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<P align=center><FONT color=#ff0000>‘Love! Valour!
Compassion!’</FONT></P></B></FONT><I><FONT face=Helvetica>
<P align=center><FONT color=#0000ff>Tony-Winning Play Takes to Weathervane’s
Dietz Theater</FONT></P></I></FONT><FONT face=Helvetica size=2>
<P>The bond of friendship and questions of mortality and love are revealed in
Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning comic drama <B><I><FONT
color=#ff0000>Love! Valour! Compassion!</FONT></B></I> – live on stage at <FONT
color=#0000ff>Weathervane Playhouse</FONT> from <FONT color=#ff0000><B>Oct. 30
to Nov. 15</B>.</FONT></P><B>
<P align=center><FONT color=#0000ff>THE CAST & Role</FONT></P></B>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Richard Worswick as Gregory
Mitchell</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Zac Hudak as Buzz
Hauser</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Pierre Brault as Ramon
Fornos</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Scott Shriner as John &
James Jeckyll</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>John Haller as Perry
Sellars</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Gregg Stickney as Bobby
Brahms</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Jasen J. Smith as Arthur
Pape</FONT></DIV><B>
<P><FONT color=#ff0000>THE DIRECTOR</FONT></P></B>
<P><FONT color=#0000ff>Jim Fippin</FONT><B> </B>has been acting, directing and
otherwise engaged in theater in Northeast Ohio for more than 20 years. He
directed the 2007 Weathervane production of <I>Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me</I>.
He has appeared on stage at Porthouse Theatre, Weathervane (most recently in the
September production of <I>The Rainmaker</I>), Coach House Theatre, the Players
Guild of Canton and with the Ohio Shakespeare Festival. His resume includes
roles in <EM>Twelfth Night</EM>, <EM>Hamlet</EM>, <EM>The Lion in Winter</EM>,
<EM>The Odd Couple, Uncle Vanya</EM>, <EM>The Real Thing</EM> and
<EM>Custer</EM><I>.</I> As the former Artistic Director of Coach House Theatre,
Jim staged <EM>Chapter Two,</EM> <EM>Betrayal,</EM> <EM>Art,</EM> <EM>Cat on a
Hot Tin Roof</EM> and <EM>Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?</EM> among others. In
2005, the Akron Area Arts Alliance recognized him as the area's Outstanding
Theatre Artist. Jim earned his bachelor of fine arts degree in theatre from
Otterbein College. He and his wife, Elaine, live in Wadsworth.</P><B>
<P><FONT color=#ff0000>THE PLAY and PLAYWRIGHT</FONT></P></B>
<P>Terrence McNally’s <B><I><FONT color=#0000ff>Love! Valour!
Compassion!</FONT></B></I> premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York
City in October 1994. The show ran for 72 performances before transferring to
Broadway in February 1995, where it played at the Walter Kerr Theatre for a
total of 248 </FONT><FONT face=Helvetica size=2>performances. The play won the
1994-1995 OBIE Award for Playwriting, the 1995 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding
Play and the 1995 Tony Award for Best Play. </P>
<P>In his 1995 review of the play, Vincent Canby of the "New York Times"
described the play as one whose "roots are in old-fashioned Broadway theater,
specifically in the house-party comedy, brought up to date and to brand-new
life." Canby added that "Mr. McNally hasn't written a play about gay people
living straight lives. It's a comedy about some comparatively privileged gay
people in a world whose problems are ultimately shared by everyone. Though
particular, as all good plays are, it's not parochial."</P><B>
<P><FONT color=#0000ff>Terrence McNally</FONT></B> is a Florida-born,
Texas-reared, New York-based writer whose many works have graced the theatrical
stage as well as the screens of movie theaters and televisions. His best-known
plays include <I>The Ritz, A Perfect Ganesh, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de
Lune, Master Class, Corpus Christi and Lips Together, Teeth Apart</I>. Last
year, he was represented on Broadway with two plays: a new drama, <I>Deuce</I>
(starring Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes), and a revival of his 1975 farce
<I>The Ritz</I>. For musical theater, McNally wrote the books for such musicals
as <I>The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime, The Full Monty and A Man of
No Importance. </I>McNally has also enjoyed a long relationship with Manhattan
Theatre Club (an off-Broadway company devoted to producing new works), where
many of his plays have premiered. In addition to his plays and books for
musicals, McNally also wrote the libretto for an opera version of the 1995 film
<I>Dead Man Walking</I>, which San Francisco Opera premiered in 1999. He is the
recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships and a Rockefeller Grant. He is a
four-time Tony winner: two for Best Play (1995’s <I>Love! Valour!
Compassion!</I> and 1996’s <I>Master Class</I>) and two for Best Book of a
Musical (for <I>Kiss of the Spider Woman</I> in 1993 and <I>Ragtime</I> in
1998). He wrote the screenplays for three film adaptations of his plays –
<I>Frankie and Johnny</I> (1991), <I>Love! Valour! Compassion!</I> (1997) and
<I>The Ritz</I> (1976) – and his screenplay for the 1990 made-for-TV movie
<I>Andre’s Mother</I> won him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a
Miniseries or a Special. He lives in New York City.</P><B><I>
<P><FONT color=#ff0000>Love! Valour! Compassion!</FONT></B></I> is presented in
Weathervane’s John L. Dietz Theater, an intimate 50-seat "black box" theater.
For the Playhouse’s 2008-2009 season, this venue will be the setting for this
and one other production, <I>Intimate Apparel</I> (which will be staged from
Feb. 26 to March 14, 2009). The Dietz Theater’s intimate configurations make it
ideal for plays and musicals that are not suited, for either artistic or
financial reasons, to the Playhouse’s 246-seat Mainstage.</P><B><I>
<P align=center>Love! Valour! Compassion!</I> is presented by a generous grant
from Margaret J. Dietz.</P>
<P align=center><FONT color=#ff0000>The production contains adult language,
mature themes and nudity.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=#0000ff>TICKETS AND PERFORMANCE TIMES</FONT></P><I>
<P>Love! Valour! Compassion!</B></I> plays in Weathervane’s John L. Dietz
Theater <B>from Oct. 30 to Nov. 15, 2008</B>. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30
p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.</P>
<P></P>
<P>For tickets ($15 each), call the Weathervane Box Office at 330/836-2626
(Mondays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Tuesdays through Fridays between 10 a.m. and
5:30 p.m.) or connect to </FONT><A
href="http://www.weathervaneplayhouse.com/"><FONT face=Helvetica
size=2>www.weathervaneplayhouse.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Helvetica size=2>. The
48-seat Dietz Theater features general-admission seating only.</P></FONT><FONT
face=Helvetica size=1>
<P align=center><EM>Weathervane Community 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.</EM></P>
<P align=center></P>
<P align=center><EM>The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state
tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence and cultural
enrichment for all Ohioans.</EM></FONT><FONT face=Helvetica
size=2></P></FONT><FONT face=Helvetica size=2>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Box Office Hours</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Mondays: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Tuesdays through Fridays: 10 a.m. to 5:30
p.m.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>Performance Saturdays only: noon to 5
p.m.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#ff0000>The Box Office is also open beginning one
hour before each performance and remains open through
intermission.</FONT></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Janis Harcar<BR>Director of
Advancement<BR>Weathervane Playhouse<BR>330-836-2323 X16<BR><A
href="http://www.weathervaneplayhouse.com">www.weathervaneplayhouse.com</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>