[NEohioPAL] Mitch Albom's "And the Winner Is" at Akron's Weathervane Playhouse

[Jan Harcar]

Weathervane Playhouse
In the Merriman Valley -- Akron
330-836-2626
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com
Mitch Albom's 'And the Winner Is'

Serves up Laughter and Satire

Hollywood-Spoofing Play Gets its Regional Premiere at Weathervane

Directed by Eileen Moushey

Performances through May 31

Best-selling author Mitch Albom pokes fun at Hollywood's inflated ego in the hilarious stage comedy And the Winner Is, which receives its regional premiere at Weathervane Community Playhouse from May 14 to 31, 2008. Though perhaps best known for his books, the Detroit-based Albom -- author of the best-selling Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven -- has also written two plays and co-authored (with Jeffrey Hatcher) the stage adaptation of his Tuesdays with Morrie.


In his And the Winner Is, Albom spins the comical tale of Tyler, a handsome, self-absorbed movie star who dies on the eve of the Academy Awards. What soon ensues is a comedy of existential proportion! Trapped in a strange limbo-like place with no normal sense of time or meaning, can Tyler somehow negotiate with the heavenly powers-that-be to make it back to Hollywood in time to see if he wins his Oscar? Along the way, Tyler encounters a strange cast of characters including a weird bartender, a buxom ingenue, his cranky agent and even his eventual ex-wife. Alternately charming and cutting, And the Winner Is both skewers Hollywood values and offers up Albom's trademark self-reflective life lessons. (The play contains adult language and mature themes.)

Times: May 14 to 31, 2008 

F ONE Wednesday (May 14) at 7:30 p.m. 

F ALL Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. 

F ALL Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. 

F ONE Sunday matinee (May 18 at 2:30 p.m. Prices: $15; $13 for Weathervane subscribers 

All tickets in the John L. Dietz Theater are sold as GENERAL ADMISSION ONLY.

For tickets: Call (330) 836-2626 or visit www.weathervaneplayhouse.com

ABOUT THE PLAY AND PLAYWRIGHT 
And the Winner Is received its world premiere in 2005 at the Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, Michigan, which was founded by actor Jeff Daniels in 1991. Subsequent productions include the West Coast premiere in 2006 at the Laguna Playhouse.

MITCH ALBOM is a best-selling author, playwright and newspaper columnist. His nine books include Tuesdays with Morrie (which spent four years on The New York Times best-seller list) and The Five People You Meet in Heaven (which sold over 8 million copies worldwide). For nearly 25 years, he has written as a journalist and sports writer for The Detroit Free Press. The Associated Press Sports Editors have named him the No. 1 sports columnist in the nation for over a decade. He wrote the screenplay for the television adaptation of his The Five People You Meet in Heaven and co-wrote the stage adaptation (with Jeffrey Hatcher) of his Tuesdays with Morrie, which has received dozens of productions around the country, including an off-Broadway run in 2002. His philanthropic work includes founding three Detroit-area charities: The Dream Fund (connecting at-risk kids with the arts), A Time to Help (a volunteer-based program to assist people with housing, meals and other humanitarian efforts) and S.A.Y. Detroit (funding shelter and care for the homeless). 



Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2323 X16
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