Tucson: Arizona Theatre Company Announces 2006-2007 Season

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From: Arizona Theatre Company [mailto:aztheatreco@aztheatreco.pmailus.com]
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 3:04 PM
Subject: Arizona Theatre Company Announces 2006-2007 Season

For Immediate Release

March 20, 2006

Media Contact: Jennifer Spencer, 602.256.6899 x 6202

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES 2006-2007 SEASON

Comedy, drama and music planned for 40th Anniversary Season

Popular RepFest returns with three plays in rotating repertory

Celebrating its 40th Anniversary season with a wide mix of comedy, drama and
music, Arizona Theatre Company has announced a season of eight new
productions that will astonish, entertain, provoke and delight. The
2006-2007 season features Shakespeare's comedy TWELFTH NIGHT; the powerful
drama JITNEY by August Wilson; the Arizona premiere of the Pulitzer and Tony
Award-winning Broadway smash I AM MY OWN WIFE; and the Southwest premieres
of STRING OF PEARLS and MOLLY'S DELICIOUS. A pair of musicals that are set
in the late 1960s will make their Arizona premieres as ELLA and LOVE, JANIS
celebrate two American musical icons.

The coming season also marks the return of the popular RepFest for the first
time in several seasons. A rotating repertory of three plays will close the
season next spring with a contemporary drama (I AM MY OWN WIFE), comedy
(MOLLY'S DELICIOUS) and musical (LOVE, JANIS). After a highly successful
debut season at the Mesa Arts Center, Arizona Theatre Company will once
again bring three of its productions to the East Valley. ELLA and LOVE,
JANIS will be joined by a special encore production of 2 PIANOS, 4 HANDS
which dazzled audiences in Tucson and Phoenix in 2001 and will be reprised
at the Mesa Arts Center with its original stars.

ATC's first performances took place 40 years ago for a handful of friends in
a Tucson hotel, and today ATC is one of America's premiere regional
theatres. ATC is the largest producing arts organization in Arizona with
close to 18,000 subscribers representing every county in the state, and a
total attendance each season of over 180,000. Officially designated "The
State Theatre" in 1990, ATC is the only resident regional theatre to be
based in two cities. All of ATC's productions play at the historic 625-seat
Temple of Music and Art in Tucson and the 750-seat Herberger Theater Center
in downtown Phoenix. Last season, ATC also started performing some of its
productions at the beautiful 550-seat Piper Repertory Theater at the new
Mesa Arts Center. Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Ira
Goldstein, in his 15th season, and Managing Director Jessica L. Andrews, in
her 11th season, Arizona Theatre Company also offers a wide range of
education programs, diversity initiatives and accessibility programs that
have reached thousands of Arizonans as well as serving as models both
locally and nationally.

"If music be the food of love, play on," begins William Shakespeare's
beloved comedy TWELFTH NIGHT: OR WHAT YOU WILL. Kicking off the season in
spectacular fashion will be one of the theatre's greatest classics in a
colorful new production. In TWELFTH NIGHT, girls will be boys, and they're
all fools for love in a cheeky romantic comedy of mistaken identity and
passions run amok. When a woman dresses as a boy to get closer to the man
she loves, it's just the first in a series of comical misunderstandings in
the mythical land of Illyria. Jon Jory, who directed and adapted the
beautiful and acclaimed production of Pride and Prejudice in its world
premiere at ATC last fall, returns to direct Shakespeare's warm-spirited
comedy. TWELFTH NIGHT runs from September 9 through 30 in Tucson and October
5 through 22, 2006 in Phoenix.

Beth is a 74-year old grandmother. Ela is a divorced mother of two in
Milwaukee. Abby is a money manager in Manhattan. What do they have in
common? STRING OF PEARLS by Michele Lowe weaves a tale that's sexy,
hilarious, heartbreaking and ingenious through three generations, two
continents and 27 unforgettable women. Follow a single strand of pearls as
it passes through the hands and hearts of women you'll recognize and love in
an acting tour de force brought to life by a quartet of actors. An Arizona
premiere, this new play is about what it means to embrace life with
passionate intensity. Mature language and content. STRING OF PEARLS runs
from October 21 through November 11 in Tucson and November 16 through
December 3, 2006 in Phoenix.

Join the First Lady of Song in the world premiere musical ELLA. This new
musical has a book by Jeffrey Hatcher, is conceived by Rob Ruggiero and Dyke
Garrison, and features musical arrangements by Danny Holgate. July 1966:
Ella Fitzgerald, one of popular music's most beloved stars, is rehearsing on
the stage of a concert hall in Nice, on the French Riviera. A theatrical
event that weaves myth and memory, comedy and drama, mystery and music, ELLA
brings you close to a legendary woman whom everyone adored, but few ever
knew. Fall in love all over again with the amazing voice and soul of Ella
Fitzgerald in this unforgettable musical starring Tina Fabrique as Ella and
featuring beloved hits like "That Old Black Magic," "A-Tiskit, A-Tasket,"
"How High the Moon," and "They Can't Take That Away From Me." Directed by
Rob Ruggiero, ELLA runs from November 25 through December 22, 2006 in
Tucson, from December 31, 2006 through January 26, 2007 in Phoenix and
February 2 through 11, 2007 in Mesa.

Full of passion, poetry and unforgettable characters, August Wilson's plays
are classics of the American theatre. With the richness of language and
potent emotion that would characterize his work for three decades before his
untimely death last year, August Wilson's JITNEY is a powerhouse drama that
lives in the mind and heart long after audiences leave the theatre. It's the
late 1970s, the bloom has come off the civil rights era, and urban renewal
threatens to unravel the lives of a man and his community by shutting down
his unlicensed cab company. They have to rely on hope and each other to
survive in a world where it's just as hard to catch a break as it is to
catch a cab. Mature language and themes. Directed by Lou Bellamy, JITNEY
runs January 13 through February 2, 2007 in Tucson and February 8 through
25, 2007 in Phoenix.

Featured in rotating repertory during ATC's RepFest are Randal Myler's
rocking musical LOVE, JANIS, Craig Wright's crisp, tart and juicy MOLLY'S
DELICIOUS, and Doug Wright's prize-winning Broadway hit I AM MY OWN WIFE.

There are blues singers, hippies and rock stars, and then there was Janis
Joplin. She gave a piece of her heart with every song, and her powerful
voice and explosive presence electrified a generation. Her journey from
small-town girl to rock-and-roll icon comes alive in this thrilling musical,
written and directed by Randal Myler, the creator of this season's acclaimed
Hank Williams: Lost Highway. Crafted from Janis' letters home to her family
and all of her biggest hit songs from "Me and Bobby McGee" to "Ball and
Chain," LOVE, JANIS creates a complex portrait of the Queen of the Summer of
Love. Mature language. The Arizona premiere of LOVE, JANIS runs from March
22 - April 9, 2007 in Tucson, from April 4 through May 13, 2007 in Phoenix
and from May 18 through 27, 2007 in Mesa.

In MOLLY'S DELICIOUS by Craig Wright, the setting is a small town apple
orchard in Minnesota in 1965, where three young people and an older married
couple collide in romantic combinations that yield results as bountiful as
the bushels and bushels of superfluous apples that are plucked from the
trees. MOLLY'S DELICIOUS is a heartwarming tale of youthful hope created by
the inimitable voice of renowned playwright Craig Wright, writer of HBOs Six
Feet Under. This Arizona premiere is directed by Aaron Posner, who directed
ATC's hit production of Bad Dates last fall. MOLLY'S DELICIOUS runs from
March 3 through April 15, 2007 in Tucson and from April 27 though May 27,
2007 in Phoenix.

The Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play I AM MY OWN WIFE by
Doug Wright is a dazzling feat of theatrical magic, as one man plays 35
characters to tell the true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. As a lifelong
transvestite, she endured the oppressive regimes of the Nazis and the
Communists, preserved cultural treasures, gave hope to a generation of
persecuted people, and miraculously, simply survived. A gripping exploration
of spirit, truth and personal myth that swept every award imaginable, I AM
MY OWN WIFE runs from March 7 through April 16, 2007 in Tucson and from
April 26 through May 20, 2007 in Phoenix.

Coming to the East Valley for the first time, two actors and two grand
pianos star in 2 PIANOS, 4 HANDS, by Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt, a
unique theatrical event. It's a comedy with music about two would-be
classical pianists growing up at the keyboards. It's a rollicking comic
valentine to the joy of music, and will strike a chord with anyone who's
ever dreamed of making it big. When ATC first produced it in 2001, Arizona
audiences were so captivated that ATC brought the show back for a sold-out
encore run. The Arizona Republic raved that "you will leave the theater
feeling good, with a smile on your face." The East Valley/Scottsdale Tribune
concurred: "Anders and Danielseon turn in superb performances...this is one
Arizona Theatre Company production you can't afford to miss." 2 PIANOS, 4
HANDS stars Mark Anders and Carl J. Danielson and runs from October 20
through 29, 2007 at the Mesa Arts Center only.

Subscriptions for Arizona Theatre Company's 2006-2007 season are currently
on sale. All Tucson performances take place at the Temple of Music and Art
(330 S. Scott Avenue); call the Box Office at (520) 622-2823. All Phoenix
performances take place at the Herberger Theater Center (222. E Monroe
Street) and all Mesa performances take place at the Mesa Arts Center (1 E.
Main Street); for both venues, call the Box Office at (602) 256-6995. Visit
www.arizonatheatre.org for more information.

The season schedule for Tucson, Phoenix and Mesa:

TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare

Tucson, Sep. 9-30; Phoenix, Oct. 5-22

STRING OF PEARLS by Michele Lowe

Tucson, Oct. 21-Nov. 11; Phoenix, Nov. 16-Dec. 3

2 PIANOS, 4 HANDS by Ted Dykstra & Richard Greenblatt

Mesa, Oct. 20-29

ELLA, book by Jeffrey Hatcher. Conceived by Rob Ruggiero & Dyke Garrison.
Music arranged by Danny Holgate. Based on the play by Dyke Garrison.

Tucson, Nov. 25-Dec.22; Phoenix, Dec. 31-Jan.26; Mesa, Feb. 2-11

JITNEY by August Wilson

Tucson, Jan.13-Feb.3; Phoenix, Feb. 8-25

LOVE, JANIS. Conceived & adapted by Randal Myler

Tucson, Mar.22-Apr.7; Phoenix, Apr.14-May 13; Mesa, Mar. 18-27

MOLLY'S DELICIOUS by Craig Wright

Tucson, Mar.3-Apr.15; Phoenix, Apr.27-May 27

I AM MY OWN WIFE by Doug Wright

Tucson, Mar.7-Apr.16; Phoenix, Apr.26-May 20

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