<div class="gmail_quote"><h1 style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size:20pt;color:red"><font face="Times New Roman">PRESS RELEASE</font></span></h1>
<h2 style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="color:red">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span><span style="font-size:12pt;color:red"></span></font></h2>
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<font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span> </span><b>Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2011</b></font></font></p>
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<h3 style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt"><font face="Times New Roman">From:<span> </span><span> </span>School of Dance, Theatre, and Arts Administration</font></span></h3>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span> </span>The University of Akron</font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Contact:<span> </span>Joelle Harris</font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.6in"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span> </span><a href="tel:%28330%29%20972-7895" value="+13309727895" target="_blank">(330) 972-7895</a></font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt 0.6in"><span><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></span><a href="mailto:Administration.arts@gmail.com" target="_blank"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Administration.arts@gmail.com</font></a></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:14pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Tammy Faye Bakker lives on in new musical at UA</font></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Akron, OH, Aug. 23, 2011 —<i> The Gospel According to Tammy Faye</i> opens The University of Akron Theatre Program’s 2011-12 mainstage season with eight performances beginning Sept. 8 at Sandefur Theatre in Guzzetta Hall, 139 Buchtel Ave. on the UA campus. Performances are September 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees, September 11 and 18, at 2 p.m. </font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Written by UA alumnus JT Buck, a 2004 graduate of the UA Theatre Program, and Fernando Dovalina, <i>The Gospel According to Tammy Faye</i> features an eclectic pop-country-gospel score and fantasy-style mode of storytelling. The cast includes students, professional actors and a live four-piece band. It will be directed by Susan Speers, Professor of Theatre Arts at UA.<span> </span></font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Tickets are available for purchase 30 minutes prior to the shows, or call the UA Theatre Ticket Office at <a href="tel:%28330%29%20972-7895" value="+13309727895" target="_blank">(330) 972-7895</a> to make reservations. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $10 for seniors and UA faculty, staff, and alumni, and $6 for students.</font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">“Tammy Faye’s larger-than-life persona and dramatic life story are ripe for theatrical treatment,” says UA Theatre Professor Susan Speers, who is directing the musical. Bakker was known as “The First Lady of Televangelism” for founding, along with her husband Jim, the world's first satellite-broadcast Christian network in the 1980s. The network imploded in a series of scandals, including Jim’s marital infidelity and accusations of financial fraud.<span> </span></font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Known even more for her bold makeup, including the famous mascara-laden eyelashes, in later years Tammy Faye Bakker battled cancer and became an unlikely hero in the gay community.<span> </span></font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Buck and Dovalina met while both were graduate students of veteran Broadway producer Stuart Ostrow and the late Pulitzer-winning playwright Lanford Wilson at The University of Houston. </font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Beginning with interviews conducted with the subject herself, the pair say that they sought to trace Tammy Faye’s rags-to-riches-to-redemption story in a way that is even-handed and uplifting.<span> </span></font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">“Doing a campy send-up of her story would be easy and therefore boring,” says Buck, “We want this show to appeal to everyone whose life has been affected by terminal illness, infidelity, or religious hostility. In short, almost everyone.”<span> </span></font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><i>The Gospel According to Tammy Faye</i> was work-shopped with staged readings at Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Tony nominee Sally Mayes and Broadway veterans Heather Parcells and </font></font><a name="131fc63ea9f0581f_OLE_LINK11"></a><a name="131fc63ea9f0581f_OLE_LINK10"><span><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Bill Youmans</font></span></a><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">, as well as sold-out performances at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and in Houston, where it played on the stage of the Alley Theatre as a benefit for a local AIDS charity — opening on the night Tammy Faye died.<span> </span></font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">After a several-year hiatus from the project, Buck and Dovalina are using the UA performances to prepare the show for a stab at the big leagues with possible major city engagements.</font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The show has also become an increasingly personal crusade for Buck. His mother was diagnosed with stage-four brain cancer in March, and died just four days before the UA production went into rehearsals.<span> </span></font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">“In many ways this show was always intended as an homage to my mom,” explains Buck. “I wrote the music with Mom very much on my mind. Working on it again in the midst of her dying process has been intense.”</font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Buck adds, “Both Tammy and my mom faced mountains of obstacles and always found a way to rise above them. Both faced their end with dignity and strength. That's always worth singing about.” </font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Performance Details</font></font></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">When:</font></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Sept. 8-10 and 15-17 at 8 p.m.</font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Sept. 11 and 18 at 2 p.m.</font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Where:</font></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Sandefur Theatre in Guzzetta Hall, 139 Buchtel Ave., across from E.J. Thomas Hall on the UA campus.</font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Tickets:</font></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Tickets prices are $12 General Admission, $10 Seniors/Faculty/Alumni/Staff, and $6 Students</font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">More information:</font></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">For more information or to make reservations, call <a href="tel:%28330%29%20972-7895" value="+13309727895" target="_blank">(330) 972-7895</a> or visit </font><a href="http://www.uakron.edu/dtaa" target="_blank"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">http://www.uakron.edu/dtaa</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">. </font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><font color="#888888"><br>-- <br>Graduate Student<br>University of Akron<br>Graduate Assistant, Arts Administration<br>Phone: <a href="tel:%28330%29%20972.7895" value="+13309727895" target="_blank">(330) 972.7895</a><br>
Email: <a href="mailto:administration.arts@gmail.com" target="_blank">administration.arts@gmail.com</a> <br></font></div>