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<div style="direction:ltr; font-family:Arial; color:#000000; font-size:10pt"><span style="font-weight:bold">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span><br>
March 30, 2012<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><span style="font-weight:bold">Download a hi-res image</span> for publication. Click hyperlink and right click on image to "Save As." (Credit: TRG Reality):
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/7n6k3pm" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/7n6k3pm</a>
</font><br>
<font size="1"><span style="font-weight:bold">View </span></font><font size="1"><span style="font-style:italic; font-weight:bold">Romeo & Juliet</span><span style="font-weight:bold">'s playbill</span> with complete cast and production team information/bios<span style="text-decoration:underline">:
</span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/7ncj274" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/7ncj274</a></font><br>
<br>
<font size="5"></font><font size="4"><font size="5"><span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater Presents
<br>
Shakespeare’s Powerfully Poetic Love Story</span></font><br style="font-weight:bold">
<font size="6"><span style="font-weight:bold">ROMEO AND JULIET</span></font><br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-weight:bold">at the Intimate Hanna Theatre </span><br style="font-weight:bold">
</font><br>
<font size="3"><span style="font-weight:bold">Charles Fee directs the production and celebrates his 10th anniversary
</span><br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-weight:bold">as Producing Artistic Director of Cleveland’s Classic Company.</span></font><br>
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<br>
CLEVELAND, OH - <span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater</span> (GLT), Cleveland’s Classic Company, continues the second half its 50th anniversary season with William Shakespeare’s powerfully poetic love story,
<span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic">Romeo and Juliet</span>. The production will be performed in the company’s intimate and audience-friendly home at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, April 13-28, 2012. GLT Producing Artistic Director,
<span style="font-weight:bold">Charles Fee, directs the production and celebrates his tenth anniversary at the helm of Cleveland’s Classic Company</span>.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater’s 2012 spring productions and educational programs are sponsored by PNC.</span> Additional production support for
<span style="font-style:italic">Romeo and Juliet</span> was generously provided by J<span style="font-weight:bold">ohn and Barbara Schubert</span>. Great Lakes Theater is also generously funded by the
<span style="font-weight:bold">citizens of Cuyahoga County</span> through <span style="font-weight:bold">
Cuyahoga Arts and Culture</span> and receives season support from <span style="font-weight:bold">
The Cleveland Foundation</span> and the <span style="font-weight:bold">Ohio Arts Council</span>. Media sponsors for GLT’s 50th season are Cleveland Scene, The FORM Group, The Plain Dealer, WCLV 104.9 FM, WCPN 90.3 FM ideastream and WKSU 89.7 FM.
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<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">William Shakespeare’s <span style="font-style:italic">
Romeo and Juliet</span>, a powerfully poetic tale of love and loss, is one of the world’s most enduring love stories.</span> Transcending the hate of warring factions, in defiance of their parents and in secrecy from their friends, two young, star-crossed lovers
risk all they have to be together. However, the same passion that stirs the lovers’ hearts also fuels the wrath of their feuding families and threatens to exact heart-rending results.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Charles Fee will direct the production and celebrate his tenth season as Great Lakes Theater’s Producing Artistic Director.</span> Since assuming the post in 2002, Fee has directed
<span style="font-style:italic">The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, All’s Well That Ends Well, Hamlet, Hay Fever, The Importance of Being Earnest, Arms and the Man</span> and
<span style="font-style:italic">The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)</span>. Under Fee’s leadership, Great Lakes Theater successfully completed a $19.2M capital campaign that created a visionary, new home for the company at the Hanna Theatre
and established an endowment for the company – the first in the organization’s history. Fee holds a unique position in the American theater as Producing Artistic Director of three independently operated, professional partner-theater companies: Great Lakes
Theater in Cleveland, Ohio (since 2002), Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise, Idaho (since 1991) and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in Lake Tahoe, Nevada (since 2010). His appointments have resulted in a groundbreaking and nationally unique producing model
for the companies, in which 37 productions have been shared since 2002. In 2009, Fee was recognized for his leadership by the Cleveland Arts Prize as a recipient of the Martha Joseph Award.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater’s award-winning home at the Hanna Theatre
</span>features a visionary “Great Room” inspired design that integrates the artist and audience experience into a single unified environment. Hanna patrons select from
<span style="font-weight:bold">a variety of seating opportunities</span> including traditional theater seats, club chairs, lounge/bar seats, banquette couches and private box seating. Arranged in an intimate 550-seat thrust configuration where the
<span style="font-weight:bold">audience surrounds the stage</span>, no seat is further than 12 rows from the performance.
<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater offers patrons a robust series of
<span style="font-style:italic">Experience Enhancement Programming</span> that is organized by day of week.
</span>The series highlights the Hanna’s unique amenities and affords patrons access to GLT artists.<br>
<br>
• <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic">Salon Thursdays</span> feature an engaging
<span style="font-weight:bold">pre-show discussion with GLT artists</span> beginning one hour before curtain. (Offered: Apr. 19 & 26)<br>
<br>
• <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic">Happy Hour Fridays</span> afford audience members the opportunity to
<span style="font-weight:bold">gather and socialize at the Hanna’s bar early</span>. Savory and sweet snack boxes along with a complete range of beverages are available for purchase ninety minutes before the show. (Offered: Apr. 13, 20, 27)
<br>
<br>
• <span style="font-weight:bold">Nightcap Night Saturdays</span> encourage audience members to stay after the evening performance and
<span style="font-weight:bold">enjoy live music</span> while <span style="font-weight:bold">
mingling with the GLT artistic compan</span>y in the Hanna’s lounge. The Hanna bar is open until ninety minutes after the performance. (Offered: Apr. 21 & 28)<br>
<br>
• <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic">Ice Cream Social Sunday</span>s offer patrons the opportunity to enjoy a London theatre tradition brought state-side. Audience members are invited to purchase a cool, personal ice cream treat before the
show or at intermission. Ice cream will be offered at every GLT performance, but on Ice Cream Social Sundays, the treat is half price. (Offered: Apr. 15, & 22)<br>
<br>
• <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic">Director’s Nights</span> offer audiences the opportunity to take part in
<span style="font-weight:bold">a pre-show discussion</span> with GLT’s Producing Artistic Director, Charles Fee, before preview performances. (Offered: Apr. 13)<br>
<br>
• <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic">Playnotes Pre-Show Discussions</span> inform patrons with illuminating introductions to the content and history of the play presented by a guest scholar before Saturday matinee performances. (Offered:
Apr. 21 & 28)<br>
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GLT will also continue to afford patrons extraordinary access to its artists and production process at every Hanna Theatre performance this spring.
<span style="font-weight:bold">The Hanna opens its doors ninety minutes before each performance allowing patrons to observe the complete pre-show preparation process</span> of GLT’s actors and technical staff. Elements traditionally hidden from audiences such
as stage combat rehearsals, dance calls, prop/scenic pre-sets, technical cue rehearsals and actor warm-ups will be conducted in full view of patrons, offering audiences an unprecedented glimpse into the theatrical process.<br>
<br>
The <span style="font-weight:bold">Opening Night</span> performance of <span style="font-style:italic">
Romeo and Juliet</span> is scheduled for Saturday, April 14th with a preview performance slated for the preceding Friday night. Curtain times for all evening performances will remain at 7:30 p.m., with a 1:30 p.m. curtain time for Saturday matinees and a 3:00
p.m. curtain time for Sunday matinees. GLT will offer a <span style="font-weight:bold">
sign-interpreted/ audio-described performance</span> of <span style="font-style:italic">
Romeo and Juliet </span>on Sunday, April 15th.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Single performance tickets range in price from $15-$70 (Student tickets are $13 – any performance / any seat)
</span>and are available by calling (216) 241-6000, by ordering online at <a href="http://www.greatlakestheater.org/" target="_blank">
www.greatlakestheater.org</a> or by visiting the PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office. <span style="font-weight:bold">
Groups of ten or more receive discounts of up to 40%</span> by calling (216) 241-5490 x302.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland’s Classic Company</span>, has brought the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience since 1962.
<span style="font-weight:bold">The first resident company of PlayhouseSquare, GLT celebrates its 30th year in downtown Cleveland this season</span>. On its main stage and through its extensive education programming,
<span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater positively impacts 85,000 adults and students annually</span>.<br>
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# # #<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold"><br>
MEDIA CONTACT:<br>
Todd Krispinsky</span><br>
<div>
<div style="font-family:Tahoma; font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:Arial">Marketing and Public Relations Director<br>
Great Lakes Theater<br>
1501 Euclid Avenue, Suite 300<br>
Cleveland, OH 44115<br>
(216) 241-5490 x317<br>
www.greatlakestheater.org <br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater</span><br>
<span style="font-style:italic">Cleveland's Classic Company @ the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare</span><br>
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