
-more-
Our Betters
Page 6 of 7
MICHAEL DONALD EDWARDS NINTH SEASON (Producing Artistic Director;
Director, Our Betters) is in his ninth season as producing artistic director of Asolo
Repertory Theatre. He was previously the associate artistic director of Syracuse
Stage and served as artistic director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz. A Garland Award
and Drama Logue Award-winning director, Mr. Edwards has directed at Cleveland
Play House, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre, Syracuse Stage, The
Shakespeare Theatre, San Jose Rep, Opera San Jose, the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival, the Old Globe in San Diego, Virginia Stage Company, the Virginia Opera,
the State Theatre of South Australia, Opera Australia, Victoria State Opera, and
the Metropolitan Opera. In previous seasons for Asolo Rep, Mr. Edwards has
directed his English adaptation as well as Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz’s Spanish
translation of Shakespeare’s text in Hamlet, Prince of Cuba; as well as Las
Meninas; La Bête; The Last Five Years; The Life of Galileo; Perfect Mendacity;
The Winter’s Tale; Equus; A Tale of Two Cities; Darwin in Malibu; Nobody Don’t
Like Yogi; Amadeus; The Smell of the Kill; The Grapes of Wrath and several
pieces in the annual Unplugged festival of new plays.
ALLIE HENKEL THIRD YEAR STUDENT, FIRST SEASON (Minnie Fay, The
Matchmaker; Elizabeth “Bessie” Saunders, Our Betters) is a proud graduate of The
State University of New York at Binghamton and is thrilled to be performing on the
Asolo Rep stage. Conservatory credits include Li’l Bit in How I Learned to
Drive and Nurse in Antigone. Asolo Rep credits include You Can’t Take It With
You (u/s Alice), The Game’s Afoot (u/s Aggie).
TICKETS
Tickets for Our Betters and the entire 2014-2015 Asolo Repertory Theatre season
are on sale now. Tickets for Our Betters start at just $22. Our Betters contains
mature language and themes. To purchase tickets, call 941.351.8000 or
800.361.8388 visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the Asolo Repertory Theatre Box
Office, located in the lobby of the theatre. Asolo Repertory Theatre is located at
5555 North Tamiami Trail in the Florida State University Center for the Performing
Arts. The box office is open Monday 10am – 4pm, Tuesday 10am – 7:30pm,
Wednesday - Saturday 10am – 8pm, and Sunday 10am – 2pm. The box office
closes at 5pm when there are no evening performances and phone lines close one
hour prior to the start of any performance. Season subscription packages are also
available online and by visiting or calling the box office.
-more-
Our Betters
Page 7 of 7
SPONSORS
Asolo Rep is able to present Our Betters because of the generosity of its
sponsors. Corporate sponsors for Our Betters are Sun Hydraulics Corporation,
SCENE Magazine, WUSF Public Media, 92.1 The COAST and Williams Parker
Harrison Dietz & Getzen. Asolo Rep’s major season sponsors are Florida State
University, Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation,
Designing Women Boutique, The Shubert Foundation, The Woman’s Exchange,
Inc., and Tropical Cadillac. Asolo Rep’s artistic programs are paid for in party by
Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Asolo Rep is sponsored in
part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and
the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
February 12, 2015
Asolo Repertory Theatre Wins WEDU Be More Award
(SARASOTA, February 12, 2015) — Asolo Repertory Theatre received the
2015 WEDU Be More Brilliant Award during the special 10th anniversary
ceremony held on Thursday, February 12, 2015 in Tampa. The theatre was
also one of five finalists in the “Be More Unstoppable – Nonprofit Organization of
the Year” category, from a pool of more than 100 organizations. The WEDU Be
More Awards honor exceptional regional nonprofit organizations in several
different categories. WEDU is West Central Florida's leading PBS station, reaching
16 counties through on-air and online platforms.
This year, Asolo Rep's world-class Scenic Studio and its impressive 2013-14
season was honored in the Be More Brilliant category, which, according to WEDU,
"recognizes initiatives, projects, and/or services that are unique, creative, or
innovative and will be presented to the organization responsible for the
development, coordination, delivery, and results of the project." During the 13-14
season, the Scenic Studio crafted exceptionally ambitious and imaginative sets for
the theatre's celebrated productions of Show Boat, The Grapes of Wrath, and
Hero: The Musical.
Led by longtime Production Manager Vic Meyrich, Asolo Rep's Scenic Studio is
located in the theatre's state-of-the-art Robert and Beverly Koski Production
Center. The Koski Center's expert artisans and craftspeople build innovative sets
and props for Asolo Rep's eight to 10 mainstage productions each season as well
as productions for Broadway, Miami's Arsht Center, the Metropolitan Opera
summer season at Tanglewood, Sarasota Opera, the Sarasota Ballet, and more.
This is the third WEDU Be More Award that the theatre has won in the past four
years, having won previously for Asolo Rep's education initiatives.
"It's such an honor for me and for the whole production team," said Vic Meyrich.
"It's truly special not just for the scenic shop but for the costume shop and our
backstage crew, as well."
-more-
Asolo Rep Wins WEDU Be More Award
Page 2 of 2
"It's really wonderful to have our extraordinary shop honored and validated in this
way," said Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards. "This is the largest
full-service production facility south of Atlanta. We have become a center in the
state of Florida for doing excellent, innovative work in the area of physical
production."
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
February 20, 2015
Asolo Rep Presents its Annual Documentary Theatre Project:
Faces of Change on March 19 and 20
(SARASOTA – February 20, 2015) Asolo Repertory Theatre presents Faces of
Change, its annual documentary theatre project, on March 19 and 20 at 7:30pm in
the FSU Center for the Performing Arts Cook Theatre, and March 23 at
Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center. Produced by the theatre's awardwinning Education & Outreach Department, the project takes the stories and
experiences of community members and transforms them into an engaging
theatrical reading of an original script created from local residents’ own words.
Each reading will be followed by a community conversation. Admission is free;
however, tickets are required. Tickets for Cook Theatre performances are available
by visiting Asolo Rep's Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre, 5555 N.
Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, by visiting http://www.asolorep.org or calling
941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388. Tickets for the performance at Fogartyville are
available by calling 941.894.6469.
This year's Faces of Change project, directed by Ria Cooper, Asolo Rep's
Education & Outreach Specialist, is inspired by the theatre's production of Pulitzer
Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People. Set in South Boston, Good
People takes a look at the “haves” and “have-nots,” questions the American
Dream, and explores what makes “good people.” Faces of Change explores the
same central themes of Good People – class, community, and difficult choices in
times of economic hardship – but through stories that have been experienced by
local community members and residents.
Individuals and representatives of local organizations, including Blessing Bags,
Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County, Family Promise, Fogartyville Community
Media & Arts Center, Friendship Center, Oasis Middle School, Healthy Start,
-more-
Faces of Change 2015
Page 2 of 2
Resurrection House, Safe Child Coalition, Salvation Army, SPARCC, Suncoast
Partnership to End Homelessness, Trinity Without Borders, and YMCA
Schoolhouse Link have collaborated to introduce the project to area residents with
stories to tell.
“Our aim, with this kind of theatre-making, is to provide an opportunity for
community-building and education," said director Ria Cooper. "The interest is not
in providing answers, but in raising questions. The Faces of Change project offers
us the unique chance for some critical inquiry and reflection about our community
and who we are.”
Faces of Change is a collaborative documentary theatre piece that is created
entirely from the narratives shared by community members through a series of
story circles, interviews, theatre games and activities, and performed by those
same community members. It uses theatre to create connections and explore the
connections that already exist.
”I think great things will come out of the conversations because the conversations
come when people open their minds and toss aside the barriers," said Sarasota
Commissioner Carolyn Mason, one of the project's interviewees. "Then the words
come out, and people express themselves. Then things start to happen for the
better.”
Faces of Change is sponsored by the Koski Family Foundation, the SunTrust
Foundation, and the Gannett Foundation.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
February 26, 2015
Pulitzer Prize Winner Nilo Cruz's Sotto Voce
Opens Thursday, April 2 in the Historic Asolo Theater
"Beautifully written ... It's the perfect quest." — The New York Theatre Wire
(SARASOTA, February 26, 2015) — Pulitzer Prize- and Greenfield Prize-winner
Nilo Cruz's exquisite new play Sotto Voce opens Thursday, April 2, 2015 at
8pmin the Historic Asolo Theater and runs through Sunday, April 26, with
previews on Tuesday, March 31 at 7:30pm and Wednesday, April 1 at 8pm.
This hauntingly beautiful metaphysical love story will be directed by Melissa
Kievman, who previously directed Searching for Eden: The Diaries of Adam and
Eve, and The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead, and Expecting
Isabel at Asolo Rep. Sotto Voce premiered in February 2014 at New York’s
Theater for the New City, and had a brief yet celebrated run the following month
at Miami-Dade County Auditorium’s On.Stage Black Box theater. The title of Mr.
Cruz's new work is an Italian musical term that means to speak in a soft manner
with purpose.
-more-
Sotto Voce
Page 2 of 6
Cruz captures the resiliency of true love and the power of memories in this spiritual
masterpiece. German-born novelist Bemadette Kahn lost her one true love when
he fled Nazi Germany aboard the SS St. Louis, a ship carrying 937 Jewish
immigrants seeking refuge in Cuba. Cuba and the United States tragically turned
the ship away, leaving the ship's passengers to return to Europe where many
perished in Nazi concentration camps. Her heartbreak resurfaces when a young
Jewish Cuban writer contacts the now 80-year-old reclusive, lovelorn Bemadette to
research the ship's ill-fated voyage. Their relationship slowly evolves into a
transcendent romance based on her memories of the boy she never stopped
loving.
Olivier Award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter, who was the first British female to
ever professionally portray the title role in Shakespeare's King Lear, stars as the
wistful Bemadette. On screen, Ms. Hunter played Arabella Figg in Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix. NYU Tisch School of the Arts CAP21 graduate Ben
Rosenbach and Cuban-American stage and television actress Hannia Guillen star
alongside Hunter.
Cuban-born Nilo Cruz was the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in
2003 for his Tony-nominated play Anna in the Tropics. He crafted the Spanish
translation for Asolo Rep's 2012 production of Hamlet, Prince of Cuba. In 2014 Mr.
Cruz was awarded the prestigious Greenfield Prize and commissioned to write a
brand new play, which will soon be read for the first time at Asolo Rep.
“Nilo Cruz is one of the great American playwrights writing today, and we are
thrilled to present his gorgeous, poetic play, Sotto Voce, one of the most original
pieces we’ve ever produced at Asolo Rep,” said Producing Artistic Director Michael
Donald Edwards. “The galvanizing idea behind Mr. Cruz’s new masterpiece is the
tragedy of the SS St. Louis but what it truly focuses on is the complicated and
erotically charged relationship between the solitary Bemadette and the young
Cuban writer desperate to meet her.”
Sotto Voce continues the third season of Asolo Rep's five-year American
Character Project. The play artfully depicts several different American immigration
stories throughout the 20th Century and the dawn of the 21st Century.
-more-
Sotto Voce
Page 3 of 6
“Sotto Voce tells the beautiful, intimate story of the impossible convergence of
three individuals – all of whom travelled far from their respective homelands for
possibilities in America,” said director Melissa Kievman. “The risks that each have
taken in pursuit of safety and prosperity, freedom of expression or inspiration are
incalculable and reflect the same kind of intrepid tenacity, resourcefulness,
sacrifice, and vision that America, one could say, was built upon. The people who
populate Sotto Voce have each experienced what one describes as the ‘merciless
face of America’ and yet they are all, in the spirit of the American character,
passionate dreamers.”
CAST
Ben Rosenbach*
Kathryn Hunter*
Hannia Guillen*
Saquiel/Ariel
Bemadette
Lucila/Nina
*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers
in the United States.
Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Projection Designer
Composer / Sound Designer
Melissa Kievman
Adrian W. Jones
Michiko Kitayama Skinner
Matthew Richards
Robert Figueira
Erik T. Lawson
HANNIA GUILLEN* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Lucila/Nina, Sotto Voce) is
a Cuban-American stage and television actress. She studied at Prometeo Theater
at Miami-Dade College under Teresa Maria Rojas. Right out of school she landed
a guest star role in Burn Notice, which thanks to casting director Ellen Jacoby, she
-more-
Sotto Voce
Page 4 of 6
turned into a recurring role on the soap opera Passions. She now resides in New
York and works out of Repertorio Español, where she currently stars in Our Little
Girl’s Getting Married, Doña Flor, In The Time of the Butterflies, and Blind Date, for
which she received an A.C.E. award. Other theater credits include: The
Repetition, The Color of Desire, and A Bicycle Country.
KATHRYN HUNTER* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Bemadette, Sotto Voce)
An internationally renowned award-winning actress and director, Kathryn trained at
the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, has worked with leading companies
worldwide, and is a founder-member of the Theatre De Complicite Company. Her
many credits include title roles in Richard III, King Lear, Antony & Cleopatra,
Celestina, Yerma, Donna Rosita, Spoonface Steinberg, The Skriker (Time Out
Best Actress Award), Mother Courage, The Visit (Olivier Award for Best Actress),
and the acclaimed solo performance Kafka’s Monkey. Recent theatre credits
include, The Valley of Astonishment, Cards, Fragments, A Tender Thing, The Bee,
and Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Film and television credits
include, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, All or Nothing, Orlando, The
Baby of Macon, Rome, Silent Witness, Grushko, Maria’s Child, and The Tale of
Tales. Directing credits include, My Perfect Mind (Young Vic/New York/UK
Tour), Othello (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Birds (RNT), Comedy of
Errors and Pericles (Globe Theatre).
MELISSA KIEVMAN THIRD SEASON (Director, Sotto Voce) is thrilled to be back
at Asolo Rep where she directed Searching for Eden: The Diaries of Adam and
Eve by James Still and The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead by
Robert Hewitt. Kievman has developed and directed new work in New York at The
Atlantic Theater Company, The Lucille Lortel for Theaterworks USA, Ars Nova,
Soho Rep, and regionally at La Jolla Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Great Lakes
Theater Festival/Cleveland Public Theater, ACT Seattle, O'Neill Theater Center,
Portland Center Stage, Hangar Theater, Geva Theater, Roadworks Chicago, and
at The Gate Theater in London. Melissa is on the Directing Faculty of the Brown
University/Trinity Rep Program, was a recipient of the NEA/TCG Fellowship for
Directors and is a graduate of NYU Playwrights Horizons and Northwestern.
BEN ROSENBACH* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Saquiel/Ariel, Sotto Voce)
is very excited to be making his debut at Asolo Repertory Theatre. Previous credits
-more-
Sotto Voce
Page 5 of 6
include: “Danny Saunders” in the Barrington Stage production of The Chosen, and
“Lucas” in the Flat Rock Playhouse production of Laughter on the 23rd Floor.
PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
Inside Asolo Rep
Sotto Voce
Wednesday, March 25 at 11am
Cook Theatre
Tickets for Inside Asolo Rep are $5 for the general public and free for donors and Asolo Rep
Guild Members.
Explore the exquisite world of Sotto Voce with director Melissa Kievman. This
interactive panel discussion will be guided by Asolo Rep's dramaturg/literary
manager Lauryn Sasso.
The Scoop
One hour prior to every performance of Sotto Voce (Opening Night April 2 excluded)
Historic Asolo Theater
Arrive early to hear the ideas and inspirations that contributed to the making of
Sotto Voce.
Tuesday Talkbacks
March 31, April 7, April 14, April 21 2015
following every Tuesday performance of Sotto Voce.
Meet the Actors
Sunday, April 12, 2015
-more-
Sotto Voce
Page 6 of 6
TICKETS
Tickets for Sotto Voce and the entire 2014-2015 Asolo Repertory Theatre season
are on sale now. Tickets for Sotto Voce start at $15.To purchase tickets, call
941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388, visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the Asolo
Repertory Theatre Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre. Asolo Repertory
Theatre is located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the Florida State University
Center for the Performing Arts. The box office is open Monday 10am – 4pm,
Tuesday 10am – 7:30pm, Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 8pm, and Sunday 10am
– 2pm. The box office closes at 5pm when there are no evening performances and
phone lines close one hour prior to the start of any performance. Season
subscription packages are also available online and by visiting or calling the box
office.
SPONSORS
Asolo Rep is able to present Sotto Voce because of the generosity of its
sponsors. Corporate sponsors for Sotto Voce are Treviso, Mezzacorona Wine,
Hampton Inn Sarasota / Bradenton Airport and Brighthouse Networks. Asolo Rep’s
major season sponsors are Florida State University, Virginia B. Toulmin
Shubert Foundation, The Woman’s Exchange, Inc., and Tropical Cadillac. Asolo
Rep’s artistic programs are paid for in party by Sarasota County Tourist
Development Tax revenues. Asolo Rep is sponsored in part by the State of Florida,
Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts
and Culture.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
February 27, 2015
Asolo Rep Proudly Presents Three Brand New Plays in its
Sixth Annual New Play Festival: UNPLUGGED
(SARASOTA FEBRUARY 27, 2015) — Asolo Rep proudly presents three neverbefore-seen plays in its sixth annual Unplugged new play festival on Sunday,
March 15, Sunday March 22, and Sunday April 19 at 7pm. Curated by Asolo
Rep's Dramaturg and Literary Manager Lauryn E. Sasso, Unplugged provides a
unique platform for playwrights to hear their compelling, still-in-progress plays
performed by Asolo Rep's company of actors for audiences for the very first time.
Audiences have the rare chance to immerse themselves in the creative process as
playwrights welcome audience reaction and feedback to their work during intimate
post-performance conversations.
Unplugged 2015 Dates:
Sunday, March 15 at 7pm
Sunday, March 22 at 7pm
Sunday, April 19 at 7pm
The titles of the Unplugged Festival plays will be announced soon through
a separate media release.
The first two readings will be held in Asolo Rep's rehearsal hall and the third in
the FSU Center for the Performing Arts Cook Theatre, both located at 5555 N.
Tamiami Trail in Sarasota. Tickets to each reading are $7 and are available at
Asolo Rep's Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre, or by calling the box
office at 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388, or online at www.asolorep.org.
-more-
Unplugged 2015
Page 2 of 2
Unplugged Festival plays may contain mature content and language.
Unplugged is sponsored by:
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
Asolo Rep Announces Spring 2016 Musical
View this email in your browser
***EMBARGOED Until Friday, March 6, 2015 at 11:05am EST***
Asolo Repertory Theatre to Present JOSEPHINE in Spring 2016;
The World Premiere of an Original Broadway-bound Musical
(SARASOTA, March 6, 2015) — On Friday, March 6, 2015, Asolo Repertory
Theatre proudly announced that it will present the world premiere of JOSEPHINE,
an original Broadway-bound musical, in April and May 2016. Previews for
JOSEPHINE begin April 27, press night is Friday, May 6 at 8pm, and the
musical runs through Sunday, May 29. Chronicling a dynamic chapter in the life of
the legendary African-American performer Josephine Baker, from 1939-1945, this
exquisite new musical stars Grammy® nominated, multi-talented, multi-platinum
selling recording artist Deborah Cox, who recently provided the vocals for the
Whitney Houston Lifetime movie: Whitney. Ms. Cox starred on Broadway in the
title role of Aida and as the female lead in the recent revival of Jekyll & Hyde.
Asolo Rep is producing JOSEPHINE in collaboration with two-time Tony Award®winner Kenneth Waissman, who produced the original Broadway production of
Grease and is one of only two producers in the history of Broadway to have a
musical run over 3,000 performances and a play run over 1,000. Waissman
produced a Broadway workshop for JOSEPHINE in May and June 2011, which
also featured Cox as the iconic leading lady. JOSEPHINE will be directed and
choreographed by two-time Tony Award-nominee Joey McKneely, who recently did
the musical staging for the celebrated Broadway revival of West Side Story.
JOSEPHINE features a book by Ellen Weston and Mark Hampton, and an original
score composed by five-time Emmy Award®-nominee and three-time Grammy
Award-nominee Stephen Dorff with lyrics by Academy Award®, Grammy, and
Golden Globe®-nominee and two-time Emmy Award-winner John Bettis.
Led by Asolo Rep's Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards, Kenneth
Waissman, Deborah Cox, Joey McKneely, and Stephen Dorff provided insight and
behind-the-scenes information with members of the press and Asolo Rep donors
and sponsors at a special presentation in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts
-more-
JOSEPHINE
Page 2 of 6
Cook Theatre on Friday, March 6, 2015. It was also revealed that Ms. Cox will
perform with Mr. Dorff at Asolo Rep's Annual Gala on Saturday, March 7 at The
Ritz-Carlton Sarasota.
Inspired by Stephen Papich’s book “Remembering Josephine,” the musical
revolves around Baker’s stint as the star of the Folies Bergere in Paris between
1939-45, her scandalous affair with Swedish Crown Prince Gustav VI, and her
heroic service in the French Resistance during World War II. She was hailed as the
“Black Pearl.” Picasso dubbed her the “Nefertiti of Now.” Ernest Hemingway called
her “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw.” The entrancing Josephine
Baker was beautiful, ambitious, and the toast of Europe at the height of her fame in
the 1920s-30s. Born into poverty in St. Louis, she rose to become an icon of the
Jazz Age, captivating Paris audiences as a dancer, singer, actress and the
twentieth-century’s first international black female sex symbol.
"We are excited to present the world premiere of this extraordinary original
musical, brimming with unparalleled Broadway talent," said Producing Artistic
Director Michael Donald Edwards. "JOSEPHINE vividly brings to life the story of a
beloved American icon — one of the most magnetic and fascinating women in
history. This celebration of Josephine Baker is a remarkably evocative work of art
and a brilliant addition to our five-year American Character Project.”
"For a number of years, I had been intrigued with the idea of recreating the
glamorous and exotic world of Josephine Baker in a stage musical," said Kenneth
Waissman. "She was a larger than life African-American expatriate who
transcended her color, her gender and her times. Her exotic looks, fabulous gowns
and feathered headdresses, her obsession with her royal lover and her life-risking
exploits in the French underground during WWII provide the sex, romance and
intrigue of this original new musical. I’m thrilled to be working with Asolo Repertory
Theatre on the world premiere of this Broadway-bound dream."
Asolo Rep's complete 2015-16 Season will be announced on Monday, March 16 at
3pm in the Mertz Theatre. Tickets for the season announcement are free but
required. Renewal subscriptions for the 2015-16 season are on sale now and new
subscriptions go on sale immediately following the 2015-16 season
announcement. Subscriptions are available by visiting the Asolo Rep Box Office,
located in the
-more-
JOSEPHINE
Page 3 of 6
lobby of the theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, by calling 941.351.8000 or
800.361.8388 or online at www.asolorep.org. Single tickets will go on sale in
September 2015.
SELECT CREATIVE TEAM MEMBER BIOS
DEBORAH COX (Josephine Baker) is a GRAMMY®-nominated, multi-platinum
selling and multi-talented entertainer. Ms. Cox has conquered the R&B and pop
charts, with six top 20 Billboard magazine R&B singles, and an impressive twelve
#1 hits on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart. Cox new single, “Kinda Miss You”
is produced by the award-winning team, The Rascals. While singing with Celine
Dion, Cox was discovered by the renowned music industry executive Clive Davis
and instantly signed to Arista Records. Her gold-selling debut album, Deborah
Cox, was released in 1995. In 1998, she followed up with the release of her
second project, One Wish. From this album came the double platinum “Nobody’s
Supposed To Be Here,” which held the record for being the longest running #1
R&B single for 14 consecutive weeks and earned her a Soul Train Lady of Soul
Award. Her second single, “We Can’t Be Friends,” also went to #1 on Billboard's
singles chart and sold over 500,000 copies. “Things Just Ain’t The Same” and “It’s
Over Now” followed. Deborah has sung with Andrea Bocelli and toured with David
Foster, Cyndi Lauper and Sarah McLachlan with Lilith Fair. She was also invited to
perform for First Lady Michelle Obama and President Obama. In 2000, Deborah
collaborated with her friend Whitney Houston to record the duet “Same Script
Different Cast” for her Greatest Hits CD. Her third album, The Morning After, was
released in 2002 with “Up & Down (In & Out)” co-written with Jimmy Jam and Terry
Lewis. In 2003, her fourth album, Remixed, was released, featuring
her Billboard magazine chart-topping dance remixes. In 2008, she formed Deco
Recording Group and released her sixth studio album, The Promise, which earned
her a tenth #1 spot on the Billboard Dance chart with the international hit single,
“Beautiful U R.” In 2012, Deborah garnered her eleventh #1 Billboard Dance single
with “If It Wasn’t For Love.” In addition to roles in both film and television, Cox also
released her fifth album, Destination Moon, a GRAMMY®-nominated tribute
album to the legendary Dinah Washington. In between recordings and tours, she
has performed in Tony Award-winning Broadway productions. In 2013, she costarred as Lucy in Frank Wildhorn’s and Steve Cuden’s Broadway musical Jekyll &
-more-
JOSEPHINE
Page 4 of 6
Hyde. In 2004, Cox made her Broadway debut in the lead role of Elton John’s and
Tim Rice's Broadway musical, Aida. Her recent critically-acclaimed and stellar
vocal performance in Lifetime’s Biopic, Whitney has received rave reviews from
media outlets including The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety,
Newsday, The Boston Globe, ESSENCE and numerous others. Over the years,
Cox has worked behind the scenes recording music for several film soundtracks,
including Akeelah and the Bee, Hotel Rwanda, Kingdom Come, Money Talks, A
Good Man is Hard To Find and Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns. Cox has been
recognized for her longstanding commitment to various social issues in the LGBTQ
community. In January 2015, she received the Out Music Pillar Award. In 2014,
she also received the California State Senate Award and in 2007, she received
The Civil Rights Award from the New York Senate for her efforts in the fight for
Human Rights and Equality.
JOEY McKNEELY (Director/Choreographer) is a two-time Tony Award® nominee.
He did the musical staging, recreating the Jerome Robbins choreography, for the
recent hit Broadway revival of West Side Story, currently on National Tour. At the
request of Andrew Lloyd Weber, McKneely directed and choreographed Evita for
the ‘opening of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Theatre in Chiswick, outside
of London. The London Times, in reviewing the production, stated, “Director Joey
McKneely gets every decision right!” He choreographed the Broadway hits Smokey
Joe’s Café and The Boy From Oz (in which Hugh Jackman starred as the famous
Australian singer, Peter Allen.) He also choreographed the Cy Coleman
musical, The Life, receiving a Tony Award nomination and an Outer Critics Award
nomination. McKneely made his directorial debut with West Side Story at La Scala
Opera House in Milan. The production played in more than 15 countries around the
world, including an engagement in London at the Sadler-Wells Theatre. In Tokyo,
he directed and choreographed the musical, The Beautiful Game. In addition,
McKneely directed and choreographed national tours of Annie Get Your
Gun; Crazy For You; Pippin; Thoroughly Modern Millie and Smokey Joe’s Café.
Other musical staging credits include: the Broadway production of The Wild
Party; Whistle Down the Wind; A Wonderful Life; The Time of Your Life; Jolson, the
Musical and Making Tracks. Beginning as a performer, he appeared in the original
Broadway casts of Starlight Express; Roza; Carrie; the revival of She Loves
Me and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.
-more-
JOSEPHINE
Page 5 of 6
STEVE DORFF (Composer) is a five-time Emmy Award nominee and a three-time
Grammy Award nominee. Barbra Streisand sings his latest song "I’d Want It to Be
You" on her just released new album, Partners. He has written over twenty ‘Top
10’ pop hits, nine number one film songs, and with lyricist John Bettis, wrote such
hits as Whitney Houston’s "One Moment in Time," Madonna’s "Crazy For You,"
Barbra Streisand's "Higher Ground" and Michael Jackson’s "Human Nature." In
addition to JOSEPHINE, he composed, in collaboration with lyricist John Bettis, the
stage musicals, Lunch, Say Goodnight and Pure Country. He created the themes
for several television series including: Murphy Brown; Murder She Wrote
and Growing Pains. He wrote the two number one hits from the film Heartland. He
also wrote the music for the films Dancer, Texas Pop 81, Blast From the Past
and Dudley Do-Right with Brendan Fraser.
JOHN BETTIS (Lyrics) is a member of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, an Emmy
Award winner and an Academy Award and Grammy Award nominee. Mr. Bettis is
co-founder of The Carpenters. With composer Frank Wildhorn, he did the lyrics for
the musical Svengali. Randy Travis, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Madonna,
Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, Julio Iglesias, Harry Connick, Jr., Carole Burnett
and Diana Ross have all recorded his songs.
ELLEN WESTON (Co-Bookwriter) wrote the book & lyrics for A House in the
Woods at the Goodspeed Opera House and the stage musical A Matter of Wife
and Death. Screenplay and producing credits include: And the Beat Goes On: The
Sonny and Cher Story; Holiday in Your Hear (starred Leann Rimes and Bernadette
Peters); Outrage (starred Rob Lowe); Sleeping With the Devil(starred Shannen
Doherty and Tim Matheson); Lies Before Kisses (starred Ben Gazzara and Jaclyn
Smith); Fear Stalk (starred Jill Clayburgh); and the miniseries Medusa's Child.
MARK HAMPTON (Co-Bookwriter) wrote the Off Broadway hit Full Gallop with
Mary Louise Wilson (who also starred as the infamous Vogue Magazine editor
Diana Vreeland.) His latest play, The Secret Letters of Jackie & Marilyn, debuted
at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. The Boswell Sisters, a musical he co-authored
on the life of the 1930's singing trio, premiered at San Diego's Old Globe
Theatre. With Judy Collins, Mr. Hampton co-wrote a one-woman show entitled
Both Sides Now.
-more-
JOSEPHINE
Page 6 of 6
KEN WAISSMAN (Producer) is one of only two producers in the history of
Broadway to have a musical run over 3000 performances and a play run over
1000. (The other producer who shares this distinction is the legendary David
Merrick.) Waissman developed and produced the original Broadway production of
Grease as well as two of Broadway’s longest running plays, Agnes of God by John
Pielmeier and Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein. Waissman’s prolific
Broadway efforts have resulted in four motion picture features, a PBS TV special,
25 Tony Award® nominations, 5 Tony Awards® including a Tony Award® as ‘Best
Play Producer.’ He is currently developing Josephine, an original musical inspired
by Josephine Baker, the exotic star of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Deborah Cox
will play the title role and Joey McKneely will direct and choreograph. Prior to
Broadway, ‘Josephine’ will premiere at the Asolo Theater in Sarasota, Florida.
Other Broadway credits include: Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Zindel’s play, And Miss
Reardon Drinks A Little with Julie Harris and Estelle Parsons and the Sherman
brothers musical, Over Here!, which starred the Andrew Sisters and featured Ann
Reinking, John Travolta, Marilu Henner and Treat Williams. Waissman made his
producing debut with the John Herbert play Fortune and Men’s Eyes, which was
directed by Sal Mineo and featured Tommy Lee Jones.
###
For Media Inquiries for Deborah Cox:
Contact:
Gwendolyn Quinn
Gwendolyn Quinn Public Relations
[email protected]
917.769.7808
Asolo Rep Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
Asolo Repertory Theatre and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory
for Actor Training Announced their 2015-16 Seasons
(SARASOTA, March 16, 2015) — On Monday, March 16, 2015, Asolo Repertory
Theatre and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training announced their highly
anticipated 2015-16 seasons with a special presentation in the Mertz Theatre. Led
by Asolo Rep's Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards and the
FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training Director and Associate Artistic Director
of Asolo Rep Greg Leaming, the 2015-16 season marks the fourth season of the
theatre's ambitious five-year American Character Project. The season, which
boasts the world-premiere of a Broadway bound musical in the spring, will follow
the same format as the 2014-15 season, with two mainstage musical productions
in the fall and spring, four productions playing in rotating rep on the Mertz stage
from January through April, one play in the Historic Asolo Theater and a summer
musical production. Asolo Rep's 2015-16 season will also feature the seventh
annual Unplugged new play festival in the spring.
Next season, some of the theatre's show start times have changed, with earlier
options to accommodate patrons. Wednesday and Thursday matinees will now
begin at 1:30pm and Wednesday and Thursday evening shows will start at
7:30pm. All other start times remain the same.
-more-
2015-16 Season Announcement
Page 2 of 10
The season kicks off in November with the groundbreaking American musical
West Side Story, with a heartrendingly beautiful book by Arthur Laurents, music by
Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and legendary choreography by
Jerome Robbins. Based on Shakespeare's tragic love story Romeo and Juliet,
West Side Story is set in mid-1950s New York City and follows two street gangs,
the Jets and the Sharks, and the star-crossed lovers entangled in the rivalry. The
original Broadway production premiered in 1957 and was nominated for six
Tony Awards®, winning two. The 1961 film adaptation starring Natalie Wood was
nominated for 11 Academy Awards®, winning 10. Featuring such beloved classics
as "Maria," "America," "I Feel Pretty" and "Tonight," this not-to-miss musical runs
Tuesday November 10 through Sunday, December 27. Two-time Tony nominee
Joey McKneely will direct and reproduce Robbins' choreography.
The January rotating repertory season kicks off with Robert Schenkkan's political
and historical Tony and Drama Desk-Award-winning drama All The Way. All The
Way opens right after the shocking assassination of President John F. Kennedy
and chronicles the first year in office of divisive president Lyndon Baines Johnson,
including his fight to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Asolo Rep's production will
be directed by Emily Sophia Knapp, who was the associate director of the play's
Broadway, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and
American Repertory Theatre productions. All The Way runs January 5 through
April 9, 2016.
The third production in Asolo Rep's 2015-16 season, which runs January 13
through February 25, 2016, will have audiences roaring. Directed by Peter
Amster, Living on Love is a music-filled comedy that centers on the world's most
famous opera singer, her philandering maestro husband and her devious plot for
revenge. Written by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro, the Broadway
production of Living on Love starts previews on April 1, 2015 and stars stage
sensation Renée Fleming.
Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright Eugene O'Neill's sole
comedy Ah, Wilderness!, directed by Associate Artistic Director and the Director of
the FSU/Asolo Conservatory Greg Leaming, runs January 20 through April 10,
2016. Set at the turn of the 20th century in a small town in Connecticut, this sweet
coming-of-age classic centers around the Miller family and their son, Richard, a
-more-
Page 3 of 10
passionate 16-year-old entranced by his first love Muriel, whose family
disapproves of Richard's lascivious courting methods.
The 2015-2016 season continues to dazzle audiences in March with Guess Who's
Coming to Dinner, directed by Tony winner Frank Galati. Todd Kreidler's stage
adaptation of William Rose's 1967 screenplay poignantly examines the
complex struggles inter-racial couples battled in America in the 1960s and
illuminates the issues that remain relevant in today's culture. Guess Who's Coming
to Dinner runs March 9 through April 18, 2016.
Directed by Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards, the season's
Historic Asolo Theater production is the recent Broadway hit, Disgraced. Written by
Ayad Akhtar, whom the Washington Post said “finds urgent dramatic connections
that serious theatregoers crave,” this Pulitzer Prize-winning sociopolitical
masterpiece, which runs March 30 through April 24, 2016, examines the lives of
post-9/11 Muslim Americans and the sacrifices and choices they must make.
In the spring, Asolo Rep is thrilled to present the world premiere of the Broadway
bound original musical Josephine, starring internationally renowned, Grammy
nominated entertainer Deborah Cox. Josephine chronicles a dynamic chapter in
the life iconic performer Josepine Baker, from 1939 to 1945, including her
scandalous affair with Swedish Crown Prince Gustav VI, her electrifying rise to
stardom in Paris, and her role in the French Resistance during World War II. Joey
McKneely returns to direct this new musical, which runs April 27 through May 29,
2016.
There will also be an exciting summer production to end Asolo Rep's 2015-16
season, to be announced very soon.
“This season’s not-to-miss productions speak to one another in a powerfully
provocative way – from the iconic opening moments of West Side Story in the fall
to the spring’s dazzling world premiere of the original musical Josephine, each play
tells the story of an iconic and identifiable American character," said Producing
Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards. "Several further plays in the season –
the sensational All The Way, the compelling Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and
the electrifying Disgraced – explore racial diversity and reflect what America looks
-more-
Page 4 of 10
like today. The delightful and hilarious Living on Love and the heartwarming Ah,
Wilderness! only deepen the ongoing conversation about what it means to be an
American. I am thrilled to share this dynamic season with our patrons.”
In October and November 2015, Asolo Rep proudly presents the FSU/Asolo
Conservatory for Actor Training New Stages Tour production of Twelfth Night.
Shakespeare's gender-bending romantic comedy continues the lighthearted fun of
last season's wildly successful production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which
reached 14,000 students. The New Stages Tour, which features a cast of thirdyear Conservatory students, presents condensed, 45-minute versions of classic
literature to schools and community venues throughout the state.
The FSU/Asolo Conservatory’s 2015-16 season kicks off with Tom Stoppard’s
outrageous comedy The Real Inspector Hound, an absurdist satire that follows the
antics of two theatre critics who get sucked into the plot of a murder mystery. It is
followed by David Ives’ equally hilarious The Liar, the lively adaptation of
Corneille’s French farce about a handsome and charismatic man who also
happens to be a pathological liar, and the chaos that ensues when he falls in
love. Next, Shakespeare’s dark and thrilling Macbeth takes the stage in the
riveting tale of a man who sacrifices everything for power. This striking season
ends with the compelling drama Nora, Ingmar Bergman’s adaptation of Henrik
Ibsen’s stunning yet tragic classic, A Doll’s House.
"The 2015-16 Conservatory season represents a remarkable combination of
classical and contemporary plays. From classical tragedy to contemporary farce,
the season has the kind of range and youthful spirit that the community has come
to expect on the Cook Stage," said FSU/Asolo Conservatory Director Greg
Leaming. "I think it’s a really spectacular way to introduce this community to the
second year company of graduate actors as they move from the classroom to the
stage and prepare to take on roles on the Asolo Rep mainstage in their third year
of training. It promises to be a thrilling season, full of absurd comedy and
disturbing tragedy, all performed by this wonderful company of young actors."
Season subscriptions for the 2015-16 season are on sale now and available
by visiting the Asolo Rep Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre, 5555 N.
Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, by calling 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388 or online
at www.asolorep.org. Single tickets will go on sale in September 2015.
-more-
Page 5 of 10
2015-16 Asolo Repertory Theatre Season
West Side Story
November 13-December 27
Previews November 10, 11, 12
Based on a Conception of Jerome Robbins
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Joey McKneely
Choreography reproduced by Joey McKneely
With ground breaking choreography by the legendary Jerome Robbins, book by
Arthur Laurents, an unforgettable score by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story changed Broadway dance and the face of
musical theatre forever. While Manhattan’s west side rumbles with the clash of the
Jets and Sharks, star-crossed lovers Maria and Tony seek a "somewhere” their
romance can thrive. Based on one of the greatest love stories of all time –
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – West Side Story is powerful and poignant, and
its electrifying Latin and jazz-infused score including “Tonight,” “America,” “I Feel
Pretty,” and “Somewhere” completes the masterpiece. The production will be
directed and choreographed by Tony nominee Joey McKneely, who will reproduce
Jerome Robbins’ stunning original choreography.
All The Way
January 8-April 9
Previews January 5, 6 & 7
By Robert Schenkkan
Directed by Emily Sophia Knapp
Based on the original production directed by Bill Rauch
One man. One year. One chance to change America. 1964 was a pivotal year in
American history and Lyndon Baines Johnson sat at the center of it all. A master
politician with towering ambition and ruthless tactics, the conflicted Texan will do
whatever it takes to get the Civil Rights bill passed and secure his re-election.
Meanwhile, in faraway Vietnam, a troublesome conflict looms. The winner of the
-more-
Page 6 of 10
2014 Tony Award for Best Play, this gripping drama captures the critical moment
that marked the end of an era and the shift to the political climate of today. Go all
the way with LBJ, Martin Luther King, Jr., J. Edgar Hoover, Hubert Humphrey and
more in this action-packed, electrifying portrayal of one of the most tumultuous
times in our country’s history.
Living on Love
January 15-February 25
Previews January 13 & 14
By Joe DiPietro
Based on the play Peccadillo by Garson Kanin
Directed by Peter Amster
There’s only one person with a worse temperament, bigger ego and more
flamboyant sense of self-importance than opera diva Raquel – and that’s her
husband, the Italian maestro Vito De Angelis. When Raquel discovers that Vito has
become enamored with a young lady hired to ghostwrite his largely fictional
autobiography, she retaliates by hiring her own handsome young scribe to
chronicle her life as an opera star. Sparks fly, silverware is thrown and romance
blossoms in the most unexpected ways in this glamorous romp through the world
of music, marriage and celebrity. With a highly anticipated Broadway run starting
this April starring opera diva Renee Fleming, Asolo Rep is thrilled to receive the
rights to present the regional premiere of this sparkling new comedy.
Ah, Wilderness!
January 22-April 10
Previews January 20 & 21
By Eugene O’Neill
Directed by Greg Leaming
A comedy...by Eugene O'Neill? Yes! One of the pillars of 20th-century drama who
created some of the most tragic stories for the stage, O'Neill also penned the
wonderfully romantic and sweetly funny, Ah Wilderness! Set in New England in the
days of America’s innocence, the play looks back to an idyllic age when goodness
and honesty were the norm and family life was picnics and Sunday drives in the
family Buick. On July 4, 1906, while the Miller family is planning their traditional
-more-
Page 7 of 10
Fourth of July festivities, dreamy-eyed middle child Richard is spurned by his first
love and sets out on a rebellious adventure into the adult world. Family life and all
its foibles were never so beautifully portrayed as in O’Neill’s coming-of-age love
letter to a simpler time in America.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
March 11-April 18
Previews March 9 & 10
By Todd Kreidler
Based on the screenplay by William Rose
Directed by Frank Galati
When the classic film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner premiered in U.S. theaters in
December 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. was still alive and racial issues were
bubbling. Now, 47 years later, this beloved comedy of manners has a new, totally
electric adaptation for the stage with a fresh perspective to the themes that are as
relevant as ever. A progressive white couple's proud liberal sensibilities are put to
the test when their daughter, fresh from a whirlwind romance, brings her AfricanAmerican fiancé home to meet them. Personal beliefs clash with the mores of the
late 1960s in this warm and funny exploration of love and culture and which of
them has the greater hold on our hearts.
Disgraced
April 1-24
Previews March 30 & 31
The 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning play by Ayad Akhtar
Directed by Michael Donald Edwards
In the Historic Asolo Theater
New York. Today. Muslim-American lawyer Amir Kapoor has worked hard to
achieve the American Dream – complete with a successful career, a beautiful wife
and $600 custom-tailored shirts. But beneath the veneer, success comes at a
price. At the moment of achieving his life-long ambitions, he falls victim to
professional and personal betrayals that manifest in one of the most explosive and
controversial scenes ever written for the theater. Hailed as "terrific and turbulent,
with fresh currents of dramatic electricity" (New York Times), this Pulitzer Prize-more-
Page 8 of 10
winning examination of big city aspiration and cultural assimilation dares to face
the truth hiding just below the deception.
World Premiere
Josephine
May 6-29
Previews April 27-May 5 (8 previews)
Book by Ellen Weston and Mark Hampton
Music by Stephen Dorff
Lyrics by John Bettis
Based on a story by Kenneth Waissman
Directed and choreographed by Joey McKneely
Romance, intrigue and plenty of excitement will fill the stage next spring when
Asolo Rep presents the world-premiere of Josephine, the original new musical
bound for Broadway following its Sarasota run. The entrancing Josephine Baker
was beautiful, ambitious, and the toast of Europe at the height of her fame in the
1920s-30s. Born into poverty in St. Louis, she rose to become an icon of the Jazz
Age, captivating Paris audiences as a dancer, singer, actress and the twentiethcentury’s first international black female sex symbol. Directed and choreographed
by Tony nominated Joey McKneely and starring Grammy-nominated, platinumselling recording artist Deborah Cox, this dazzling new musical revolves around
Baker’s stint as the star of the Folies-Bergere in Paris from 1939-45, her
scandalous affair with Swedish Crown Prince Gustav IV, and her service in the
French Resistance during World War II.
Summer Production TBA
June 2016
New Stages Tour
Twelfth Night
By William Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Jen Wineman
October and November 2015
-more-
Page 9 of 10
Presented by Asolo Rep and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, the
New Stages Tour, which features a cast of third-year Conservatory students,
brings exciting 45-minute adaptations of classic literature to schools and
community venues throughout the state of Florida. Director Jen Wineman, who
helmed last year’s infectiously popular A Midsummer Night’s Dream, works her
magic on Shakespeare’s timeless comedy of unrequited love, pride, pranks, and
self-discovery: “If music be the food of love, play on.”
15-16 FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training Season
The Real Inspector Hound
November 3 - 22
By Tom Stoppard
Directed by Greg Leaming
A comic gem from this century’s master playwright, Tom Stoppard. Two theatre
critics attending a performance of a British murder mystery become caught up in
an evening that goes spectacularly awry! A masterpiece of farce and absurd
comedy unlike anything else from the pen of this brilliant writer.
The Liar
December 29 – January 17
By David Ives
Adapted from the comedy by Pierre Corneille
Dorante is charming, witty, handsome, and a pathological liar whose outlandish
stories create an ever-increasing series of problems for himself and everyone
around him. A bubbling French farce adapted by the funniest American playwright
of this or any other age, the author of Venus in Fur and The School for Lies.
Macbeth
February 23 – March 13
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Jonathan Epstein
One of the darkest, most powerful and disturbing works by this playwright. The
-more-
Page 10 of 10
Scottish nobleman Macbeth receives a supernatural prophecy and chooses a life
of violence, unleashing the devastating psychological effects of evil and the lust for
power. Featuring the entire second year graduate acting company of the
FSU/Asolo Conservatory.
Nora
April 12 – May 1
Adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
Directed by Andrei Malaev-Babel
Ibsen’s powerful masterpiece about one woman who discovers the crippling
restrictions placed upon her, and upon all woman, by her culture, adapted by the
one of the greatest film makers of the 20th century. This searing retelling pares
the story down to the five people caught in the web of lies and misinformation, and
as a result cuts to heart of this classic and deeply tragic play.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 6, 2015
The World Premiere of LUCK BE A LADY Brings Together
Broadway Cast and Creative Team at Asolo Rep,
Opens May 1, 2015
"Loesser hit the jackpot more than once in a career that extended from the Great Depression to
the year Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. ... With Loesser you always got both – the
'wisdom and truth' and the tangy cool martini wit. Long may his songs be sung."
– David Lehman for The New York Times
(SARASOTA, April 6, 2015) — Asolo Repertory Theatre continues its
groundbreaking 2014-15 season with the world premiere of Luck Be a Lady: The
Iconic Music of Frank Loesser. Conceived and directed by Drama Desk Awardwinner Gordon Greenberg (Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn, Chichester's Guys &
Dolls), Luck Be a Lady: The Iconic Music of Frank Loesser opens Friday, May
1 at 8pm and runs through Sunday, May 24, with previews Tuesday, April 28 at
7:30pm, and Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30 at 8pm. This brand
new musical tells the nostalgic story of love, loss and life through the glorious
songs of Frank Loesser, the legendary composer and lyricist of the Tony Award®winning Broadway classic Guys and Dolls, the Tony and Pulitzer-Prize winning
hit How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Most Happy Fella, and
more.
Set in the early 1950s in an abandoned nightclub, the show finds a group of lost
souls, three men and three women, looking for connection through the music of
-more-
Luck Be a Lady
Page 2 of 8
their youth. The production features thrilling new choreography by Denis Jones
(Broadway's Honeymoon in Vegas) that evokes the swing/ballroom style that ruled
the era. In addition to the six characters on stage, there will also be a six-piece
band, led by music director Sinai Tabak (Dallas Theater Center’s Les
Misérables) with members of the cast occasionally playing instruments alongside
the musicians. Neil Douglas Reilly (orchestrations: Off Broadway's Stars of David;
orchestrations associate: Broadway's Rocky) breathes new life into Loesser's
classic songs with brand new re-imagined orchestrations and arrangements.
Luck Be a Lady's world premiere performance brings many Broadway veterans to
Asolo Rep. The cast's female stars include Tony nominee Louise Pitre (Donna
Sheridan [original] in Broadway's Mamma Mia!; Mama Rose in Chicago
Shakespeare Theater's Gypsy); Mary Michael Patterson (Christine Daaé in
Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera); and Stephanie Umoh (Sarah [original] in
the Broadway revival of Ragtime). The cast's male principles are Erik Altemus
(Lewis [original] in the Broadway revival of Pippin); James David Larson
(Roundabout Theatre Company's Into the Woods); and W. Joseph
Matheson (Willie Conklin in the Los Angeles Company of Ragtime).
"Frank Loesser is one of the kings of the American musical theatre. His heyday is
known as the golden era of musical theatre – and, in fact, a golden era for America
itself. His work reflected that uniquely American sense of optimism, growing out of
adversity. Like America’s journey from the Depression to war to prosperity,
Loesser’s characters move beyond their given circumstances to protect the
possibility of a happy ending," said Conceiver/Director Gordon Greenberg. "This
show uses some of his best loved and most celebrated songs from Broadway and
Hollywood to tell a simple but rich story of lost souls reunited in an abandoned
nightclub. Each song evokes powerful memories for them and pushes them closer
together, as they re-live pivotal moments in their lives. It’s amazing how differently
a well-known song registers when sung in an unexpected way."
Throughout his remarkable career, Loesser penned dozens of heartwarming,
unforgettable songs for both the stage and film. He received an Academy
Award® for his holiday favorite, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," from the film Neptune's
Daughter. His rich canon of hits includes some of the most treasured classics of all
time, including "Heart and Soul," "I Hear Music," and "Luck Be a Lady," which are
-more-
Luck Be a Lady
Page 3 of 8
all featured in this brand new musical.
"The highest caliber of artists straight from Broadway have come to Asolo Rep to
create the world premiere of this brand new musical,” said Producing Artistic
Director Michael Donald Edwards. “Frank Loesser’s timeless songs, characters
and musicals continue to resonate – touching audiences all over the world. Luck
Be a Lady spotlights the remarkable breadth of Mr. Loesser's inspiring work, from
his popular hits, to the charming Guys and Dolls, to the clever and moving How to
Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It is an honor to share this celebration
of an American icon with our patrons."
PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
The Scoop
One hour prior to every performance of Luck Be a Lady (Opening Night May 1
excluded)
the making of Luck Be a Lady.
Tuesday Talkbacks
April 28, May 5,12, 19
following every Tuesday performance of Luck Be a Lady.
Meet the Actors
Sunday, May 10
-more-
Luck Be a Lady
Page 4 of 8
CAST
Erik Altemus*
James David Larson*
W. Joseph Matheson*
Mary Michael Patterson*
Louise Pitre*
Stephanie Umoh*
Man #3
Man #2
Man #1
Woman #3
Woman #1
Woman #2
United States.
Conceiver/Director
Choreographer
Orchestrator & Arranger
Music Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Hair/Wig & Make-up Designer
Gordon Greenberg
Denis Jones
Neil Douglas Reilly
Sinai Tabak
Wilson Chin
Andrea Lauer
Paul Miller
Kevin Kennedy
Michelle Hart
ERIK ALTEMUS* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Man # 3) is thrilled to be
making his Asolo Rep debut. He made his Broadway debut as an original company
member in Diane Paulus' Tony Award-winning revival of Pippin where he created
the role of Lewis and understudied the title character. He was also seen in the OffBroadway production of The Fantasticks as Matt (The Boy) and most recently as
Rocky in The Rocky Horror Show at The Bucks County Playhouse. His film credits
include Brandon in HBO's The Miraculous Year (Directed by Kathryn Bigelow),
Newman in The Newman Shower (American Film Institute) and various
commercials. www.erikaltemus.com
-more-
Luck Be a Lady
Page 5 of 8
GORDON GREENBERG FOURTH SEASON (Conceiver & Director) Asolo
Rep:Yentl; Working; Barnum. Other recent work: Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn (coauthor & director, Goodspeed, Universal Stage Productions); Guys &
Dolls (Chichester Festival Theatre, U.K., U.S. National Tour); Working (Drama
Desk Award, Off-Broadway, Broadway in Chicago, Old Globe); Jacques Brel
… (Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Award nominations); Johnny
Baseball(Williamstown); Scramble Band (Co-Writer, Disney Channel original
movie); Rags(Roundabout, workshop); Single Girls Guide (Dallas Theatre
Center); Band Geeks! (Goodspeed Musicals); Pirates! (Paper Mill, Huntington,
Goodspeed Musicals); The Baker's Wife (Paper Mill, Goodspeed Musicals); Happy
Days(National Tour); Peter Pan (National Tour). Upcoming: Secret of My
Success(Universal); Tangled (Disney); Single Girls Guide (Fifth Avenue). Gordon
is the director of new musical development for the acclaimed New Group in New
York. Education: Stanford University, NYU Film School, Lincoln Center Directors
Lab.
DENIS JONES FIRST SEASON (Choreographer) Recent credits include Paint
Your Wagon (NY City Center Encores!), Honeymoon in Vegas (Broadway), Irving
Berlin's Holiday Inn (Goodspeed Opera House), Piece of My Heart (Signature
Theatre), Forum (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Disaster! (St. Luke’s), and Damn
Yankees (Paper Mill Playhouse, 5th Ave). Denis is the recipient of two Carbonell
Awards for his work at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Upcoming projects include The
Tempest (Shakespeare in the Park) and Moonshine: That Hee-Haw Musical(Dallas
Theater Center).
JAMES DAVID LARSON* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Man #2) is thrilled
to be making his Asolo Rep debut. In New York, he was recently seen in
Roundabout Theatre Company’s Into the Woods, and Off Broadway’s Atomic. His
national tour credits include lead roles in Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Buddy
Holly Story, and Bunnicula. He recently starred in a national Burlington Coat
Factory commercial, as well as the short films, Endless Us and You Are Here.
www.JamesDavidLarson.com
W. JOSEPH MATHESON* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Man #1) is proud to
make his Asolo Rep debut alongside his wife, Louise. His Canadian and US
theatre credits include Larry (Company), von Trapp (Sound of Music), Callahan
-more-
Luck Be a Lady
Page 6 of 8
(Legally Blonde), The Proprietor (Assassins), Homère (The Flood Thereafter),
Conklin (Ragtime), Doolittle (My Fair Lady), Rooster (Annie), Charlemagne
(Pippin), and both the Shaw and Stratford Festivals. Most recently he created the
role of Paulo in Paulo and Daphne. His TV and film credits include Orphan
Black,Sworn to Silence, The State Within, and Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy.
MARY MICHAEL PATTERSON* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Woman #3)
is thrilled to be making her Asolo Rep debut. She was most recently seen starring
on Broadway as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera. Other credits include the
Broadway revival of Anything Goes, Liesl in The Sound of Music (Carnegie Hall),
Marianne Dashwood in the world premiere of Sense and Sensibility: The
Musical(Denver Center), Judy Haynes in White Christmas (Syracuse Stage), and
Kathy Seldon in Singin’ in the Rain (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Music Theatre of
Wichita). Go Blue! www.marymichaelpatterson.com
LOUISE PITRE* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Woman #1) is making her
debut at Asolo Rep. She is best known for her starring role in the Broadway
production of Mamma Mia! Other recent roles include Mama Rose
in Gypsy(Chicago Shakespeare Theater) and Mame in Mame (Goodspeed
Musicals). In Toronto she recently starred as Joanne in Company, Toad in A Year
with Frog and Toad, Ma/Mayor in Toxic Avenger, Fantine in Les
Misérables (Toronto, Montreal, Paris), Piaf in Piaf, and Mrs. Johnstone in Blood
Brothers, among others. She has 5 recordings and is heard on cast recordings
of Les Misérables(Paris production) and Kristina (Carnegie
Hall). www.louisepitre.com
NEIL DOUGLAS REILLY FIRST SEASON (Orchestrator & Arranger) recently
contributed orchestrations for Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center. New York
credits include: Clinton (Orchestrations), Rocky (Orchestration Associate), Stars of
David (Orchestrations), Ahrens & Flaherty: Nice Fighting You(Orchestrations/CoProducer of Album), and Journey On, a NY Pops Concert in honor of Ahrens &
Flaherty (music supervisor, orchestrations). Neil was the arranger for both of Josh
Franklin’s albums, and is the composer of Loch Lomondwith Maggie Herskowitz
and Gods and Kings with Austin Ruffer. Neil has written orchestrations for
performances by Norm Lewis, Lea Salonga, David Hyde Pierce, Stephanie J.
Block, Jeremy Jordan, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Boyd Gaines, Tiler
-more-
Luck Be a Lady
Page 7 of 8
Peck, Jason Danieley, Marin Mazzie, Bobby Steggert, Annaleigh Ashford, Mary
Testa, Liz Callaway, and many more. Thanks to Jack, Ross, and Taylor.
neildouglasreilly.com
STEPHANIE UMOH* GUEST ARTIST, FIRST SEASON (Woman #2) is excited to
be making her Asolo Rep debut. She starred in the Broadway revival
of Ragtime (Sarah) and Off Broadway in Falling for Eve (Eve). Other NYC credits
include Tin Pan Alley Rag (Freddie/Treemonisha), Clyde & Bonnie (Mona), and
many more. Notable regional credits include The Color Purple (Nettie); The Music
Man in concert (Marian); Pal Joey (Linda); Johnny Baseball (Daisy); Jesus Christ
Superstar (Mary); Caroline, or Change (Emmie); A Christmas
Carol (Lily/Belle);Aida (Aida), and more. Film/TV: The NY 22; Big Words. She was
awarded the 2009-2010 Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut.
TICKETS
Tickets for Luck Be a Lady and the entire 2014-2015 Asolo Repertory Theatre
season are on sale now. Tickets for Luck Be a Lady start at just $22. To purchase
tickets, call 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388 or visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the
Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre. Asolo
Repertory Theatre is located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the Florida State
SPONSORS
Asolo Rep is able to present Luck Be a Lady because of the generosity of its
sponsors. Corporate sponsors for Luck Be a Lady are Cool Today, ABC 7,
Residence Inn, Herald Tribune Media Group and Style. Asolo Rep’s major season
sponsors are Florida State University, Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Gulf Coast
Community Foundation, Designing Women Boutique, The Shubert Foundation,
The Woman’s Exchange, Inc., and Tropical Cadillac. Asolo Rep’s artistic programs
-more-
Luck Be a Lady
Page 8 of 8
are paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Asolo
Rep is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of
Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
April 30, 2015
Asolo Rep Proudly Presents Kaleidoscope: Heart and Soul on
Monday, May 18, 2015
(SARASOTA, April 30, 2015) – Asolo Rep's Education & Outreach department proudly
presents Kaleidoscope: Heart and Soul on Monday, May 18, 2015 at 6pm in the
Mertz Theatre. This season's culminating performance of the award-winning
Kaleidoscope program for people with disabilities will perform on the set of Asolo
Rep's world premiere of Luck Be a Lady: The Iconic Music of Frank Loesser, which
opens May 1, and runs through May 24.
Asolo Rep’s acclaimed award-winning Kaleidoscope program, founded by Broadway
veteran Ann Morrison, works with individuals with disabilities from community
organizations and schools in the area to discover creative and personal expression
through theatre. This year's Kaleidoscope participants come from four partner
organizations and schools: Bayshore High School, Community Haven for Adults and
Children, Easter Seals Southwest Florida, and Oak Park School.
Throughout the three months of each residency, participants explore storytelling
through acting, movement, music and visual arts with the guidance of Ann Morrison
and Asolo Rep's Education and Outreach Specialist Ria Cooper.
"Kaleidoscope gives our clients a chance to think outside the box and accomplish
things that might be out of their comfort zone,” said Community Haven's Vice President
of Operations Brad Jones. “After completing the Kaleidoscope program our clients
show so much more confidence in their social skills. It has been amazing to see the
collaboration grow over the years and the performances just get better and better.
Community Haven is thrilled to be a part of it.”
“Our students have begun to care more about each other as individuals,” said Oak
Park School teacher Mary Alice Hratko, who works with middle school students, the
youngest participants in this year’s Kaleidoscope. "The exercises focus on respecting
each student’s creativity and making sure each student is heard from and has an
opportunity to participate. We are getting to know each other in a new and exciting
way.”
“We are so proud to be able to provide a first performance opportunity for many of the
Kaleidoscope participants, as well as a sustained creative outlet for veteran
Kaleidoscope artists who now look forward to the return of the program each year,”
said Asolo Rep Education & Outreach Director Kathryn Moroney. “While the
culminating showcase cannot possibly express all of the creative discovery and growth
we’ve seen from months of collaborative work, May 18 will be a truly special and
inspiring evening to gather and celebrate these unique artists’ accomplishments.”
-more-
Kaleidoscope 2015
Page 2 of 3
Tickets are free, and seating is general admission, but reservations are
recommended. To reserve tickets, please call the box office at 941.351.8000 or
800.361.8388 or visit www.asolorep.org.
Kaleidoscope is sponsored by the Virginia White Clark Fund of the Bank of America
Client Foundation, Bernard and Mildred Doyle Charitable Trust, Jerome and Mildred
Paddock Foundation, Fine Arts Society of Sarasota, Eluned and Edward Russell
Foundation, and Carol and Mort Siegler.
About the Founder
Ann Morrison (Kaleidoscope Founder and Teaching Artist) AEA-AFTRA-SAG.
Broadway: Lovemusik; Children and Art; Merrily We Roll Along (1982 Theatre World
Award). London West End: Peg. Off Broadway: Goblin Market (Drama Desk
Nomination), Forbidden Broadway. Ann has done extensive regional theater
including Free Fall Theatre: Into The Woods, Bernarda Alba, American Stage: On The
Verge, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Driving Miss Daisy, New
Century, Asolo Rep: Murderers, Banyan Theater Company: A Clean House; and world
premieres, television, recordings, cabarets and concerts throughout the U.S. and
England. Writer/performer: The Awen Triology, Annie’s Celtic Kitchen, Word Painting:
Soliloquies Around an Easel, Trevor’s Fire, and Linda Lovely Goes to Broadway (Best
Actress Award from the United Solo Festival). Co-founder: Kaleidoscope Theater and
Gotta Van Productions; celebrating solo performances and new small cast plays that
illuminate the human condition especially that of those who are perceived as “other
than.”
About the Participating Organizations
The mission of Bayshore High School is to provide to all students an education which
prepares them to be college and career ready by engaging them in rigorous academic
work that promotes student achievement. The vision of Bayshore High School is to
build relationships with all students to ensure academic success.
Through the support of the community and the generosity if its donors, Community
Haven empowers independence and inclusion in all aspects of society for children,
teenagers, and adults with disabilities by meeting their needs for therapy, education,
socialization, housing, fitness, vocational training, vocational training, job placement,
and recreation.
Since 1946, Easter Seals Southwest Florida has been providing services to help
abilities shine for individuals with disabilities and their families. Currently over 500
individuals are being served from ages 0 to 86 and counting! Key services include
development and early intervention in our Lily Preschool and Children’s Therapy
program, elementary after-school program and summer camp, VIP Academy High
-more-
Kaleidoscope 2015
Page 3 of 3
School and an Adult Day Program. Life and job skills are developed and our on-site
employment services cultivates employment opportunities and transitional support for
our students and adults!
The mission of Oak Park School is to provide exceptional students with experiences
leading to successful interactions with others, functional independence, and continued
education or post-school employment suited to their individual needs.
###
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 4, 2015
Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie
Opens May 30, 2015 at Asolo Rep
(SARASOTA, May 4, 2015) — Asolo Rep is thrilled to present Woody Sez: The
Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, an exuberant musical featuring the
unforgettable songs of the father of American folk music. Directed by Nick Corley
and devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley and Darcie Deaville, Helen J.
Russell, and Andy Teirstein, Woody Sez has one preview on Friday, May 29,
opens Saturday, May 30 at 8pm and runs through Sunday, June 21 in the Mertz
Theatre in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.
Woody Sez spotlights the toe-tapping, heartfelt music of this revolutionary
singer/songwriter, including "This Land is Your Land," "The Ballad of Tom Joad,"
and "Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad." Four actor/musicians play 20 different
musical instruments in this jubilant celebration of Woody Guthrie's music and the
social justice that his songs inspired. Guthrie was hailed as the "the original folk
hero; a man who, in the '30s and '40s, transformed the folk ballad into a vehicle for
social protest and observation and in so doing, paved the way for Bob Dylan,
Bruce Springsteen and a host of other folk and rock songwriters" by the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame.
Woody Sez premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2007 and has since
toured Munich, Berlin, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and London's West
End. This musical event, which has been nominated for Joseph Jefferson and
-more-
Woody Sez
Page 2 of 6
Helen Hayes Awards, recently toured the Cleveland Play House, Milwaukee
Repertory Theatre, and TheaterWorks Hartford, as well as stops in the Middle East
and China.
Cast-led Hootenannies will follow every Sunday matinee, where patrons will have
the unique opportunity to play their own instruments at hour-long jam sessions on
the mezzanine level of the theatre's lobby. Hootenannies are free and open to
those who do and do not have tickets to that day's performance. They will start 20 30 minutes after the matinee performance ends, and are open to music
enthusiasts of all ages and abilities.
"Woody Sez is about the man and his songs," said deviser and cast member
David Lutken. "We've made it our job to sing and play Woody's tunes in the style of
his times. It creates a real link for the audience to his life, his passions, flaws, and
to his spirit. The cast doesn't imitate or impersonate Woody or his family or
cohorts; we play and sing the way we know how, as they did (and still do, some of
them)."
“Woody Guthrie’s inspirational music provided an uplifting and soulful soundtrack
during America’s most trying periods, from the Great Depression to World War II
and beyond,” said Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards. “His
politically and socially charged songs continue to give hope and a voice to the
voiceless as they struggle to survive in America today. It is thrilling to present this
award-winning musical event, which promises to be hugely entertaining, with lots
of humor and deeply felt emotion. It is a celebration of the American spirit.”
CAST
Darcie Deaville
David Finch*
David M. Lutken*
Helen Jean Russell*
United States.
-more-
Woody Sez
Page 3 of 6
Deviser
Co-Deviser
Co-Deviser
Co-Deviser
Co-Deviser
Director
Music Director
Associate Director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
David M. Lutken
Nick Corley
Darcie Deaville
Helen Jean Russell
Andy Teirstein
Nick Corley
David M. Lutken
Sherry Lutken
Luke Cantarella
Jeffrey Meek
Seth Reiser
NICK CORLEY* FIRST SEASON (Director, Co-Deviser) Co-wrote the award
winning Woody Sez presented in London’s West End, Edinburgh, Germany, Israel,
China, and across America. NY productions include Flight (SDC/Callaway
Directing Nom.), About Face (NYMF Best Director Nom.), Tall Grass, Tim and
Scrooge, and Mother Russia (Carnegie Hall). Regionally he co-wrote and
directed A Young Lady of Fashion (Fulton Opera House) and Eliot Ness…in
Cleveland (Denver Theatre Center). Other directing credits include St. Louis Rep,
Houston’s Alley Theatre, Adirondack Theater Festival, A.R.T., Fulton Opera
House, and Vermont’s Commons Group. Acting credits include Broadway (You
Can’t Take It With You, Drood, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Carol, and She Loves
Me), Off-Broadway, regional (Yale Rep, Syracuse Stage, Paper Mill Playhouse,
etc.), film (Kissing Jessica Stein), recordings, and television.
DARCIE DEAVILLE FIRST SEASON (Cast Member/Co-Deviser) Darcie has
played in many parts of the world, from the Yukon to the Yucatan, the Wild West to
the Far East. Now in Austin, Texas, she's well known for her fiery fiddling and
singing her own American roots based songs. Darcie has played with artists such
as Ani DiFranco, Tom Paxton, David Lindley, and Eliza Gilkyson. A multiinstrumentalist, Darcie was the first woman (and first Canadian) to enter the
-more-
Woody Sez
Page 4 of 6
National Guitar Flatpicking Championships in Winfield KS, emerging as a top 10
finalist. A writer, producer, musical director and coach, Darcie's theatre work
includes her one-woman play, Tornado in Slo Mo, multiple productions of Woody
Sez, Woody Guthrie's American Song, Cottonpatch Gospel, and Always, Patsy
Cline. The latest of her five CDs is called Livin' on the Lucky Side (Taller Dog
Music). Darcie is currently in a band called the Austin Lounge Lizards.
DAVID FINCH* FIRST SEASON (Cast Member) Most recently Mr. Finch played
the harmonica and the part of the Mock Turtle in the L.A. Philharmonic’s
production of Unsuk Chin’s Opera, Alice In Wonderland. He reprised the role at the
Barbican in London with the BBC Symphony. He performed Cabaret on Broadway
and in the West End Woody Sez. He’s played beside artists as diverse as Alan
Cumming, Serj Tankian, Tony Bennett, Amanda Palmer, Kylie Minogue and Dee
Snider. He’s also toured nationally/internationally with Cabaret and Fame the
Musical. Off-Broadway credits include Allegro, Fame on 42nd St., and Spring
Storm. Please visit dhfinch.com.
DAVID M. LUTKEN* FIRST SEASON (Cast Member, Music Director/Deviser).
Broadway credits include Inherit the Wind; Ring of Fire; The Civil War and The Will
Rogers Follies. Mr. Lutken has performed at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd St. Y and
Lincoln Center, Off-Broadway, across Great Britain, Europe, the Middle East,
China and in American regional theaters in a variety of productions: Man of La
Mancha, Dark of the Moon, A Month in the Country, Stand By Your Man, Southern
Comfort, Buddy, Big River, and his original show, Woody Sez for which he won the
Helen Hayes Award and the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor.
HELEN JEAN RUSSELL* FIRST SEASON (Cast Member/Co-Deviser). Helen is
making her Asolo Rep debut. Her affiliation with Woody Guthrie began in Florida in
1994. She has since toured Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic performing
Mr. Lutken’s Guthrie-inspired show for children, This Land is Your Land. She
joined Woody Sez for its 2007 debut in Edinburgh and for productions throughout
the US, UK, Europe, the Middle East and China. In 2012, Helen was nominated for
a Helen Hayes Award for her work in the show. At home in New York City, her
debut album Holly Days was released in 2008. A second one is in the works.
-more-
Woody Sez
Page 5 of 6
PUBLIC PROGRAMMING
Woody Sez Hootenanny
Following each Sunday matinee: May 31; June 7, 14, 21
Cast-led Hootenannies will follow every Sunday matinee, where patrons will have
the unique opportunity to play their own instruments at hour-long jam sessions on
the mezzanine level of the theatre's lobby. Hootenannies are free and open to
those who do and do not have tickets to that day's performance. They will start 20 30 minutes after the matinee performance ends, and are open to music
enthusiasts of all ages and abilities.
TICKETS
Tickets for Woody Sez and the entire 2014-2015 Asolo Repertory Theatre season
are on sale now. Tickets for Woody Sez start at just $22. To purchase tickets, call
941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388 or visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the Asolo
Repertory Theatre Box Office, located in the lobby of the theatre. Asolo Repertory
Theatre is located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the Florida State University
Center for the Performing Arts. The box office is open Monday 10am – 4pm,
Tuesday 10am – 7:30pm, Wednesday - Saturday 10am – 8pm, and Sunday 10am
– 2pm. The box office closes at 5pm when there are no evening performances and
phone lines close one hour prior to the start of any performance. Season
subscription packages are also available online and by visiting or calling the box
office.
SPONSORS
Asolo Rep is able to present Woody Sez because of the generosity of its
sponsors. Corporate sponsors for Woody Sez are Grapevine Communications,
BIZ 941, WSRQ and BMO Bank. Asolo Rep’s major season sponsors are Florida
State University, Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Gulf Coast Community
Foundation, Designing Women Boutique, The Shubert Foundation, The Woman’s
Exchange, Inc., and Tropical Cadillac. Asolo Rep’s artistic programs are paid for in
part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. Asolo Rep is
-more-
Woody Sez
Page 6 of 6
sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural
Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
Media Contact:
Sasha Fields
941-351-9010 ext. 4800
[email protected]

Asolo Rep Press Releases - Online Grants and Applications

Transcription

Similar documents

Page 1 of 4 ASOLO REP PLAYS WITH MURDERERS A killer

STEVEN SATER Music by DUNCAN SHEIK

lookbook - Cristina Azario

Honoring World War II Veterans

broadway`s favorite diva, judy kaye, hits the high notes in asolo rep`s

Culture

Examples Elf on the Shelf Tony the Tiger Geico Gecko

POLCO ELGL Demo

1167096_1182921-centerstage jacket.indd

Touch