FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tom Fulton Tuesday, October 11, 2016 PHONE: 440-247-2972 x4334 Tomtq2@gmail.com <mailto:Tomtq2@gmail.com> The Academy for the Performing Arts presents the Tony-Award winning musical MAN OF LA MANCHA with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, and music by Mitch Leigh. The production opens on Friday, October 28 and plays one weekend only – Friday 9:00 p.m. Saturday 7:30 p.m. and Sunday 2:30 p.m. The later start on Opening Night is due to overflow parking during the concurrent Chagrin Falls Football Game. Football fans should feel free to join us at half time if so inclined! The play runs about 1 hour and 45 minutes. For tickets go to www.chagrinacademy.org <http://www.chagrinacademy.org/> or call 440-715-4004. Tickets are $18.00 for adults and $15.00 for students and senior citizens. Any member of Fred Sternfeld's Neopal.org <http://neopal.org/> may see the show for $10.00 - Just show up. No reservations necessary. (We want you to come, can you tell? These are the upcoming young artists that you will want to use in you productions over the next few years. So join us - Practically free, not Chekhov and it’s short!) Man of La Mancha is directed by professional director, teacher, actor and Artistic Director of the Academy, Tom Fulton. Tom played Don Quixote in Fred’s production at the Halle Theatre in 2001 (fifteen years ago - poxy goat!!) Music Direction for the brilliant score is handled by well known musician pianist, accompanist and organist, Marcia Snavely. Choreographing the distinctly flamenco dance style of the play are Academy students Hayley Thompson and Neil Kelly. Set and Lighting Designs are beautifully rendered by Ben Needham, Theatre Designer for the Academy and designer for AMC (“Turn”), DreamWorks Films (“Lincoln” Directed by Stephen Spielberg); National Geographic (“Killing Kennedy” and “Killing Lincoln”), Battle scenes and abductions are managed by advanced actor combatant and award-winning fight coordinator, adjunct professor at BW... Dusten Welch. The play stars members of the Academy for the Performing Arts: Beachwood Actor Neil Kelly as the deluded but visionary Don Quixote; Brush Actress Uma Singh as Aldonza, the object of Don Quixote’s dream of beauty in woman; Chagrin Actors Hayley Thompson and Tori Shell as Antonia and Housekeeper respectively; Willoughby South’s Noah Pigza as the cynical Dr. Carasco and Tyler Lord as the forgiving tenor, The Padre. Man of La Mancha is a Broadway musical, which was adapted from Dale Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes and his seventeenth-century masterpiece Don Quixote. As Cervantes and his fellow prisoners await a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition, he enacts a play, which tells the story of a "mad" knight, Don Quixote, who finds heaven in the personage of the common prostitute, Aldonza. As the alternately hilarious and heart-wrenching musical continues, Cervantes manages to transform the hardened, hopeless prisoners of the Spanish Inquisition into a congregation of faith and hope. The principal song, "The Impossible Dream", has become a standard around the world. ABOUT THE ACADEMY The Academy for the Performing Arts is a public school college preparatory school for the arts under the auspices of Excel-TECC. The school is available to students from the following School Districts: West Geauga, Aurora, Solon, Chagrin Falls, Orange, Beachwood, Mayfield, Willoughy-Eastlake, Brush and Richmond Heights. Students are admitted by audition only. The student body consists of some of the finest young talents in our area, many of which are already making fine professional careers for themselves on Broadway, Regional Theatre Tours and Television. Chagrin Falls High School plays host to the Academy and has for the past 9 years. Check us out at www.chagrinacademy.org <http://www.chagrinacademy.org/>. Coming Soon to the Academy: The Little Foxes (Dec 9, 10, 11); The Senior Improv Show - A Mitchell Fields extravaganza! (Dec 16, 17, 18; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (directed by Academy alum and Case grad Sara Bogomolny. (February 3, 4, 5) Julius Caesar (all woman cast – March 3, 4, 5), directed by Dusten Welch JUNIOR PLAY FESTIVAL: [The Women of Lockerbie, Quote the Raven and Myths and Monsters – March 21, 22, 23]; AND Tennessee William’s - The Night of the Iguana (April 28,29, 30) Join us!! Tom Fulton Director Academy for the Performing Arts tomtq2@gmail.com <mailto:tomtq2@gmail.com> www.chagrinacademy.org <http://www.chagrinacademy.org/> www.tomfulton.com <http://www.tomfulton.com/> Work Phone: 440-247-2072 x4334 Academy Message Service 440-715-4004 Academy Absence Reporting 440-715-4004 “Thou Must Be Patient…." Tom Fulton Director Academy for the Performing Arts tomtq2@gmail.com www.chagrinacademy.org www.tomfulton.com Work Phone: 440-247-2072 x4334 Academy Message Service 440-715-4004 Academy Absence Reporting 440-715-4004 “Thou Must Be Patient…."