Fiddlehead Theatre to Host Talkbacks with Andrew Lippa & Brian Cawley During A LITTLE PRINCESS RUN

Fiddlehead Theatre Company announces two talkbacks during the run of A Little Princess, Fiddlehead's first production as Resident Company at Boston's historic Strand Theatre (543 Columbia Road, Dorchester, MA). A Little Princess will run from November 21 -December 8, 2013, and will feature two appearances by the creative team behind A Little Princess: Composer Andrew Lippa will provide a talkback on Friday, November 29 hosted by WGBH's Jared Bowen, and playwright Brian Crawley will take the stage on Friday, December 6. Both sessions are free for ticket-holders, who are invited to stay after the performance to participate in an audience Q&A. These events are perfect for theater students, educators, Drama Departments, and fans of musical theater. Tickets for A Little Princess are $25-$45 and may be purchased by calling the box office at 617-229-6494 or online at www.fiddleheadtheatre.com. Student, senior and group discounts are available.

"We are honored that both Brian Crawley and Andrew Lippa have agreed to support our production of A Little Princess by coming to Boston," said Meg Fofonoff, Producing Artistic Director of Fiddlehead Theatre Company. "This is such a wonderful opportunity for audiences to engage with these enormously successful working professionals in the theatrical arts. A Little Princess is such a magical, heartwarming story, and we're delighted to premiere it here in Boston with the blessing of the show's own playwright and composer."

Andrew Lippa Talkback: Friday, November 29 - Hosted by Jared Bowen of WGBH-TV Boston

Immediately following the November 29 performance, Tony-nominated composer Andrew Lippa will take the stage, participating in a talkback hosted by WGBH-TV's Jared Bowen.

Andrew Lippa wrote the music and words to the original theatrical oratorio I Am Harvey Milk that received its world premiere in San Francisco this past June with the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus starring Laura Benanti and Mr. Lippa as Harvey Milk. He also wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Big Fish, which opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in October. He wrote the Tony-nominated music and lyrics for the Broadway musical The Addams Family as well as the music for the Broadway production of Aaron Sorkin's play The Farnsworth Invention. Other musicals include the Drama Desk award winning musical The Wild Party (book/music/lyrics), A Little Princess (music), jon & jen (music/co-wrote book), Asphalt Beach (music/lyrics) and You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (additional music/lyrics and arrangements). Mr. Lippa was music director for Kristin Chenoweth sold-out shows at the Metropolitan Opera House, Carnegie Hall and others. Accolades include a Tony and Grammy nomination, the Gilman/Gonzalez-Falla Theater Foundation Award, ASCAP's Richard Rodgers/New Horizons Award, The Drama Desk and The Outer Critics Circle Award. Andrew Lippa is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

WGBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen is an Emmy-winning reporter with WGBH-TV's nightly news magazine program, Greater Boston with Emily Rooney, and appears regularly on 89.7 WGBH, where he covers the latest happenings in Boston theater, art, music, dance, and film for Boston Public Radio and on WGBH's Morning Edition every Thursday. In February 2013, Jared debuted in his own weekly arts series, Open Studio with Jared Bowen, featuring a blend of local and national stories and profiles. Jared has won two New England Emmy Awards for his arts reporting and is a recipient of the 2013 Commonwealth Award, recognizing achievement in the arts, humanities and sciences. Jared began his career at Dateline NBC in New York, and is a graduate of Emerson College where he also won several Associated Press Awards.

Brian Crawley Talkback: Friday, December 6

Following the Dec 6 performance of A Little Princess, Playwright Brian Crawley will take the stage and talk about his career and experiences in theater.

Brian Crawley is a playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the book and lyrics for Violet (composer Jeanine Tesori), which was mounted Off-Broadway by Playwrights Horizons in 1997, then remounted in a concert version in 2003 to help inaugurate their new theater. For the libretto of Violet, Brian won the Kleban Award. Prior to the Playwrights Horizons production, and on its behalf, Violet was given the Richard Rodgers Musical Production Award and an AT&T OnStage Award. Afterwards, besides a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical, Violet received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical over all the year's Broadway offerings, as did Paula Vogel's play How I Learned To Drive; the first time two off-Broadway pieces took these top awards in the Drama Critic Circle's history. He wrote the book and lyrics for A Little Princess (composer Andrew Lippa), which debuted at Theatreworks of Palo Alto in the summer of 2004.

Brian's plays have been developed or staged at Lincoln Center, New York Theater Workshop, and the Eugene O'Neill summer theater conference. He is at work on a commission for a play about jazz performer Valaida Snow, and a new musical Down There with composer Lewis Flinn. He majored in Theater Studies at Yale and got an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Brian is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

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