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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:
0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Actors’ <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Summit</st1:City></st1:place> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:
0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Presents <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:
0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;text-autospace:none'><b><i><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold;
font-style:italic'>SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY</span></font></i></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Actors’ <st1:City w:st="on">Summit</st1:City>, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Hudson</st1:City></st1:place>’s Equity
Professional Theater, announces the cast of the upcoming production of <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Spoon River Anthology</span></i>. Based on the poetry
of Edgar Lee Masters, the play is a theatrical presentation by five actors of
over sixty brief portraits of the residents of a small town in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:State>. <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><i><span style='font-style:italic'>Spoon</span></i></st1:PlaceName><i><span
style='font-style:italic'> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></span></i></st1:place>
will have a preview performance on March 12 with the official opening night on
Friday, March 13, 2009. The play will have twelve performances through March
29, 2009. The play is performed Thursdays, Fridays, & Saturdays at 8 PM and
Sundays at 2 PM at the Actors’ Summit Theater in downtown Hudson.
Additional daytime performances have been scheduled for student groups.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>The Play and the Poet</span></u></b><u>ry</u><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Spoon River, in rural Illinois, produced one of
America’s great poets -- Edgar Lee Masters. In the town’s weekly
paper he created brief dramatic portraits of his fellow citizens speaking from
the grave. Alternately comic, poignant, romantic, and mysterious, we are
introduced to over 60 characters. Lovers, preachers, teachers, old married
couples, Civil War heroes --- each take their turn to reveal the secrets that
they took to their grave. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Spoon River Anthology (1915), by Edgar Lee Masters, is
a collection of unusual, short, free-form poems that collectively describe the
life of the fictional small town of Spoon River, named after the real Spoon
River that ran near Masters' home town. The collection includes two hundred and
twelve separate characters, all providing two-hundred forty-four accounts of
their lives and losses.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
Each poem is an epitaph of a dead citizen, delivered by the dead themselves.
They speak about the sorts of things one might expect: some recite their
histories and turning points, others make observations of life from the
outside, and petty ones complain of the treatment of their graves, while few
tell how they really died. Speaking without reason to lie or fear the consequences,
they construct a picture of life in their town that is shorn of all façades.
The interplay of various villagers — e.g. a bright and successful man
crediting his parents for all he's accomplished, and an old woman weeping
because he is secretly her illegitimate child — forms a gripping whole.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Many of the characters that make appearances in Spoon
River Anthology were based on real people that Masters knew or heard of in the
two towns in which he grew up, Petersburg and Lewistown, Illinois. Most notable
is Ann Rutledge, regarded in local legend to be Abraham Lincoln's early love
interest though there is no actual proof of such a relationship. Rutledge's
grave can still be found in a Petersburg cemetery, and a tour of graveyards in
both towns reveals most of the surnames that Masters applied to his characters.
Other local legends assert that Masters' fictional portrayal of local
residents, often in unflattering light, created a lot of embarrassment and
aggravation in his hometown. This is offered as an explanation for why he chose
not to settle down in Lewistown or Petersburg.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>The Cast</span></u></b><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The cast of five is made up of Actors’ Summit
veterans.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Kathleen Culler</span></b>, a graduate of
Point Park University Conservatory of Performing Arts, has been seen in <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Sanders Family Christmas, Main-Travelled Roads,
Musical of Musicals, the Musical, Quilters, Polish Joke</span></i>, and <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</span></i> here at
Actors’ Summit. She has also performed in productions at The Cleveland
Play House, Magical Theatre Company, Weathervane Playhouse, The Beck Center,
and Player’s Guild Theatre. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sally Groth</span></b> has performed in more
than 20 shows at Actors' Summit, including <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Medea,
Romeo and Juliet, Candida, Turn of the Screw, The Herbal Bed</span></i>, and <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>All in the Timing</span></i>). Locally, she has
performed at the Porthouse Theater and Ensemble Theatre. Regional theater
credits include: The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C., the Denver Center
Theater, The Wayside Theater, Trustus Theater in S.C., the U.S.C. Summer Rep.
and a national tour of The Little Prince.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Bob Keefe</span></b> has been seen at
Actors’ Summit in <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Polish Joke, Picnic,
Cotton Patch Gospel, Mrs. Warren’s Profession,</span></i> and <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Arms and the Man</span></i>. He recently completed a
long run at the 14th Street Theatre in <i><span style='font-style:italic'>We
Gotta Bingo</span></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>W. James Koeth’s</span></b> credits at
Actors’ Summit include <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Sanders Family
Christmas, The Thing About Men, and Personals</span></i>. He has been seen
locally at Porthouse Theatre, Playhouse Square, Great Lakes Theatre Festival,
Cain Park,and the Beck Center. He rounded the country in the National Tour of <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Jekyll & Hyde</span></i>. Jamie coaches acting
and guitar privately and has directed fourteen musicals for Stagecrafters Youth
Theatre. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Daniel H. Taylor</span></b> has become a
regular at Actors’ Summit where he has been seen in <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Sanders Family Christmas, Rounding Third, Medea</span></i>
and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>MacBeth</span></i>. Daniel has worked
both on and off stage with Cleveland Public Theatre, The Ohio Shakespeare
Festival, and The Bang and the Clatter. Gallaudet University has commissioned
him to write original musical scores. He tours with his bluegrass band
FishCreek, and is technical director for Firestone High School Theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Performance Schedule<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>Performance Schedule<br>
</span></u></b><i><span style='font-style:italic'>Spoon River Anthology</span></i>
will have its preview performance on March 12. The opening night performance is
Friday, March 13, and it will be followed by a dessert reception with the cast.
Regular performances continue through Sunday, March 29.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>Performance times:</span></u></b><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Performances are given Thursdays, Fridays &
Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 2:00 PM at the theater, located at <st1:address
w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">86 Owen Brown Street</st1:Street>, <st1:City
w:st="on">Hudson</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Ohio</st1:State></st1:address>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>Tickets</span></u></b><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Preview tickets are $15. Regular performance tickets
are $28 on Fridays & Saturdays, $25 on Thursdays & Sundays, with
seniors receiving a $3 discount at regular Thursday and Sunday performances. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>New this year: ALL full time student tickets (with ID)
are $7 at all performances. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tickets can be purchased by phone at (330) 342-0800 or
from the website at www.actorssummit.org. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>Web site</span></u></b><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Actors’ Summit Theater can be found on the web
at www.actorssummit.org. Actors' <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Summit</st1:place></st1:City>
is a professional, not for profit, 501-c-3 professional arts organization. We
are seeking volunteers and board members. For more details please call MaryJo
or Neil at (330) 342-0800. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-autospace:none'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Actors' <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Summit</st1:place></st1:City>
is working under a developmental agreement with Actors' Equity Association (the
Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='mso-margin-top-alt:5.0pt;margin-right:
0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
Actors’ <st1:City w:st="on">Summit</st1:City>: Professional Theater -- <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ohio</st1:place></st1:State> Artists.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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