PREVIEWS THIS THURSDAY 1/11/17 NEWS RELEASE Media Contact: Fred Gloor Associate Artistic/Marketing Director Weathervane Playhouse 330.836.2626 Ext 16 fgloor@weathervaneplayhouse.com<mailto:fgloor@weathervaneplayhouse.com> December 22, 2017 Weathervane Playhouse to present Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. Step back in time to relive one of Billie Holiday's final performances. AKRON - Weathervane invites playgoers to be transported to a seedy bar in Philadelphia during the year of 1959 to relive one of Billie Holiday's final performances, given four months before her death. More than a dozen musical numbers are interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill is directed by Terrence Spivey, who ran Karamu House for over 12 years and was selected as Scene Magazine's Best Director of 2017. Ed Ridley, who most recently received a Cleveland Critics Circle Award for his music direction of Ain't Misbehavin', serves as the music director for this production. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill runs January 11 through January 21, 2018 in Weathervane's Founders Theater. The show runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. There is also one student matinee (recommended for high school students) on January 16th at 10 a.m. Tickets are $10 - $22 and can be ordered by calling the box office at 330-836-2626 or going to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com<http://www.weathervaneplayhouse.com>. On working at Weathervane and the production, Spivey says, "I am excited to be back at the wonderful Weathervane Playhouse, having directed their productions of Fences and The Great White Hope. Billie Holiday's music is as timely now as ever, touching the hardships and happiness that we all experience. Kudos to Melanie and Weathervane for bringing this dynamic and historical figure to the Akron stage." THE CAST MARISSA NICOLE DAVIS Billie Holiday THE CREATIVE TEAM TERRENCE SPIVEY Director ED RIDLEY Musical Director/Jimmy Powers BRADFORD MCGHEE Bass Player JASON MAURER Stage Manager BARBARA TROTTER Properties Designer AYRON LORD Lighting Designer HAZEN TOBAR Sound Designer LOREN "COCO" MAYER Costume Designer RICHARD MORRIS, JR. Scenic Designer/Technical Director KATHY KOHL Assistant Technical Director KELLIE ROSSINI Master Electrician ### Weathervane Playhouse's 2017-2018 Season Support Provided by: Aimee Lambes Photography AARP Akron Community Foundation The Akron/Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau Beatrice K. McDowell Family Fund of Akron Community Foundationz The Big Love Network Best Buy Clear Gold Audio and Lighting Mary and Dr. George L. Demetros Charitable Trust Margaret Dietz Corinne L. Dodero Foundation for the Arts & Sciences GAR Foundation Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust (KeyBank, Trustee) The Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services, LLC Northeast Ohio Boomer and Beyond Magazine Ohio Arts Council The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation The Weathervane Playhouse Volunteer Guild Visit Mickey Vacations WKSU 89.7 FM