[NEohioPAL] Keythe Farley Heads Cast of Cleveland Play House's "Around the World in 80 Days"

Thu Dec 18 12:09:02 PST 2008

MEDIA RELEASE

For photos, interviews, etc. contact:

Lisa Craig, Public Relations Manager 

(216) 795-7000 x236 

lcraig at clevelandplayhouse.com

keythe farley heads cast of CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Bart DeLorenzo Directs Co-Author of Bay Boy: The Musical and 4 Other Actors
in 39 Roles

January 9 - February 1, 2009

Opening Night / Media Night: January 14, 2009

Cleveland, OH (December 18, 2008) - Keythe Farley, co-author of Bat Boy: The
Musical, winner of Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Off Broadway Musical
in 2001, stars as adventurer Phileas Fogg in The Play House production of
Mark Brown's family-friendly adaptation of the Jules Verne novel Around the
World in 80 Days.  Directing five actors in thirty-nine different roles is
Bart DeLorenzo, the founding Artistic Director of the Evidence Room Theater
in Los Angeles. Around the World in 80 Days begins in the Drury Theatre at
The Cleveland Play House on Friday, January 9 and runs through Sunday,
February 1, 2009.  Tickets are on sale now at The Cleveland Play House box
office by calling 216.795.7000 ext 4 or online at
www.clevelandplayhouse.com. Around the World in 80 Days is presented in
promotional partnership with the InterContinental Hotel and Judson at
University Circle. The media sponsor for Around the World in 80 Days is
107.3 FM The Wave WNWV. 

"Around the World in 80 Days provides a fun-filled journey at a bargain
price; an entertainment that stretches our imagination and tickles our funny
bone," declares Cleveland Play House Artistic Director Michael Bloom. "Mark
Brown's marvelous adaptation turns the theatre itself into a metaphor for
Phileas Fogg's spectacular adventures." 

ABOUT THE PLAY and PLAYWRIGHT

Mark Brown's fast-paced, clever adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days
first premiered at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in 2001. His highly
theatrical rendering of Jules Verne's fantastic story requires five skilled
actors who can carry forward the breakneck pace of the story with a minimum
of props amid flurries of rapid costume changes. Brown's wild and wacky
homage to Verne transports the audience on a voyage of a lifetime as
stampeding elephants, raging typhoons, runaway trains and a host of colorful
characters both help and hinder Phileas Fogg's progress to travel 24,000
miles around the world in 80 days. 

The play begins in 1872 in story-theatre mode as we learn that Phileas Fogg
(Keythe Farley) has hired a new servant, Passepartout (Brian Sills), because
the old servant brought his shaving water two degrees too hot. Fogg then
wagers with colleagues at the Reform Club that he can make it around the
world in 80 days, a possibility that has just been written of in the
newspaper.  To complicate matters, the bumbling, inept lawman, Detective Fix
(Michael Webber), has mistaken Fogg for a notorious bank robber and
tenaciously dogs Fogg's footsteps around the globe.  In India, Fogg has a
few days to spare and rescues Aouda (Anna Khaja), a Parsi princess, from an
involuntary suttee and she joins their journey until Fogg can assure her
safety. The clock ticks and tension builds as danger, romance, and hilarious
surprises abound in this whirlwind, family fare adventure across seven
continents. 

AROUND THE WORLD - AND BACK TO CLEVELAND

There is a Cleveland connection to Jules Verne's famous novel. It's likely
that Verne based his hero's name, Fogg, on an American adventurer and
explorer William Perry Fogg. He traveled around the world from 1869 to 1871
and was one of the first Americans to explore the interior of Japan. Fogg
moved to Cleveland as a child and eventually was appointed to the Board of
Commissioners. The Cleveland Leader, a newspaper of the time, published
letters describing his exploits; they were later turned into a book-Round
The World Letters, a book very likely read by Jules Verne.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS Cast:

Keythe Farley (Phileas Fogg) is a writer/ director/ actor living in Los
Angeles with his wife Ann Closs-Farley and his two daughters. Farley is a
long-time member of The Actors Gang Theatre Company where he has written,
directed and / or appeared in dozens of shows with the troupe since he
joined them in 1990. Most recently, Farley appeared as the title character
in Gulliver's Travels, and he has been touring the US and the world with a
new adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 directed by The Gang's artistic
director Tim Robbins. Farley's other stage credits include The Black Rider,
Ahmanson Theatre; Marley's Ghost, Circle X Theatre Company; The Seagull,
Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, The Actors Gang Theatre Company. Keythe
appeared in the HBO movie "...And the Band Played On" and on many television
series including "Star Trek Voyager," "Full House," and "Beverly Hills
90210." Farley is the co-author with Brian Flemming and Laurence O'Keefe of
Bay Boy: The Musical which received the Lucille Lortel and Outer Critic's
Circle Awards for Best Off Broadway Musical in 2001. The World Premiere
production, which Farley directed in Los Angeles, was a winner of Best
Musical, Direction and Writing honors. Bay Boy: The Musical has been
produced in hundreds of cities throughout the United States and has had
international productions in Germany, Spain, Japan, Korea, and London.
Farley recently directed the World Premiere production of Evel Knievel: The
Rock Opera which was named one 2007's top five shows in Los Angeles. Farley
is hard at work on a new musical, Stranger, which will have its world
premiere in the spring of 2009.

Joe Faust (Actor 1) has many regional credits include playing Hamlet at
Nevermore Theatre and five productions with Milwaukee Shakespeare; Kabuki
Achilles, People's Light and Theatre Company; The Winter's Tale, Missouri
Repertory Theatre; Romeo and Juliet, River Styx, London; and ten seasons
acting and directing with Peninsula Players. Chicago acting credits include
What the Butler Saw and Endgame, Court Theatre; The Beard of Avon, Goodman
Theatre; Mother Courage and Her Children, Steppenwolf Theatre Company;
Kabuki Medea; Wisdom Bridge Arts Project; The Seagull and Major Barbara,
Remy Bumppo Theatre Company; Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Next Theatre
Company; Santaland Diaries, Theatre Wit; fourteen productions with Chicago
Shakespeare Theatre, where favorites include The Winter's Tale, Hamlet,
Timon of Athens, Twelfth Night, and Henry IV parts I and II; and three
seasons with Oak Park Festival Theatre. Mr. Foust is a founding member of
Defiant Theatre, where credits include directing and co-writing Action
Movie: The Play and Ubu Raw.

Anna Khaja (Aouda) has many theater credits including the U.S. Premiere of
David Hare's Stuff Happens at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, for which
she received an Ovation nomination and Judith Thompson's Palace of the End
for which she received the LA Weekly Award for Best Solo Performer and an
Ovation nomination for Lead Actress. Other favorite roles include Sonja in
Andrew Bovell's Speaking in Tongues, Chloe in Michael Elyanow's The Idiot
Box, and Kitty in The Time of Your Life. Her television credits include
"Numb3rs," "Dirt," "Sleeper Cell," "Weeds," "For the People," "Strong
Medicine," and the 2009 ABC Pilot, "This Might Hurt." Ms. Khaja currently
appears in movie theaters nation-wide alongside Jim Carrey in the film Yes
Man. Past feature films include King of California and Reunion. Ms. Khaja
can also be seen in Post-Grad Survival Guide and The Chaos Theory, due out
in 2009. 

Brian Sills (Passepartout) recently portrayed Cloten in Chicago Shakespeare
Theatre's production of Cymbeline, a performance that garnered him a
2007-2008 Jeff Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Other roles at
Chicago Shakespeare Theatre include Planchet in The Three Musketeers, Wooer
in The Two Noble Kinsmen, and Howie in How Can You Run With A Shell On Your
Back? At the 2008 Ravinia Festival Mr. Sills appeared as Umbriel in the
world premier of the musical comedy Unlock'd. He originated the role of Ed
the Hyena on the National Tour of Disney's The Lion King. A few Canadian
theater credits-Mr. Sills is originally from Toronto, Ontario-include The
Invention of Love, Arts & Letters Theatre; As You Like It, Resurgence
Theatre; The Miracle Worker, Young People's Theatre; and Snoopy in the
Toronto cast of the Broadway revival You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Film
credits include Rocky Marciano, Nothing Like The Holidays, and Baby On
Board.

Michael Webber (Actor 2) directed and appeared as Freddie Roscoe in It Had
To Be You opposite Cindy Williams and Eddie Mekka, which will tour
nationally beginning in 2009. He played Jack Manningham in Angel Street at
First Folio Shakespeare Festival and Uncle Jocko/ Mr. Goldstone opposite
Patti LuPone in Gypsy at the Ravinia Festival. Additional credits include
Henry V, The Winters Tale, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; My Fair Lady, Stages
St. Louis; The Gifts of the Magi, Indiana Repertory Theatre; Stalag 17,
American Theatre Company; Singin' in the Rain, Drury Lane Theatre; and Don
Juan In Hell, Royal George Theatre as well as television work in "Prison
Break." Mr. Weber was Artistic Director of both Drury Lane Theatre Water
Tower Place and Theatre at the Center and recently directed Cirque du
Symphony, Talley's Folly, Assassins, and The 40th Annual Jeff Awards. He
authored the play WAR of the WELLeS, premiering in Houston in 2009 and is an
Actors' Equity Central Regional Board member.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS Creative Team:

MARK BROWN (Playwright) is an award-winning writer and actor. His play
Around the World in 80 Days has literally been produced around the world.
Awards for 80 Days include two Lillie Stoates Awards, including Best
Production, Orlando Shakespeare Festival; four Shellie Awards, including
Best Production, Center Rep Theatre; five Sarasota Magazine Theater Award
nominations, Florida Studio Theatre; and two Los Angeles Ovation Award
Nominations, the Colony Theatre. The Sacramento Bee named 80 Days Best
Theatrical Comedy of 2004; The Morning Call named it Best Production of

2005, and it became the number-one-selling show in the B Street Theatre's
history. Mr. Brown's play The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge has been called "a
sequel worthy of Dickens' approval," "a worthy new entry into the holiday
canon," and is the number-one-selling show in the Taproot Theatre Company's
history. His adaptation of The Little Prince (Co-written with Paul Kiernen)
set box office records at the Hippodrome Theatre and the Orlando Theatre
Project. He also co-wrote with Mark Rector the play Poe: Deep Into That
Darkness Peering. His first musical (with music arrangements by Paul
Mirkovich) is called China-The Whole Enchilada, and is the complete
4000-year history of China, told in song, dance, and borscht belt jokes. Mr.
Brown received his acting training at the American Conservatory Theatre and
has appeared in theaters across the country. Television credits include the
Emmy Award-winning series "From the Earth to the Moon" (with Tom Hanks),
"House," "Ally McBeal," "Providence," "Diagnosis Murder," and commercials
and made-for-TV films. His song "Bring Me Back Home", which he wrote and
performed, appears in the film The Dig.

BART DeLORENZO (Director) is the founding Artistic Director of the Evidence
Room theater in Los Angeles, where he has directed many local and world
premieres including David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy; David Edgar's
Pentecost; Kelly Stuart's Mayhem (starring Megan Mullally) and Homewrecker;
Gordon Dahlquist's Delirium Palace and Messalina; Martin Crimp's Attempts on
Her Life; John Olive's Killers; Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, The
Policeman Said; Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare; Charles L. Mee's The
Imperialists at the Club Cave Canem; Robert David MacDonald's No Orchids for
Miss Blandish; Keith Reddin's Almost Blue; and Harry Kondoleon's The
Houseguests. At Evidence Room, he has also directed his own adaptation of
Hard Times, The Cherry Orchard, Andromache, Leonce & Lena, Don Carlos, and
Edward Bond's Saved and Early Morning. Recent work includes the Center
Theatre Group's kick-off premiere event of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365
Plays outdoors at the Los Angeles Music Center plaza and on the steps of
Walt Disney Hall; the world premiere of Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An
Entertainment at South Coast Repertory Theatre, which was later revived at
the Geffen Playhouse; the world premiere of Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress
by a Life in Progress at the Geffen Playhouse; and the west coast premiere
of Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone at South Coast Rep. He has received
five LA Weekly awards for Direction and Production and three Backstage
Garlands for Production, Adaptation, and Local Hero Director.

The design team for Around the World in 80 Days includes Takeshi Kata
(Scenic Designer), Ann Closs-Farley (Costume Design), Lap Chi Chu (Lighting
Designer), James C. Swonger (Sound Design), and Jerrold Scott (Dialect
Coach). The Cleveland Play House's Production Staff is responsible for the
sets, costumes, lighting, props, furniture, scenic painting, sound, special
effects and/or wigs used in this production.

Special Events

.        First Friday Tasting Series - Friday, January 9, 2009 - Mingle with
other theatre fans and enjoy drink tastings and complimentary hors d'oeuvres
starting at 6:30pm in our lobbies. Specially priced preview tickets include
this pre-show reception and admittance to the play.

.        Pre-show discussions - Join us 45 minutes before every performance
for a lively discussion with a member of the cast or creative team.

.        Date Night in Little Italy - All Tuesday through Saturday evening
performances through January 24, 2009 - For $100 per couple, enjoy dinner at
Guarino's or Primo Vino in Little Italy followed by a performance of Around
the World in 80 Days

.        Playbacks - Wednesday, January 21 and Sunday, January 25, 2009 -
Join actors from the cast for these post-play discussions moderated by a
member of the artistic staff.  

Ticket Information

Tickets for Around the World in 80 Days range from $42 to $64, with
discounts available for groups of ten or more, for senior citizens aged 60
and over, and for military reservists and their families. Tickets are $10
for all students under the age of 25. A limited number of $10 rush tickets
go on sale 90 minutes before curtain and remain on sale until 30 minutes
before curtain, based on availability. The Cleveland Play House is located
at 85th and Euclid Ave. next door to the Cleveland Clinic near University
Circle. 

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, 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 Cleveland Play House is funded through the generosity of Cuyahoga County
residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and 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.

# # #

FACT SHEET

What:                     Around the World in 80 Days by Mark Brown, based
on the novel by Jules Verne

Where:                  Drury Theatre, The Cleveland Play House, 8500 Euclid
Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

When:                   Preview Performances:                      Fri. Jan
9, Sat. Jan 10, Sun. Jan 11, Tue. Jan 13, 2009

                                Opening Night:
Wednesday, January 14, 2009

                                Final Performance:
Sunday, February 1, 2009

Who:                      Cast

Actor
1..........................................................................
Joe Faust

Actor
2..........................................................................
Michael Webber

Passepartout...............................................................
Brian Sills

Aouda.......................................................................
.... Anna Khaja

Phileas Fogg...............................................................
Keythe Farley

Creative Team

Playwright:
Mark Brown

Director:
Bart DeLorenzo            

Scenic Designer:
Takeshi Kata

Costume Design:                                                        Ann
Closs-Farley

Lighting Design:
Lap Chi Chu

Dialect Coach:
Jerrold Scott

Resident Sound Designer:                                        James C.
Swonger

Times:                  Tuesday-Saturday Evenings
8:00 pm

Saturday Matinee                                                        3:00
pm

Sunday Matinee                                                          2:00
pm

Weekday Matinee                                                       1:30
pm, Thu, January 22, 2009

Early Curtain
7:00pm, Tue, January 27, 2009

Special Events

.         First Friday Tasting Series - Friday, January 9, 2009 - Mingle
with other theatre fans and enjoy drink tastings and complimentary hors
d'oeuvres compliments of Whole Foods Market starting at 6:30pm in our
lobbies. Specially priced preview tickets include this pre-show reception
and admittance to the play. 

.         Date Night in Little Italy - All Tuesday through Saturday evening
performances through January 24, 2009 - For $100 per couple, enjoy dinner at
Guarino's or Primo Vino in Little Italy followed by a performance of Around
the World in 80 Days

.         Pre-show discussions - Join us 45 minutes before every performance
for a lively discussion with a member of the cast or creative team.

.         Playbacks - Wednesday, January 21 and Sunday, January 25, 2009 -
Join actors from the cast for these post-play discussions moderated by a
member of the artistic staff.  

Prices:                  Regular ticket prices range from $42 to $64, with
discounts available for groups of ten or more, for senior citizens aged 60
and over, and for military reservists and their families. Tickets are $10
for all students under the age of 25. A limited number of $10 rush tickets
go on sale 90 minutes before curtain and remain on sale until 30 minutes
before curtain, based on availability.

For Single Tickets: Call (216) 795-7000, ext. 4, or visit
www.clevelandplayhouse.com, For groups of 10 of more, call Cosandra Wheeler,
(216) 795-7000, ext. 180

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