[NEohioPAL] Great Lakes Theater Festival Concludes Season With Classic Comedies

[Todd Krispinsky]

For Immediate Release:
March 9, 2009

Great Lakes Theater Festival Concludes
Inaugural Hanna Theatre Season With
A Potent Pair of Classic Comedies
GLTF's Spring Repertory features a world premiere adaptation of The
Seagull,
a progressive array of social enhancement programming and 
extraordinary patron access to the artistic process.

CLEVELAND, OH (March 6, 2009) - Great Lakes Theater Festival (GLTF) will
conclude its 2008-09 season in the company's revolutionary new home at
the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, with a Spring Repertory that
features William Shakespeare's fantastic farce, The Comedy of Errors
(Comedy), and Anton Chekhov's soaring comedy, The Seagull  (Seagull).
The productions will be performed in rotating repertory March 25 - May
3, 2009.  The Spring Repertory features a single company of actors
performing two alternating plays on the same stage over six weeks.
GLTF's Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee will direct The Comedy of
Errors and Drew Barr will direct The Seagull.

Great Lakes Theater Festival's inaugural season at the Hanna Theatre is
sponsored by National City which is now a part of PNC.  The 2008-09
season is presented with additional generous support from The Cleveland
Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council and SCK.  Great Lakes Theater Festival
is generously funded by the citizens of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga
Arts and Culture.  Media sponsors for the Festival's 47th season are
Cleveland Scene, Cleveland Magazine, The Plain Dealer, WCLV 104.9 FM,
WCPN 90.3 FM ideastream and WKSU 89.7 FM.

"We are thrilled to be back on the Parker Hannifin Stage where the
'second act' of our inaugural season at the Hanna promises to be every
bit as rewarding as our 'first act'," said GLTF Producing Artistic
Director Charles Fee.  "In the fall, we unveiled the design of our new
home, and our audience's response to our work - both onstage and
surrounding the stage - could not have been more rewarding - confirming
our belief that northeast Ohio is hungry for and deeply supportive of
innovation.  We look forward to building on that positive momentum this
spring with two great classic comedies.  I feel very lucky indeed to
have my first opportunity to direct The Comedy of Errors while
simultaneously producing GLTF's first Chekhov play during my tenure.  I
simply couldn't have asked for a better partner in this endeavor than
our longtime artistic company member, Drew Barr, who is returning to
work with us again this season as both the director and adapter of our
production of The Seagull." 

The Festival's production of The Seagull features a new, original
adaptation created by director Drew Barr - who studied Russian at
Stanford University.  "Every performance of a play is an interpretive
act, a translation of written text into the living, breathing present,"
said Seagull adapter and director Barr.  "One of the things that I'm
delighted by, working on The Seagull, is that it's so fantastically
about theatre, and about art and life - and love and life; love and art
in life.  And I think that it's a great play for theatre companies to
work on, especially a company of actors that's worked together as long
as this one has.  There is some instinctual thing that necessitates art
in our lives.  And certain people end up being the creators of it, and
others become the audience for it, but it's a collaborative relationship
and, on one level, the play is investigating aspects of that
relationship: as actor and audience, artist and subject, lover and
object of desire.

The Festival's Spring Repertory commences with Shakespeare's double dose
of laughter, The Comedy of Errors.    When two twin brothers and their
two twin servants are unexpectedly reunited after three decades apart,
the unsuspecting port of Syracuse is torn apart at its seams. With a
zany cast of unforgettable characters and a myriad of mistaken
identities, Shakespeare's greatest comedy delivers triumphantly on its
famous title.

Anton Chekhov's The Seagull completes the Festival's Spring Repertory
pairing.  A melancholy masterwork by a revolutionary Russian dramatist,
The Seagull soars. Generations collide and dreams are deferred in a
powerful classic that subtly dissects the affairs of the human heart and
the demands of a life in the arts, effortlessly balancing the comic, the
lyric and the tragic in a fashion that has become the hallmark of
playwright Anton Chekhov's enduring art.

GLTF's 2009 Spring Repertory directing corps is comprised of familiar
Festival faces.  Charles Fee, GLTF's Producing Artistic Director, will
stage William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.  Fee's acclaimed
productions of Macbeth (2008), Hay Fever (2007), The Importance of Being
Earnest (2005), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
(2004), Hamlet (2003), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (2003) have led to
an artistic and financial renaissance for Great Lakes Theater Festival.
Drew Barr will complete the Festival's Spring Repertory directing duo
when he helms Chekhov's The Seagull after celebrated GLTF productions of
The Crucible (2008), Arsenic and Old Lace (2007), Love's Labour's Lost
(2006), You Can't Take It With You (2005), The Taming of the Shrew
(2004) and Tartuffe (2003).  Barr has directed in all six years of Fee's
tenure.

Great Lakes Theater Festival's new home at the Hanna Theatre features a
visionary "Great Room" inspired design concept that integrates the
artist and audience experience into a single unified environment.  Hanna
patrons select from a variety of seating opportunities including
traditional theater seats, club chairs, lounge/bar seats, banquette
couches and private box seating.  Boasting a fully flexible hydraulic
thrust stage, a complete array of state-of-the-art theatrical systems
and an intimate 550-seat house arranged in a thrust configuration, the
new Hanna is one of the most innovative theaters in the country.

Great Lakes Theater Festival will continue to afford patrons
extraordinary access to the artistic process this spring.  The new Hanna
will open its doors ninety minutes before each performance allowing
patrons to observe the complete pre-show preparation process of GLTF's
actors and technical staff.  Elements traditionally hidden from
audiences such as stage combat rehearsals, dance calls, prop/scenic
pre-sets, technical cue rehearsals and actor warm-ups will be conducted
in full view of patrons, offering GLTF audiences an amazing glimpse into
the theatrical process.

The Festival will also continue its unique series of social enhancement
programming at the Hanna during the Spring Repertory.  The programming,
organized by day of week, is designed to augment the patron experience
and highlight the Hanna's new amenities. 


 

*	"Salon Thursdays" will feature an engaging pre-show
discussion/presentation beginning one hour before curtain with a
Festival artist or local scholar.  (Offered:  April 16, 23, 30)   
	
	
*	"Happy Hour Fridays" afford patrons the ability to avoid the
commute home from work and back to the theater in time for the show.  On
"Happy Hour Fridays" audience members are invited to meet at the Hanna's
new Bar and Lounge immediately after work to enjoy a fine assortment of
savory hors d' oeuvres and a complete range of beverages for sale
beginning ninety minutes before every performance.  (Offered:  April 3,
17, 24 & May 1)  
	
	
*	"Night Cap Saturdays" are designed to encourage audience members
to stay after the performance and mingle with friends and family in the
Hanna's new Bar and Lounge.  The Hanna's Bar and Lounge is open until
midnight on "Night Cap Saturdays.  (Offered:  April 4, 18, 25 & May 2) 
	  
*	"Ice Cream Social Sundays" offer patrons the opportunity to
enjoy a London theatre tradition brought state-side with family and
friends.  Audience members are invited to purchase a cool personal ice
cream treat before the show or at intermission.  Ice cream will be
offered at every performance in GLTF's Fall Repertory, but on "Ice Cream
Social Sundays," the treat is half price.  (Offered:  April 5, 12, 19,
26 & May 3)


Opening Night performances of The Comedy of Errors (March 28th) and The
Seagull (April 11th) have been scheduled for Saturday evenings with
preview performances of both productions scheduled for the preceding
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. The Friday previews of Comedy
(March 27th) and Seagull (April 10th) have been newly designated as
"Press Previews" - public performances that will also accommodate
theater critics and other media representatives.  These nights also
feature a half-hour pre-show discussion with the director beginning at
6:30 p.m.  Curtain times for all evening performances will remain at
7:30 p.m., with a 1:30 p.m. curtain time for Saturday matinees and a
3:00 p.m. curtain time for Sunday matinees. Both productions in GLTF's
Spring Repertory will continue to offer sign-interpreted and
audio-described performances as well as the popular Director's Night and
Playnotes pre-show discussion series.  (Visit www.greatlakestheater.org
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:http://www.greatlakestheater.org>  for complete performance calendars.)

Single performance tickets for Great Lakes Theater Festival productions
range in price from $15-$89 (Student tickets are $13 - any performance /
any seat) and are available by calling (216) 241-6000, by ordering
online
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:BLOCKED::BLOCKED::http://www.greatlakestheater.org/tickets/>  at
www.greatlakestheater.org
<BLOCKED::BLOCKED::BLOCKED::BLOCKED::BLOCKED::blocked::blocked::blocked:
:BLOCKED::BLOCKED::http://www.greatlakestheater.org/>  or by visiting
the PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office.  Groups of ten or more receive
discounts through the PlayhouseSquare Group Sales Department.
(Additional handling fees may apply depending on point of purchase.)

Since 1962, Great Lakes Theater Festival has brought the pleasure, power
and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in
Northern Ohio.  The first resident company of PlayhouseSquare, Festival
programming reaches 85,000 adults and students annually.

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Media Contact:
Todd Krispinsky, Marketing and Public Relations Director
(216) 453-4449 / tkrispinsky at greatlakestheater.org
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:BLOCKED::BLOCKED::mailto:tkrispinsky at greatlakestheater.org> 

 

 

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