The Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival Begins 6/14

The Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival, now in its 16th year, brings the Denver Center Theatre Company, Primary Stages (New York), and South Coast Repertory (California) to develop new pieces of theatre in the Rocky Mountains. Presented under the artistic direction of Andrew Leynse, (Artistic Director, Primary Stages), and with sponsorship from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the New Works Festival continues Perry-Mansfield's founding principle of nurturing new talent with new work. The Festival is co-chaired by James Steinberg and Karolynn Lestrud and produced by Emily Tarquin. The companies will showcase three different new works in partnership with Perry-Mansfield:

Denver Center Theatre Company & Artistic Director, Kent Thompson present

APPOGGIATURA

by James Still, directed by Risa Brainin

dramaturgy by Douglas Langworthy

The Chief Theatre, June 14th @ 7:30pm, followed by a reception

Appoggiatura: uh-poj-uh-toor-uh. From the Italian appoggiare meaning "to lean." In music, appoggiatura is a note of long or short duration sometimes creating a dissonance before resolving into a main note. And so it is with the play: what begins on a rainy night inside an old-world hotel room in Venice ends on a bright sunny day outside on its streets and campos. An old woman who knows this might be her last trip to Italy. Her granddaughter who has just graduated from college and has no idea what comes next. A middle-aged man who doesn't know how to mend his broken heart. Their young Italian tour guide who makes up any history he doesn't know. And a drunken street musician who seems to be following them wherever they go. Appoggiatura is a play about an American family finding itself by completely losing itself. Italy is a good place to do that...

South Coast Repertory & Artistic Director, Marc Masterson present

OVER THE WAVES

by Noah Haidle, directed by Marc Masterson

dramaturgy by Kimberly Colburn

Julie Harris, June 15th @ 3:00pm, followed by refreshments

"Over the Waves" is a popular waltz written in 1888. Over the Waves, the play, is about two couples who have been in a dance marathon for almost 14 years. They have heard the song, "Over the Waves," tens of thousands of times. The last line of Albert Camus's "The Myth of Sisyphus," is "The struggle toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." In 1923 the dance marathons were described by a reporter for the New York World as "pageants of fatigue." A dingy hall is littered with worn slippers, cigarette stubs, newspapers and soup cans; reeking with the odor of stale coffee, tobacco smoke, chewing gum, and smelling salts. Girls in worn bathrobes, dingy white stockings, their arms hanging over partner's shoulders, dragging aching feet in one short agonizing step after another. Over the Waves is not an historical play about the dance marathon phenomena, but an allegorical investigation about learning to love one's fate.

Primary Stages & Artistic Director, Andrew Leynse present

BRONX BOMBERS

written & directed by Eric Simonson

conceived by Fran Kirmser

Producer: Tony Ponturo

Main Studio, June 15th @ 7:30pm, followed by a reception

Join us for the world premiere of a new play from the creators of Broadway's Lombardi and the director of Primary Stages hit String of Pearls. Bronx Bombers tells the generational story of a most extraordinary baseball family, and the game itself. Follow the revered New York Yankees and Yogi Berra as he struggles to keep the focus on the team, transgressing the tricky world of dreams, celebrity, and the ever-changing landscape of this beloved American pastime.

"I am thrilled to have Denver Center Theatre Company, Primary Stages and South Coast Repertory participate in this year's New Works Festival," says Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director of The Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival. "Now in it's 16th year the festival continues to be a major force in supporting the development of new works."

TICKET AND LODGING INFO: Single tickets for each reading are $15 and a Festival Pass is available for $35. Tickets are available for purchase after May 15 at www.perry-mansfield.org. ?? For advanced ticket reservations and other information, please call 970-879-7125 or email rsvp@perry-mansfield.org. For lodging and area information, please visit the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort online.