Arizona Theatre Company Opens 2014-15 Season With Hilarious "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike"

From: scarr51@gmail.com [mailto:scarr51@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Steve Carr
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2014 9:45 AM
Subject: Arizona Theatre Company Opens 2014-15 Season With Hilarious "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike"

 

Media Contact: Steve Carr, 602-317-3040, scarr@fastq.com 

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY KICKS OFF 2014-15 WITH HILARIOUS

BROADWAY HIT, VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

 

TUCSON, Ariz. (August 20, 2014):  Arizona Theatre Company opens the 2014-15 season with the Arizona premiere of the hilarious comedy of ill manners, the 2013 Tony Award winner for Best Play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, from Sept. 13 to Oct. 4 at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. in Tucson.

The show is directed by Joel Sass, the force behind ATC's critically acclaimed production of The 39 Steps. The 2014-15 season is sponsored by I. Michael and Beth Kasser and opening night in Tucson is sponsored by Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails. 

In Christopher Durang's "all out-smash" (Talkin' Broadway), Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia are living a quiet life in the Pennsylvania farmhouse where they grew up, while their sister Masha travels the world as a movie star.  Just as their cleaning woman, Cassandra, issues a warning about terrible events in their future, Masha returns for an unannounced visit with her 20-something boy toy Spike in tow – and so begins an unforgettable weekend building to a fever pitch of rivalry, regret and racket. Mixing Chekhov shout-outs with contemporary cringe-worthy flair, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a delightfully off-kilter season-opening romp that critics have hailed "a sublime state of hilarity" and "a zany joy!"

"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is among the funniest plays to pass our way in a long time," Arthur Dorman wrote on Talkin' Broadway Minneapolis.  "That it carries with it a tender heart and has been mounted in a sparkling production makes it a show not to be missed."

            Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike contains strong language. Total running time is 2 hours, 30 minutes including intermission.  This production was produced in association with the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

            Single tickets go on sale beginning Aug. 25.  Ticket prices range from $32 to $67. 

Season-ticket packages range from $87 to $372 depending upon the package and seat selection.  Pick-Your-Play packages of three, four or five plays also are available as is the Flexpass that includes four tickets to any play in the regular season on any day, in any combination.

Season subscriber benefits include discounts on additional tickets, priority seating and up to 50 percent off regular box office prices, among others.

For more information in Tucson, call (520) 622-2823 and in Phoenix call (602) 256-6995.  For complete information, visit www.arizonatheatre.org.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

By Christopher Durang

Directed by Joel Sass

Tucson: Sept. 13 to Oct. 4, 2014

 

Tickets for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike start at $32 and are subject to change depending on time, date and section, and are available at www.arizonatheatre.org or by calling the box office at (520) 622-2823.  Discounts are available for seniors and active military.  A $10 student ticket pricing is now available for all performances.  Half-price rush tickets are available for balcony seating for all performances one hour prior to curtain at the ATC box office (subject to availability).  Pay What You Can is Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets for this performance are available for a suggested $10 donation. (Tickets must be purchased at the Temple of Music and Art starting one hour prior to curtain. Tickets are first-come first served.  Cash only. Two tickets maximum per person.) For discounts for groups of 10 or more, call (520) 622-2823

 

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.  An Audio-Described performance is offered on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 2 p.m.  Interested patrons with vision loss 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 Thursday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. 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 Thursday, Oct. 2 at 2 p.m.. 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).

 

Fact Sheet:
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

By Christopher Durang

Directed by Joel Sass

 
Venue:
The Tempe of Music and Art

330 S. Scott Avenue

Tucson, AZ 85701

 

TUCSON:
Previews Begin: Saturday, Sept. 13 at 8 p.m.
Opening Night: Friday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Closing Performance: Saturday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m.
 
Cast (in alphabetical order):

Suzanne Bouchard (Masha)

Joshua James Campbell (Spike)

Ali Rose Dachis (Nina)

Charles Janasz (Vanya)

Isabell Monk O'Connor (Cassandra)

Suzanne Warmanen (Sonia)

Creative Team
Playwright: Christopher Durang

Director:  Joel Sass

Set Designer: Todd Rosenthal

Costume Designer: Ilona Somogyi

Lighting Designer: Barry Browning

Sound Designer: Sean Healey

Dramaturg: Carla Steen

Voice and Speech Coach: Lucinda Holshue

Movement Coach: Marcela Lorca

Casting: McCorkle Casting, Ltd.

Local Casting by ATC Artistic Staff

Production Stage Manager: Glenn Bruner

Assistant Stage Manager: David Cap

Assistant Stage Manager: Timothy Toothman

Assistant to the Stage Manager: Emma DeVore

Assistant Director: Adin Walker

Co-Producer: Guthrie Theater

 

Biographies:

Christopher Durang (Playwright) won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. He has also written A History of the American Film (Tony nomination, Best Book of a Musical, 1978), The Actor's Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie award; Off-Broadway run 1981-83), Beyond Therapy (on Broadway in 1982, with Dianne Wiest and John Lithgow), Baby with the Bathwater (Playwrights Horizons, 1983), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Public Theatre, 1985; Obie Award, Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award), Laughing Wild (Playwrights Horizons, 1987), Durang/Durang (an evening of six plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, 1994, including the Tennessee Williams' parody, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls), Sex and Longing (Lincoln Center Theatre production at the Cort Theatre, 1996, starring Sigourney Weaver), and Betty's Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons, 1999; Obie Award). Mr. Durang is co-chair of the Playwriting Program at The Juilliard School alongside playwright Marsha Norman.

 

Joel Sass, Director

Joel Sass previously directed The 39 Steps at Arizona Theatre Company. Other credits include 23 productions as director and/or designer at Jungle Theater, over 15 productions as Artistic Director at Mary Worth Theater Company, Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Theater, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Park Square Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, History Theatre, Theatre in the Round, Red Eye Theater and the Playwrights' Center. His awards include the Alan Schneider Director Award (TCG), McKnight Theater Artist Fellowship, Ivey Awards for Scenic Design and Overall Excellence and numerous "Best of" awards from Twin Cities papers and the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle. Mr. Sass received his training from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and spent three seasons as an assistant director, designer and performer at Theatre de la Jeune Lune.

 

Suzanne Bouchard (Masha)

Suzanne Bouchard has previously appeared at ATC as Lynn Fontanne in Ten Chimneys, Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing, Kate in Other People's Money, Lucy in Dracula and Costanze in Amadeus, among others. She recently played Brutus in Julius Caesar at Wooden O and Patricia in Bethany at ACT in Seattle. Her other roles in regional theatre include Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, Queen Elizabeth I in Mary Stuart, Amanda in Private Lives, B in Three Tall Women, Charlotte and Petra in A Little Night Music, Hannah Jelkes in Night of the Iguana, Lena in Misalliance and in Shakespeare's canon: Lady Macbeth, Rosalind, Ariel, Titania, Regan, and Margaret.

 

Joshua James Campbell (Spike)

Joshua James Campbell has previously appeared in Legally Blonde: The Musical (First National Tour) and Mamma Mia (Las Vegas); Curtains (Paper Mill Playhouse/TUTS-Houston); Baby (Pennsylvania Center Stage); Such Good Friends (New York Musical Theatre Festival); The Good War (Northlight Theatre); Dr. Sex (Bailiwick Chicago); Into the Woods (Peninsula Players); The Glass Menagerie (Jungle Theater); Grey Gardens and Songbook Series (Ordway Center); The Full Monty (Theater Latté Da); Mulan (Children's Theatre Company); Johnny Baseball (Park Square Theatre); Rancho Mirage (Old Log Theater); and Urinetown (The Gallery Players). Television credits include The Playbook (Spike TV), Guiding Light and One Life to Live.

 

Ali Rose Dachis (Nina)

Ali Rose Dachis has previously appeared Off-Broadway in The Awesome 80's Prom and off-off-Broadway in Exit 27 (Sanguine Theatre). Regional theatre credits include The Edge of Our Bodies, A Christmas Carol, Circle Mirror Transformation and The Great Gatsby (Guthrie Theater); Leveling Up (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Romeo and Juliet (Southwest Shakespeare Company); The Last Seder and The Miracle Worker (Park Square Theatre); Amber Waves, The Magic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Seussical, Very Old Man with Enormous Wings and The Wizard of Oz (Children's Theatre Company); The Music Man (Ordway Center); Junior Claus (The Directors Studio); A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It (Strange Capers); Perfect Match and Helen (20% Theater Company). Ms. Dachis was named best solo performance of 2011 by Lavendar Magazine for her work in The Edge of Our Bodies. She holds a B.F.A. from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program.

 

Charles Janasz (Vanya)

Charles Janasz has appeared on Broadway in the 1999 revival of Amadeus, and off-Broadway at the New York Shakespeare Festival and Playwrights Horizons. He has been a company member of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. where he performed in Uncle Vanya (title role), Animal Crackers and The Cocoanuts (Harpo) and Ghosts (Oswald); the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis where he has appeared in over 45 productions, including title roles in Richard II, Pericles and Fantasio, Private Lives (Elyot), Amadeus (Salieri) and The Importance of Being Earnest (Jack/Ernest Worthing); and San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, where he is an Associate Artist and has appeared in 32 productions including Hamlet (Polonius), King Lear (Gloucester), Titus Andronicus (Marcus Andronicus) and Inherit the Wind (Rev. Jeremiah Brown). He has also worked at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Center Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, Ahmanson Theatre, Walker Art Center, and The Empty Space. He holds a B.FA. from The Julliard School

 

Isabell Monk O'Connor (Cassandra)

Isabell Monk O'Connor has appeared on Broadway in Execution of Justice and The Gospel at Colonus. Regional theatre credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2011-2013), New York Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, American Repertory Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Mixed Blood Theatre, Children's Theatre Company, Theatre de la Jeune Leune, and 27 seasons at Guthrie Theater. Ms. O'Connor's film credits include Intolerable Cruelty, Into Temptation, Black Knight, Equinox, Grumpy Old Men and others. She is also the author of Hope, Family and Blackberry Stew, picture books for children published by Carolrhoda Books. Ms. O'Connor is a McKnight Fellow, a Fox Fellow, and the recipient of an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Helen Hayes Award nomination, and a Parents' Choice honoree for her work as an author. She received her theatre training at University of St. Thomas, Towson State University, and The Yale School of Drama.

 

Suzanne Warmanen (Sonia)

Suzanne Warmanen has previously appeared in A Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice, The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, The Importance of Being Earnest, A View from the Bridge, Lost in Yonkers, The Pirates of Penzance, Top Girls, Amadeus, Hedda Gabler, Lysistrata, Summer and Smoke, Much Ado about Nothing, The Playboy of the Western World, A Doll's House, The Rover and As You Like It (Guthrie Theater); Tartuffe (South Coast Repertory); Measure for Measure (Ten Thousand Things); The War Within/All's Fair (The Moving Company); and Amerika (Theatre de la Jeune Lune). Her recordings include the vocal CD, All Around Woman, and film credits include Herman U.S.A. Ms. Warmanen holds an M.F.A from the University of Minnesota.

 

Ticket Info:

Ticket prices currently start at $32 and are available in-person at the Temple of Music and Art box office, via phone at (520) 622-2823 or online at www.arizonatheatre.org.
 
About Arizona Theatre Company:

Touching lives through the power of theatre, Arizona Theatre Company (ATC), is the preeminent fully professional theatre in the state of Arizona. Boasting the largest seasonal subscriber base in the performing arts in Arizona, ATC is the only resident company in the U.S. that is fully based in two cities providing its wide array of programming and community outreach across the region. Now in its 48th season, more than 130,000 people a year attend our performances at the historic Temple of Music and Art in Tucson, and the elegant Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix. Each season of home-grown productions reflects the rich variety of world drama—from classics to contemporary plays, from musicals to new works—along with a wide array of community outreach programs, educational opportunities, access initiatives and new play programs. Designated The State Theatre of Arizona, ATC is led by Artistic Director David Ira Goldstein, Managing Director Jessica L. Andrews and a dedicated Board of Trustees. 

 

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