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<h4><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">NEWS RELEASE<o:p></o:p></i></h4>
<h5><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Weathervane
Playhouse<o:p></o:p></i></b></h5>
<h1><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">CONTACT: Janis L. Harcar<o:p></o:p></i></h1><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial">330-836-2626<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial">Weathervane Playhouse’s ‘Yellowman’<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<h6>Explores the Complicated Dimensions</h6>
<h6>of Racial Distinction and Prejudice</h6><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h1 align="center" style="text-align:center"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Provocative
Drama by Celebrated African-American Playwright<o:p></o:p></i></h1>
<h1 align="center" style="text-align:center"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Dael
Orlandersmith to be Staged in Weathervane’s Intimate Dietz Theater</i></h1><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">(Jan. 4,
2012 – Akron, Ohio – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE) </span></b><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Weathervane Playhouse
ushers in 2012 with the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">Yellowman</i> – a thought-provoking drama that explores the complicated
dimensions of racial distinction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Yellowman</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> is
presented live on stage in Weathervane Playhouse’s intimate Dietz Theater from
Jan. 12 to 28, 2012. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Dael Orlandersmith’s play features one man and one woman,
each of whom plays multiple characters. From black to white and to all shades
in between, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Yellowman</i> delves into the
persistence of both racial prejudice and the impact of internalized racism. The
play also explores the negative associations surrounding male blackness as well
as the effect these racial stereotypes have on black women.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Yellowman</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> is
directed by Jennifer Jeter.</span><em><span style="font-family:Arial;
font-style:normal"> The production is underwritten by Margaret J. Dietz.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<h3 style="border:none;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in"><span style="font-family:
Arial">Ticket and Performance Information<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Yellowman </span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">plays in
Weathervane Playhouse’s John L. Dietz Theater between Jan. 12 and 28, 2012.
(The Dietz Theater is Weathervane Playhouse’s intimate, 50-seat “second stage”
within its Weathervane Lane facility.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">The preview performance is Thursday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m.;
the official opening-night performance is Friday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText">Between Jan. 12 and 28, 2012, performance days and times
are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at both 2:30 and 8
p.m.; and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoBodyText">Tickets for all performances of the play are $18 each. The
50-seat Dietz Theater features general-admission seating only.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Due to language and themes,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal"> Yellowman</i> is recommended for ages 13 and older. For tickets, call
the Weathervane Box Office at (330) 836-2626 or connect online to <a href="http://www.weathervaneplayhouse.com/">www.weathervaneplayhouse.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="border:none;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in"><span style="font-family:
Arial">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Yellowman</i> Cast and their
Ohio Residences<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style="font-family:Arial">NICHOLE STRONG</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial"> of Akron plays the role of Alma<o:p></o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">MARC
JACKSON</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"> of Bedford Heights plays the role of Eugene<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="border:none;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in"><span style="font-family:
Arial">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Yellowman</i> Creative Team<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">DANIELLE
M. TERLONGE</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"> of Wooster serves as the stage manager.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">RYAN
DURFEE</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"> of Cuyahoga Falls serves as the lighting designer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style="font-family:Arial">TODD DIERINGER</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial"> of Wadsworth serves as the properties designer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial">JASEN J. SMITH</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"> of Akron serves as the costume
designer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">ALAN
SCOTT FERRALL</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"> of Cuyahoga Falls serves as the scenic designer
and technical director.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="border:none;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">About the Play’s Director<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial">JENNIFER JETER <span style="color:black">JENNIFER KAY JETER (Director)
Trained as a performance artist, Jeter will often collaborate with traditional
artists or with non traditional partners including social service organizations
to create curriculum, programming, and theatrical works in order to spotlight
societal concerns such as homelessness, addiction and sexual abuse. This Ohio
native is an advocate of the arts. Jeter works in educational, community and
professional theatre. Her thesis entitled, The Rites of Being: An Analytical
Review of Performance Art, was an attempt to legitimize the abstract art form
of performance art. As a Social Artist, she continues to develop art
constructions that address the changing needs of the community. Jeter creates
commentary through her photography, writing, directing, painting and/or a
combination of select media. Jeter previously directed <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
bold;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">Fifteen Minute Hamlet</span> for Weathervane’s
First Night contribution several years ago. <b><i>Yellowman</i></b> will be her
first full-length production for Weathervane in the Dietz Theatre.
Concentrating primarily on African American theatre, Jeter’s past directing
credits include <b><i>Black Girl</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">,
<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">The Amen Corner</span></b>, <b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">For Colored Girls…, On Striver’s Row, Crowns</span></b></i>
and <b><i>The Piano Lesson</i></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;
mso-bidi-font-style:italic">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<h1>About the Play, its Production History and Awards</h1><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial">Yellowman</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">is a
multi-character “memory play” about an African-American woman who dreams of
life beyond the confines of her small-town Southern upbringing and the
light-skinned man whose fate is tragically intertwined with hers. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">In his 2002 review of the original off-Broadway production,
Ben Brantley of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The New York Times </i>described
the basic story line of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Yellowman</i>:
“In its baldest terms, its plot suggests a brutal variation on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Romeo and Juliet</i>, recast according to
the arcane sociology of Gullah society in the South: light-skinned boy and
dark-skinned girl fall in love and are torn asunder by their squabbling
families.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">“But the divisions in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Yellowman</i>,
presented as a narrative counterpoint delivered by [the play’s two actors] are
as much within families as between them, and even more so within the
individuals who make up families. The play's central characters and
storytellers, Eugene and Alma, are determined not to turn into their parents.
The odds, needless to say, are ominously against them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Yellowman</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> was first
commissioned and developed by three regional theater companies – McCarter
Theatre Center (in Princeton, New Jersey), Wilma Theater (in Philadelphia) and
Long Wharf Theatre (in New Haven, Connecticut) – and it was developed in part
with the support of the The </span><em><span style="font-family:Arial;
font-style:normal">Sundance</span></em><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> Institute </span><em><span style="font-family:Arial;font-style:normal">Theatre</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Program (of Park City, Utah). This three-way
co-production of the play opened on Jan. 10, 2002, at McCarter Theatre Center.
Thereafter, Manhattan Theatre Club produced the first New York production of
the play; it opened on Oct. 22, 2002, at New York City Center’s Stage I, where
it played for a limited two-month engagement. Playwright Dael Orlandersmith
played the role of Alma in both of these first two productions of her play.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Yellowman</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> received
three 2003 Drama Desk Award nominations, two 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award
nominations and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (which
that year was awarded to another African-American female playwright, Suzan
Lori-Parks, for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Topdog/Underdog</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial">About the Playwright<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial">DAEL ORLANDERSMITH</span></strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> was born
in New York City in 1959 as Donna Dael Theresa Orlander Smith Brown. As a
child, she grew up in public housing in New York's rough-and-tumble East Harlem
neighborhood and her parents sent her to Catholic schools. When she was still a
child, her father died and her mother struggled to afford the tuition for her
daughter’s parochial-school education. During the late 1960s and early 1970s,
Orlandersmith’s neighborhood was a dangerous place, and so was the South Bronx
neighborhood her best friend lived. Several decades later, in an interview with
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">American Theatre</i> magazine,
Orlandersmith recalled that “Heroin was at its height then. I remember people
would carry an extra $5, in case a junkie came up to them, so they wouldn't
lose their life." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Outside of her schooling, she began writing a journal at the
age of 10, in which she wrote of her budding interests in reading and music –
both of which she devoured voraciously. A teacher suggested that she sign up
for an acting class, which she did, and during her teens she performed with The
Nuyorican Poets Cafe on New York’s Lower East Side. After high school, she
enrolled at Hunter College for a while but then returned to perform with the
Nuyorican group as a poet/performer and even toured to Europe and Australia
with the troupe. She soon began to get small acting jobs here and there (such
as a bit part on one episode of the ABC-TV situation comedy, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Spin City</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Eventually, however, Orlandersmith turned her artistic
energies toward writing. She traveled west to Park City, Utah to hone her
writing skills at the famed </span><em><span style="font-family:Arial;
font-style:normal">Sundance</span></em><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> Institute </span><em><span style="font-family:Arial;font-style:normal">Theatre</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Program (established by actor/director Robert
Redford). Following her stint at Sundance, she returned to New York to star in
her new play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Beauty’s Daughter</i>. For
this tale of a young woman in Harlem growing up under the wings of an alcoholic
mother, Orlandersmith won a 1994-1995 OBIE Award (the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">Village Voice</i> honor for the best in the off-Broadway season).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText">Her next play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The
Gimmick</i>, played at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, in
1998 and at the New York Theater Workshop the following year. This one-woman
play – starring the playwright herself – confronts the consistent temptation of
sex, drugs and money that can surround and drown a creative, artistic person.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Her next solo play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Monster</i>,
was staged at A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) in Seattle. Another story of a young
woman growing up in Harlem, Orlandersmith played nine different characters. The
play deals with the cycles of family violence that can occur over several
generations. When <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The New York Times</i>
asked her to write an article about her plays, she admitted that she often went
back to the same subjects. “There is a theme throughout the work that I
write," Orlandersmith wrote, "about childhood and the sins of the
father, the sins of the mother, and how people take on the very thing they
don't like about their parents and they become them."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Yellowman</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">,
Orlandersmith’s next play, marked the first time she wrote a play for more than
one actor. She set her play in the coastal South Carolina area that is home to
the distinctive Gullah culture, and here she was able to expose the issue of
black-on-black racism through a star-crossed love story between two characters,
Alma and Eugene. As a child, Orlandersmith had spent summers with relatives in
this rural South Carolina area. In an interview with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">The New York Times</i>, she remembered a light-skinned black family who
"for generations...had interbred to keep the light-skinned color line
going. And they would condemn people who were darker. So you had people who
hated this family and whom this family hated."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">Orlandersmith continues to live, write, and perform in New
York City.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText">* * *</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The Ohio
Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage
economic growth, education excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Additional
2010-2011 season sponsors<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">89.7
WSKU-FM<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">OMNOVA
Solutions Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Sisler
McFawn Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Akron
Community Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Kenneth
L. Calhoun Charitable Trust<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">The
Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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