[NEohioPAL] TUCK EVERLASTING at The Cleveland Play House!!!!!

[Alison Bibb]

Cleveland Play House/CWRU Graduate Ensemble Star in 
Tuck Everlasting

CLEVELAND (January 14, 2008) – The Theatre for Children Series at The
Cleveland Play House at 85th and Euclid produces the stage adaptation of the
classic and beloved book, Tuck Everlasting. The play will run in the Play
House’s Brooks Theatre, January 29-February 23, 2008. Public performances
will be held on Saturdays at 1:00 and 3:00 pm.  

The roles in Tuck Everlasting are filled by the entire CPH/CWRU Graduate
Acting Ensemble class of 2008.

"I am so thrilled that this group of young actors is working to inspire the
next generation of theatre audiences here at The Play House,” says Mark Alan
Gordon, Associate Director of the CPH/CWRU Graduate Acting Program.

The novel, Tuck Everlasting, was written by Ohio native and Laurel School
graduate Natalie Babbitt. An award-winning author, Babbitt remained
reluctant about having her book adapted for the stage. She relinquished,
however, when her son-in-law, Mark Frattaroli, approached Babbitt about the
adaptation. This stage version of Tuck Everlasting is most true to the
novel, as Babbitt had a hand in the adaptation. Tuck Everlasting was first
presented at Louisville Children’s Theatre as a workshop in 1991. 

ABOUT TUCK EVERLASTING
Tuck Everlasting is the story of Winnie Foster, a girl who is bored with
being surrounded by adults, and sets out for an adventure. She leaves her
hometown, but when she is kidnapped by Jesse Tuck and his family, she’s
offered the chance for immortality. Tuck Everlasting is one of the most
talked-about children’s stories of recent years; it became a hit Disney film
and is now a wondrous play for the stage.

ABOUT THE CAST
TOM DEGNAN (Angus Tuck) CPH: Pride and Prejudice (spring 2008), Doubt
(understudy, spring 2008) CWRU/CPH MFA PROGRAM: As You Like It, Big Love,
Heartbreak House, Little Foxes CLEVELAND: The Specificity of Paradise, The
Seagull, Eldred Theatre REGIONAL: Monomoy Theatre (multiple credits)
EDUCATION: MFA, CWRU Western Reserve University-The Cleveland Play House
(2008); BA, University of Notre Dame

AMANDA DUFFY (Mae Tuck) CPH: Pride and Prejudice (spring 2008), A Christmas
Story (understudy) CWRU/CPH MFA PROGRAM: As You Like It, Big Love,
Heartbreak House, Little Foxes CLEVELAND: The Specificity of Paradise, The
Seagull, Eldred Theatre TOURING PRODUCTIONS: A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, ShakespeareLIVE
REGIONAL: Utah Shakespearean Festival (multiple credits), The Shakespeare
Theatre of New Jersey (multiple credits) EDUCATION: MFA, CWRU Western
Reserve University-The Cleveland Play House (2008)

NATHAN GURR (Miles Tuck) CPH: Pride and Prejudice (understudy, spring 2008)
CWRU/CPH MFA PROGRAM: As You Like It, Big Love, Heartbreak House, Little
Foxes CLEVELAND: The Seagull, Eldred Theatre; The Taming of the Shrew, Great
Lakes Theater Festival EDUCATION: MFA, CWRU Western Reserve University-The
Cleveland Play House (2008); BA in Theater and Philosophy at Whittier
College in Los Angeles

DAN HAMMOND (The Stranger in the Yellow Suit) CPH: Of Mice and Men
(understudy), Pride and Prejudice (spring 2008), The Chosen (understudy)
CWRU/CPH MFA PROGRAM: As You Like It, Big Love, Heartbreak House, Little
Foxes CLEVELAND: The Specificity of Paradise, The Seagull, Eldred Theatre;
Lunacy, Dobama Theatre OTHER CREDITS: co-founder of Standing Theatre Company
in Chicago, Illinois EDUCATION: MFA, CWRU Western Reserve University-The
Cleveland Play House (2008); BA in Theatre from Loyola University Chicago;
The School at Steppenwolf Theatre (2007)

DERIC McNISH (Jesse Tuck) CPH: Pride and Prejudice (spring 2008), The Chosen
(understudy) CWRU/CPH MFA PROGRAM: As You Like It, Big Love, Heartbreak
House, Little Foxes CLEVELAND: The Specificity of Paradise, The Seagull,
Eldred Theatre; Peter Pan, Porthouse Theatre; Othello, The Ohio Shakespeare
Festival REGIONAL (select): The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, The Cider
Mill Playhouse, Expanded Arts/Ludlow Ten, The Kraine Theatre, National
Theatre of the Performing Arts, La Mama TELEVISION: “Third Watch” FILM:
White Room, Lead Paint EDUCATION: MFA, CWRU Western Reserve University-The
Cleveland Play House (2008)

ANNIE PAUL (Winnie Foster) CPH: Pride and Prejudice (spring 2008), Doubt
(understudy, spring 2008), Americans (FusionFest) CWRU/CPH MFA PROGRAM: As
You Like It, Big Love, Heartbreak House, Little Foxes CLEVELAND: The
Specificity of Paradise, The Seagull, Eldred Theatre; King Lear, Cleveland
Shakespeare Festival REGIONAL: American Players Theatre (multiple credits)
OTHER THEATRES: Theatre X (multiple credits), Renaissance Theaterworks
(multiple credits) EDUCATION: MFA, CWRU Western Reserve University-The
Cleveland Play House (2008)

TAYLOR VALENTINE (Narrator/Constable) CPH: Pride and Prejudice (spring
2008), The Chosen (understudy) CWRU/CPH MFA PROGRAM: As You Like It, Big
Love, Heartbreak House, The Little Foxes REGIONAL: Warehouse Theatre, New
Conservatory Theatre Center, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, ACT, Shotgun
Players, San Jose Repertory Theatre EDUCATION: MFA, CWRU Western Reserve
University-The Cleveland Play House (2008); BA, Catawba College; Journeyman
Program, The Warehouse Theatre in South Carolina

MELYNEE SAUNDERS WARREN (Granny Foster) CPH: Pride and Prejudice (spring
2008), Doubt (understudy, spring 2008) CWRU/CPH MFA PROGRAM: As You Like It,
Big Love, Heartbreak House, The Little Foxes CLEVELAND: The Specificity of
Paradise, The Seagull, Eldred Theatre; King Lear, Cleveland Shakespeare
Festival REGIONAL: Monomoy Theatre, Hedgerow Theatre EDUCATION: MFA, CWRU
Western Reserve University-The Cleveland Play House (2008)

THE CREATIVE TEAM
NATALIE BABBITT (Author) is an award-winning children’s book author and
illustrator. For Tuck Everlasting (1975) she received the Christopher Award
for juvenile fiction, American Library Association Notable Book, U.S. Honor
Book, and the International Reading Association choices list, among many
other awards. Babbitt says that she writes for children because she is
“interested in fantasy and the possibilities for experience of all kinds
before the time of compromise.” Babbitt has been called one of our nation’s
most important and gifted children’s writers. Among Natalie Babbitt’s
numerous other wonderful works are: Dick Foote and the Shark (1967), The
Search for Delicious (1969), The Something (1970), and The Eyes of the
Amaryllis (1977).

MARK FRATTAROLI (Adaptation) Before Mark Frattaroli adapted Tuck
Everlasting, other writers had tried to adapt the novel, but never to the
satisfaction of author Natalie Babbitt. Frattaroli loved the book, but when
he first approached Babbitt (his mother-in- law) she was reticent.
Eventually, both Frattaroli and Babbitt were pleased with the adaptation,
and it was ready for production. Frattaroli says what was important to him
as the adaptor was keeping the text of the book as true as possible. He
believes that the story is important, but that Babbitt’s words are even more
important. Frattaroli’s goal was to keep the language intact in a
stage-worthy play. Mark Frattaroli is an English teacher in Connecticut. He
attended Connecticut College for his B.A., and received his Masters in
Theatre at Brown University. He first presented Tuck Everlasting at the
Louisville Children’s Theatre as a workshop in 1991. He has also adapted
Babbitt’s novel The Search for Delicious. 

SARAH MAY (Director) began her career at The Cleveland Play House in the
1960’s. More recently for the Play House she has taught acting to children
and adults and directed The Emperor’s Nightingale for young audiences. Sarah
spent 10 years in New York City performing, directing, and developing
educational programs for Playwrights Horizons, Henry Street Settlement, and
Roundabout Theatre. She returned to Cleveland to serve as Director of
Education for Great Lakes Theatre Festival and to found their outreach
residency program. Sarah served as Artistic Director of Karamu Theatre for
many years, and she has been a guest director for most area theatres. Her
Beck Center production of A Piece of My Heart won the 2001 Northern Ohio
Live Magazine Award of Achievement in Theatre. She has been nominated for
that same award on five other occasions (My Children, My Africa at Dobama,
Mulebone at Karamu, Having Our Say for Ensemble, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar
and Grill starring Rasheryl McCreary, and Six Degrees of Separation for
Charenton.)  She has been honored by Scene magazine, which named Six Degrees
the “Best Theatre Production” of 2003, and The Diary of Anne Frank at Beck
“Best Production” of 2006. Sarah’s 2006 production of Anne Frank is
currently being revived at The Beck Center featuring George Roth (seen in
CPH’s The Chosen and Ella) as Otto Frank. Other recent productions include
Bryony Laverty’s Frozen and Rebecca Gilman’s timely dramas Boy Gets Girl,
and Spinning Into Butter for Beck Center, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg for
Charenton Theatre, and Brian Friel’s Translations and Philadelphia, Here I
Come! Later this spring audiences will have the opportunity to see her
production of Alan Bennett’s dazzling play The History Boys on Beck’s Main
Stage.

CAMERON CALEY MICHALAK (Scenic Designer/Assistant Technical Director) CPH:
Man of La Mancha (assistant technical director), Sherlock Holmes: The Final
Adventure (assistant technical director), The Chosen, (assistant technical
director) A Christmas Story (assistant technical director) CLEVELAND: Once
Upon a Mattress, Oberlin Auditorium; Starmites, Hall Auditorium; Proof,
William Allman Theatre; Honk, Little Theatre OFF-OFF-BROADWAY: The Messiah,
Workshop Theatre Company; Art Nouveaux, Wings Theatre OTHER CREDITS: The
True Tragedy of the Mortician, Inaugural Washington D.C. Fringe Festival
EDUCATION: BA, Baldwin-Wallace College

SHERRICE KELLY (Lighting Designer) EDUCATION: BA, University of California
Santa Cruz; CPH Lighting Intern; Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship
Program Student Production Liaison OTHER CREDITS: Shakespeare Santa Cruz
Assistant Lighting Designer, Shakespeare Santa Cruz Assistant Production
Manager 

KIMBERLY CASTLE (Costume Designer) CPH: Ferdinand the Bull, Alice in
Wonderland CLEVELAND: Ten Minutes from Cleveland, The Goat or Who is
Sylvia?, Dobama Theatre; A View from the Bridge, Ensemble Theatre; Coffee
Cantata, Signor Deluso, The Impresario, Baldwin-Wallace College EDUCATION:
BA in Theatre and Business Administration, Baldwin-Wallace College

RICHARD B. INGRAHAM (Sound Designer) CPH: Lake of Panthers, Jocasta, Blues
for An Alabama Sky, Harvey, The Guardsman, Touch the Names, The Arkansas
Bear, Two Trains Running, Seascape, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Nightfall:
An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe CLEVELAND: Beauty and the Beast, Holy
Ghosts, Frozen, Equus, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Beck Center for the
Arts; Take Me Out, Lunacy, Shorn, Pillowman, Night Bloomers, A Number, The
Goat, Dobama Theatre REGIONAL: University of Evansville, Great Lakes Theatre
Festival, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, Playhouse Square, Shakespeare and
Company, Willoughby Fine Arts Association OTHER CREDITS: Consultant to Stage
Research Incorporated and Richmond Sound Design; Show Control Programmer,
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines

RON WILSON (Fight Choreographer) CPH: Man of La Mancha, Well, A Streetcar
Named Desire, The Underpants, Forest City, Jekyll and Hyde, Dinner with
Friends, I Hate Hamlet, Cyrano, The Emancipation of Valet de Chambre, A
Small Family Business, Seascape, Blue Room, A Kiss for Cinderella CWRU/CPH
MFA PROGRAM: Hurlyburly, Bus Stop, Little Foxes, Big Love, Heartbreak House,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream CLEVELAND: Tartuffe, Great Lakes Theatre Festival
REGIONAL: Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Hangar
Theatre, The Kitchen Theatre CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Twelfth Night, Red Noses,
Les Liaisons Dangerouses, The Rover, The Royal Family, The Curious CWRU of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Cyrano, Noises Off, A Streetcar Named Desire, Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Wolf, The Cherry Orchard, King Lear, Marat/Sade EMORY
UNIVERSITY: The White Devil, Taming of the Shrew OTHER: Director of the
CWRU/CPH MFA Program and Chairman of the Department of Theater and Dance at
CWRU Western Reserve University

JERROLD SCOTT (Dialect Coach) CPH (select): Heartbreak House, Bus Stop,
Vincent in Brixton, Hay Fever, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Waverly Gallery,
Emancipation of Valet de Chambre, A Small Family Business CLEVELAND: Amy’s
View, Dobama Theatre; A Christmas Carol, Great Lakes Theatre Festival
REGIONAL: The Studio Theatre, Theater of the First Amendment, South Carolina
Shakespeare Festival, Washington Stage Guild, Round House Theatre, Wooly
Mammoth Theatre, Washington Shakespeare Festival, Contemporary American
Theatre Company EDUCATION: MFA, University of South Carolina/The Shakespeare
Theatre

Founded in 1915, The Cleveland Play House is the first permanently
established professional theatre in the United States. More than 12 million
people have attended over 1,300 productions at The Play House – including
more than 130 American and/or World Premieres. Today, under the leadership
of Artistic Director Michael Bloom and Managing Director Kevin Moore, The
Cleveland Play House is an artist-driven theatre that serves the Greater
Cleveland community by holding true to its mission:

To produce plays of the highest professional standards that inspire,
stimulate, and entertain our diverse audiences, and to conduct training and
educational programs that enhance the quality of life for those we serve and
help to insure the future of theatre.

The Ohio Arts Council helps to fund The Cleveland Play House with state tax
dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural
enrichment for all Ohioans.
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Alison Bibb-Carson
Associate Director of Communications and Marketing
The Cleveland Play House
8500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio  44106
216.795.7000 x236
SEEINGISBELIEVING...www.clevelandplayhouse.com

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