NEWS: 2011-12 Season @ University of Utah Dept of Theatre

PRESS RELEASE September 7, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Amy Oakeson Department of Theatre, Communications Specialist 801-581-6406 or amy.oakeson@utah.edu THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE ANNOUNCES THE 2011-2012 SEASON OF PLAYS The University of Utah’s Department of Theatre is delighted to announce the 2011-2012 season of plays. The season is comprised of four Babcock productions and five Studio 115 productions. In the Babcock Theatre, we open with Williams Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This production features the seniors of the Department of Theatre’s prestigious Actor Training Program, and is directed by Guest Artist Risa Brainin. It is sure to be a visually stunning production as well with set design by Guest Artist Nayna Ramey. Next, we are ecstatic to present Hair, The American Tribal Love Rock Musical. This Broadway smash-hit production is directed by Alex Gelman, former head of the graduate directing program, with music direction by David Schmidt. Jerry Rapier, Artistic Director of Plan B Theatre, directs our next Babcock Theatre production, Elmer Rice’s Expressionist piece The Adding Machine. Finally, our Babcock season closes with Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. Peder Melhuse will star as Joe Keller in this classic American drama, which will be directed by Hugh Hanson, Artistic Director of Salt Lake Shakespeare. Our exciting Studio 115 season opens with Street Theater by Doric Wilson. A participant in the Stonewall riots, Wilson wrote Street Theatre as a record of the people he knew and the incidents he was involved in on Christopher Street in the months, days and hours leading up to the night gays fought back. This production is being produced in conjunction with U Pride Week (October 17-21, 2011) and is directed by Bill Poore, a personal friend of the late Wilson. Snapshot, directed by Hugh Hanson, is our second Studio 115 production. In this multi-writer project from Actors Theatre of Louisville, a diverse assortment of talented playwrights encounter and transform Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, 1969, a compelling image of the monument by renowned photographer Lee Friedlander. Next up is Les Belles Soeurs (The Beautiful Sisters), French Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay’s controversial and gritty drama about working-class women. The Wild Party, Andrew Lippa’s award-winning musical based on Joseph Moncure March’s once-banned narrative poem written in and about the Roaring Twenties, is the next production in our line-up. And finally, the Student Advisory Committee Production will close our Studio 115 season. This year, we are thrilled to add a special event to our season. In March of 2012, Anne Cullimore Decker will star in Rare Bird, Brighde Mullin’s contemporary play about one of the last surviving classic Las Vegas showgirls. Elizabeth Williamson, literary manager for Pioneer Theatre Company, directs this moving production that will premiere in the Babcock Theatre. Ms. Decker’s participation in this production is especially exciting as she is being honored as a College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni this year. All proceeds from this production will be donated to the Department of Theatre Scholarship Fund. Season Flexpasses and individual tickets to all productions are available now online at www.kingsburyhall.org, by phone at 801-581-7100, or in person at the Performing Arts Ticket Office located on the southeast corner of Kingsbury Hall adjacent to the plaza steps. The ticket office is open 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday; and 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday. Season Flexpasses and individual tickets may also be obtained at the Babcock or Studio 115 box office 30 minutes prior to each production if seats are available. or more information about the University of Utah’s Department of Theatre 2011-2012 season, or for more information about tickets and Flexpasses, visit www.theatre.utah.edu. ####