From: Arizona Theatre Company [mailto:aztheatreco@aztheatreco.pmailus.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 1:11 PM
Subject: Spend an evening with THE LADY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS
For Immediate Release
September 23, 2008
Bevan Brunelle Bluemer: 520.884.8210 Ext. 8205
SPEND AN EVENING WITH THE LADY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS
ATC presents an intimate portrait of Ann Landers, the Queen of Advice
Arizona Theatre Company is pleased to welcome Tony-nominated actor and television personality Nancy Dussault as she brings to life the advice columnist Ann Landers, one of the most intriguing characters of the 20th century,. She was an iconic American figure who offered her expertise, advice and a shoulder to cry on to millions of readers from 1955 until her death at 2002. The Lady with All the Answers by David Rambo offers a unique chance to spend an evening with the Queen of Advice and to get to know the woman behind the persona. Directed by Samantha K. Wyer, The Lady with All the Answers plays in Tucson at the Temple of Music and Art from October 18 through November 8. It continues its run in Phoenix at the Herberger Theater Center from November 13 through November 30. Arizona Theatre Company’s season underwriters are I. Michael and Beth Kasser.
“Dear Ann Landers..." For decades she allowed lovelorn teens, confused couples and everyone else in need of help to turn to her for advice. No topic was off-limits from love to death to how to properly hang a roll of toilet paper. Now, late on a 1975 night in Ann Landers’ Chicago apartment, an ironic twist of events confronts her with a looming deadline for a column dealing with a new kind of dilemma: her own. Based on real events and actual letters, The Lady with All the Answers spends an intimate evening with Ann as she shares secrets, personal revelations and some juicy tidbits from her multitude of readers as she wrestles with the most difficult column she has ever had to write. The L.A. Times called David Rambo’s play, “a smile-inducing, tear duct-activating reunion with a woman who might have been a stranger but seemed like family…engaging from beginning to end”.
Director Samantha Wyer affirms that “The Lady with All the Answers is a theatrical jewel. I couldn’t be more delighted to work on this play with the marvelous actress, Nancy Dussault. She has a vivacity and wit about her that are integral in creating this fascinating woman for the stage. By sharing in Ann Landers’ questions and confidences, we are transported back to her Lake Shore Drive apartment in Chicago in 1975 from which Ann eased the hearts and minds of millions of readers.”
DAVID RAMBO (Playwright) is also the author of God's Man in Texas, The Ice-Breaker, The Spin Cycle, and a new adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt. His plays have been widely produced throughout the country, including productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Geffen Playhouse, The Old Globe, Denver Center Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Northlight Theatre, Magic Theatre, The Laguna Playhouse and Florida Stage. He has adapted several classic screenplays for live performance, including All About Eve, Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and Adam's Rib. His adaptation of the Sunset Boulevard screenplay was performed at the Hollywood Bowl accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra playing Franz Waxman's original film score. He is a writer and producer of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, set in Las Vegas, the most watched TV show in the world.
SAMANTHA K. WYER (Director) is in her tenth year as Associate Artistic Director of ATC, where she also serves as Director of Education. Previously at ATC, Ms. Wyer directed To Kill a Mockingbird, I Am My Own Wife, Tuesdays With Morrie, Permanent Collection, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Proof, Wit, and Secret Things by Elaine Romero. Her other Arizona directing credits include Betrayal, The Philadelphia Story, Noises Off!, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Angels in America: Millennium Approaches at Arizona Repertory Theatre, Still Life by Harry Clark, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues by Jeff Goode and Two Days of Grace at Middleham by Toni Press-Coffman, a play she also directed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Ms. Wyer came to Arizona from Kansas City, where she worked as director of Missouri Repertory Theatre’s Playwright’s Stage. She has been a visiting instructor and director for University of Missouri, Arizona State University and The University of Arizona. Ms. Wyer received her MFA in Directing from the University of Missouri and was awarded the Buffalo Exchange Arts Award by the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona.
NANCY DUSSAULT (Ann Landers) appeared on Broadway in Do Re Mi, Bajour, The Sound Of Music (replacing Mary Martin), Side by Side by Sondheim and Into The Woods, garnering a Theatre World Award and multiple Tony Award nominations for her work. Ms. Dussault appeared in the Off-Broadway revival of The Boyfriend, starred in Carousel and Finian’s Rainbow at the City Center; Street Scene, The Cradle Will Rock and The Mikado at the New York City Opera and Trelawny Of The Wells at Joseph Papp’s New York Public Theatre. Her television credits include The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Co-Host of ABC’s Good Morning, America and Too Close For Comfort. Her numerous guest-starring appearances include episodes of Barney Miller; Full House; The Love Boat; Hotel; Jack of Hearts; Matlock; Murder, She Wrote; Dream On; Mad About You; Providence; Family Law; Judging Amy and Alias. An Emmy Award winner, for Cabaret Tonight she continues to make cabaret and symphony appearances. In 1999, she founded the musical theatre program at UCLA. The past year has seen Ms. Dussault star in Sunday in the Park with George at LA’s Reprise and as Toinette in the American Conservatory Theatre production of Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid.
The artistic team for The Lady with All the Answers includes Tom Burch (Scenic Designer) who has designed for Northlight Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Chicago Children’s Theatre, among several Chicago-area theatres. Other regional work includes Romeo and Juliet for Childsplay in Phoenix, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville and Peninsula Players, among others. Mr. Burch is the recipient of a Jeff Award, two After Dark Awards and Chicago’s Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award. Sam Fleming (Costume Designer) returns to Arizona Theatre Company where she designed To Kill a Mockingbird, Bad Dates, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Wit and Proof. She has designed at theatres across the country including Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Alley Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, ACT Theatre, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, among others. She is the Associate Costume Designer for The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Jennifer Setlow (Lighting Designer) has designed lighting for Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory Theatre, East West Players, Sledgehammer Theatre and Theatre de la Jeune Lune, as well as numerous theatres in Minneapolis and San Diego. She is the head of the lighting program at Arizona State University. Brian Jerome Peterson (Sound Designer) celebrates his 23rd season and 56th sound design for ATC, where he has designed, among others, Enchanted April, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Inventing van Gogh, Twelfth Night, and The Holy Terror. His designs have been heard in many theatres including Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, Cleveland Play House, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Northlight, Kansas City Rep, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville and San Jose Rep. Timothy Toothman is the Stage Manager.
Arizona Theatre Company offers accessibility services for patrons with disabilities for select performances. Audio Description provides patrons with vision loss a running audio description of the movement and activities onstage through an infrared broadcast system. Audio-described performances are offered on November 5th at 2 PM and November 6th at 2 PM. Interested patrons may request a tactile tour one hour prior to curtain. American Sign Language interpretation is presented by professional theatrically-trained ASL-interpreters for people who have deafness or hearing impairment. An ASL-interpreted performance is offered on November 6th at 7:30 PM. Open-captioning allows patrons to read the play’s dialogue on an LED screen as the play progresses. An open-captioned performance is offered on November 6th at 2 PM. For Open-captioned or ASL-interpreted performances, patrons should request seats best suited to ASL interpretation or captioning when purchasing tickets. Large Print and Braille playbills and Infrared listening amplification devices are also available at every ATC performance with reservation. TTY access for the box office is available in Tucson at (520) 884-9723 or via Arizona Relay at (800) 367-8939 (TTY/ASCII).
Tickets range from $26-$50 depending on date and section choice and are available at arizonatheatre.org or by calling the box office at (520) 622-2823. Discounts are available for students, seniors and active military on specific performance days. Half-price student rush tickets are available for balcony seating for all performances one hour prior to curtain at the ATC box office (subject to availability; must show ID). Ten Dollar Tuesday for The Lady with All the Answers is October 21st. Balcony seats for this preview performance are available for a suggested $10 minimum donation. (Tickets must be purchased at the ATC Box Office starting at 11 AM on September 16th. Seating is first-come, first served and is not guaranteed. Cash only, please. Two tickets per person maximum.) For discounts on groups of eight or more, call Chris Olson at (520) 884-8210 Ext. 8204.
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