[NEohioPAL] "The 39 Steps" preview and opening

[Janis Harcar]

Fast-Moving and Funny, “The 39 Steps” Showcases Theatrical Talents of Four Actors Who Play Almost 150 Zany Characters!

Spy Caper/Mystery/Whodunit/Comedy is ‘Freely Adapted’

From Classic Hitchcock Film

Weathervane Playhouse’s 78th season continues with The 39 Steps, the freewheeling and fast-moving spy caper/whodunit/mystery/comedy! Directed by Marc Moritz, The 39 Steps plays on Weathervane Playhouse’s Founders Theater stage from May 2 to 19, 2013.

What do you get when you mix an Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, and then toss in a dash of Monty Python-like theatrical antics? It’s The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theater!

Packed with non-stop laughs, three men and one woman play more than 150 zany characters, who together endure an on-stage plane crash, fight with handcuffs, deal with missing fingers and create some good old-fashioned romance!

 In The 39 Steps, a man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she's a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called "The 39 Steps" is hot on the man's trail in a cross-country manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale!

 A riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, The 39 Steps amounts to an unforgettable experience of pure pleasure! 

The 39 Steps Performance and Ticket Information

The 39 Steps plays on the Weathervane Playhouse Founders Theater stage between May 2 and 19, 2013.

The low-cost preview performance is Thursday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.; the official opening-night performance is Friday, May 3 at 8 p.m.
Between May 2 and 19, 2013, the performance days and times are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets for the April 4 preview performance only (at 7:30 p.m.) are $15 each. Tickets for performances after April 4 are $21 each.

For performances after May 2, $19 tickets for seniors are available for Thursday and Sunday performances. Tickets for children (ages 17 or younger) and college students are $5 each at all performances. Additional discounts for groups of 10 or larger are also available. 

The Weathervane Playhouse Box Office is open Mondays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and is also open beginning one hour before each performance. For tickets, visit or call the Weathervane Box Office at 330-836-2626 during Box Office hours or connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.

The 39 Steps Cast

RICHARD WORSWICK — Richard Hannay

BRIDGET CHEBO — Annabella Schmidt/Margaret/Pamela

SCOTT DAVIS — Clown 1
BRIAN O. JACKSON — Clown 2

The 39 Steps Backstage Team

JERRY MIRMAN — Stage Manager

Lois Bennet and Nikki Rafferty — Sound Co-Designers

Michael Cranston and Michael James — Properties Co-Designers

JASEN J. SMITH — Costume Designer

ALAN SCOTT FERRALL — Scenic/Lighting Designer and Technical Director

KATHY KOHL — Assistant Technical Director

About the Show’s Director

MARC MORITZ (insert bio!) Marc Moritz (Director) is thrilled to return to Weathervane Playhouse for this production of The 39 Steps. His directing credits include 3 Guys Naked From The Waist Down and Shine with Hal Linden, here at Weathervane. Other credits include :  Raisin in the Sun at True North Theatre, The Walworth Farce,  Guttenberg! The Musical! and Tigers Be Still,  all at Dobama Theatre. He directed the very successful A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS CAROL at Clague last season where he will be remounting it again  in November. He will also be directing a staged concert reading of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG for Blank Canvas Theatre as well as FRANKIE AND JOHNNIE IN THE CLAIRE DE LUNE , also at Blank Canvas. As an actor, Marc originated the role of Talk Show Host in the Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim/Hal Prince musical, Merrily We Roll Along. This summer he will be appearing as Otto Frank in DIARY OF ANNE FRANK  and Sydney Black in LIGHT UP THE SKY at Oberlin Summer Theatre Festival. more recently Marc appeared as Al Lewis in The Sunshine Boys at Porthouse Theatre. Other Regional acting work includes The Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival Co-Production of Into the Woods. Favorite Roles: Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors. : Tateh in Ragtime, Cat In The Hat in Seussical, Chico in Cocoanuts, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Ezekial Cheever in The Crucible and Emperor Joseph in Amadeus. Theatres: GLTF, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Riverside Shakespeare, Cleveland Playhouse, Long Wharf, Goodman, New Harmony, & Dobama. Marc was the Founder/Artistic Director of Cleveland’s popular Giant Portions Improv Co and has taught and performed with ImprovOlympic and Second City in Chicago and NYC. This December he will be diving into the world of Cabaret with his own show entitled : MARC MORITZ : SOBER FOR THE HOLIDAYS -A RECOVERING JEW AT CHRISTMAS for Broadview Heights Spotlights Theatre . Marc was in the Returning Professional Acting program at Kent State University and received his MFA degree in Spring 2012. He is grateful for his two beautiful children 9 year-old Joseph and 13 year–old Sarah. 

About the Show’s Production History

Although The 39 Steps uses key plot points and characters from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film of the same name, this stage adaptation is definitely a more satirical “send up” of the story (ala Monty Python) and also incorporates characters from (and references to) such other Hitchcock films as Dial M for Murder, Psycho, Vertigo and The Birds.

The play’s original concept as developed by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon was for two actors to play all the parts. Playwright Patrick Barlow then tweaked that concept for four people, and the four-person version was first presented in 2005 at the West Yorkshire (England) Playhouse. About a year later, the production opened in London. The show premiered on Broadway in 2008 and ran for two years before transferring to an off-Broadway theater, where it ran for another nine months before closing in January of 2011. Since then, the show has been one of the most consistently popular titles produced by both regional theaters and community groups across America.
 
About the Playwright
PATRICK BARLOW, born in 1947, is an English actor, comedian and playwright. In his native England, he is best known as one half of a comic duo known as The National Theatre of Brent, which since 1980 has produced nearly two dozen shows that have been produced for the stage, recorded for radio and filmed for television. Designed as a mock theatrical troupe, Barlow’s role in The National Theatre of Brent is to play Desmond Olivier Dingle, the troupe's founder, artistic director and chief executive. Over the years, several actors have filled the role of Dingle’s assistant – a man whom Dingle has always taken great pleasure in referring to as “my entire company.” The company’s 1998 production Love Upon the Throne (featuring Barlow as Prince Charles and Ramm as Diana, Princess of Wales) was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Comedy. Outside of his National Theatre of Brent productions, Barlow has also played several bit parts in films, including Shakespeare in Love (as Will Kempe), Notting Hill (as the Savoy Concierge), Bridget Jones’s Diary (as Julian) and Nanny McPhee (as Mr. Jowls).

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Weathervane Playhouse and its dedicated volunteers offer vital performing arts resources for the people of Northeastern Ohio. We create exciting and thought-provoking shows with impressive production values. Through educational programs and volunteer opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, Weathervane serves the theater community, our patrons and our volunteers.

The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Weathervane Playhouse’s 2012-2013 Season Support Provided by:

Akron Community Foundation

89.7 WSKU-FM

Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust (KeyBank, Trustee)

OMNOVA Solutions Foundation

Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation

Sisler McFawn Foundation

The Ohio Arts Council

Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2626 X16
jharcar at weathervaneplayhouse.com



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20130502/f6fb1fb4/attachment-0004.htm>