<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Media
Contact:<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes">Rebecca
Balmer, Associate Producer</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Oberlin
Summer Theater Festival</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">503.780.2925,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><a href="mailto:rbalmer@oberlin.edu">rbalmer@oberlin.edu</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">RELEASE
ON RECEIPT</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">May
5, 2009<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; "> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal">Oberlin College Launches Free Summer Theater Festival</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt">OBERLIN, OHIO<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>– While the economy has forced wide
variety artistic endeavors to make cuts in programming, Oberlin College is
moving forward with the inauguration of the <a href="http://www.oberlin.edu/ostf">Oberlin Summer Theater Festival (OSTF),</a> a
professional nonprofit theater company whose productions will be admission free
and family friendly. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in">Paul Moser,
associate professor of theater and chair of Oberlin’s theater and dance
program, is the founder of OSTF and producing artistic director. The Festival’s
2009 season will offer two classic plays — Tennessee Williams’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Glass Menagerie</i> opening June 26 and
William Shakespeare’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Tempest</i> opening
July 3.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in">Both
productions will present something new for audiences. In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Glass Menagerie,</i> <span style="color:black">“we want to capture the playwright’s original
expressionistic impulse in our production, so we will be doing a lot with
projections and other special lighting effects,” says Moser. “The Tempest will
be a 90-minute adaptation of the original masterpiece and promises to be quite
magical, featuring an original music score, all kinds of special effects,
puppets, clowning and more. We want the show to appeal to everyone – ages to
eight to eighty-eight.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in">Performances
will run in rotating repertory, Tuesdays thru Sundays, June 26 through July
18th in the College’s Hall Auditorium. They also will accommodate different age
groups, out of town patrons, and those attending Friday evening band concerts
in Tappan Square with special <a href="http://www.oberlin.edu/ostf/season">curtain
times</a>. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>“The Festival is bringing back a wonderful Oberlin tradition
of presenting theater in the summer, free and open to the community,” says
President Marvin Krislov. “It is a great opportunity for people to see great
works put on by Oberlin alumni and current students." </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in">Moser sees the
company’s mission as twofold. One is “to serve Lorain County and the larger
northeastern Ohio community by presenting free productions of meaningful
theater classics.” The second is to develop “an outstanding intergenerational
acting ensemble, composed mostly of Oberlin graduates, who will return to
Oberlin each summer to collaborate with a community of like-minded professional
artists.” <span style="color:black">The festival’s acting company will consist
of a combination of local Equity actors, Oberlin alumni from around the
country, and current Oberlin students.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:
13.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none">The annual event also will
enhance the downtown art and business community. “The Oberlin Summer Theater
Festival is an excellent addition to summer in downtown Oberlin,” says Greg
Tisher, director of Main Street Oberlin, Inc. “It is a great complement to
other free, family-friendly summertime entertainment, including the Chalk Walk,
the Family Fun Fair, and the Summer Concert Series on Tappan Square.”</p>
<br>-- <br>Rebecca Balmer<br>Associate Producer<br>Oberlin Summer Theater Festival<br><a href="http://www.oberlin.edu/ostf">www.oberlin.edu/ostf</a><br>503.780.2925 (cell)<br>440.775.8169 (box office)<br>