Lyric Stage Company of Boston Presents Moises Kaufman's 33 VARIATIONS, Now thru 2/2

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston presents Moisés Kaufman's 33 VARIATIONS, tonight, January 4 - February 2, 2013. Performances begin Friday, January 4, 8pm, with the press opening slated for Sunday, January 6, 3pm.

Drama, memory, and music combine to transport you from present-day New York to 19th-century Austria as a mother comes to terms with her daughter and a composer comes to terms with his genius - while both strive to overcome progressive physical hurdles. Separated by 200 years, these two people share an obsession that transcends the boundaries of time. Moisés Kaufman (The Laramie Project, Gross Indecency) has written an extraordinary play about passion, parenthood, the creative process, and the moments of beauty that can transform life.

The play simultaneously examines the creation of Beethoven's piano masterpiece the Diabelli Variations, and the struggle of a musicologist, Katherine Brandt, to discover why Beethoven was compelled to compose thirty-three distinct variations on a simple, uninspired theme. The progression of her ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and her relationship with her daughter are also themes, as is Beethoven's growing deafness.

The action takes place both in the present and in Beethoven's time, switching back and forth between contemporary New York City to Bonn, Germany and Vienna, Austria in the late 1800s.

The play includes excerpts from the Diabelli Variations performed live.

CREATIVE TEAM:

Directed by Spiro Veloudos
Scenic Design, Cristina Todesco**
Costume Design, Charles Schoonmaker**
Lighting Design, Karen Perlow
Sound Design, Brendan Doyle
Projections Design, Shawn Boyle**
Production Stage Manager, Maureen Lane*
Assistant Director, A. Nora Long
Assistant Stage Manager, Samantha Setayesh

FEATURING:

Paula Plum* Dr. Katherine Brandt
Dakota Shepard Clara Brandt
Kelby T. Akin* Mike Clark
James Andreassi* Ludwig van Beethoven
Will McGarrahan Anton Diabelli
Maureen Keiller* Dr. Gertrude Ladenburger
Victor L. Shopov Anton Schindler

Catherine Stornetta Pianist

*Member of Actors Equity Association (AEA) ** United Scenic Artists (USA-Local 829)

The production runs tonight, January 4 - February 2, 2013, Wednesdays, Thursdays - 7:30pm and Wednesday matinees - 2pm, January 9 & 30, Fridays - 8pm, Saturdays - 3pm & 8pm and Sundays - 3pm.

Post-show talkbacks: Sundays, January 6 & 20 after 3pm performance. Press opening: Sunday, January 6, 3pm. VIP opening: Wednesday, January 9, 7:30pm (post-show reception with cast and crew - open to all ticket holders).

The Lyric Stage is located at 140 Clarendon Street, Copley Square, Boston, Mass. Tickets: $25 - $58. Seniors - $5 off regular price. Student rush - $10. Group rates available. Box Office: 617-585-5678 or online: lyricstage.com.

ABOUT THE CAST/CREATIVE TEAM:

Kelby T. Aiken* (Mike Clark) appeared at The Lyric Stage during the 2008-09 season in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and during the 2010-11 season in The Understudy. Other area credits include Hamlet, Paul, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Glass Menagerie, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing (Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre), Take Me Out (Foothills Theatre), As You Like It and Curse of the Starving Class (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company/American Voices Reading Series), Richard III, A Christmas Carol (2007), and All the King's Men (Trinity Repertory Company), and The King Stag (Elemental Theatre). Kelby has also worked with Guerilla Shakespeare Project on productions in RI and NY. He received his M.F.A. in Theatre Studies from Brown University. More information on his work can be found at brown.edu/Departments/Trinity/actor-kelbytakin

James Andreassi* (Ludwig van Beethoven) is making his Lyric Stage debut. Boston area credits include: Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Antony and Cleopatra (Actor's Shakespeare Project), Italian-American Reconciliation, Hamlet (Merrimack Rep), The Good Woman of Setzuan, Tonight We Improvise, Skinhead Hamlet, and Sweet Table at the Richelieu (American Repertory Theatre). Mr. Andreassi is the founder and Artistic Director of The Elm Shakespeare Company in New Haven, CT, and he has performed at theatres across the United States, including Long Wharf Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Rep. of St. Louis, Three River Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare & Co., and Pioneer Theatre Co., among many others. In New York City, he has appeared at New York Theatre Workshop, Mint Theatre, and on ABC's One Life to Live. He has taught and lectured on acting, Shakespeare, and the theatre at Yale University, Southern Connecticut State University, Quinnipiac University, and the Yale Center for British Art.

Maureen Keiller* (Dr. Gertrude Ladenburger) returns to The Lyric Stage having appeared in Nicholas Nickleby, Speech & Debate, Epic Proportions, and Inspecting Carol. Local credits: Nine, Reckless, The Little Dog Laughed, The Women, and The Wild Party (SpeakEasy Stage), A Streetcar Named Desire (New Rep), The Sweetest Swing in Baseball and Pulp (Boston Theatre Works), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Lyric West), Heartbreak House (Huntington Theatre), Ramona Quimby and Pippi Longstocking (Wheelock Family Theatre). Regional credits: The Little Dog Laughed (Hartford Theatre Works). Maureen is a two-time recipient of the IRNE Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Women, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, and The Wild Party. Film and TV credits include My Best Friend's Girl, The Proposal, Fever Pitch, We Pedal Uphill, Brotherhood, and We Made America.

Will McGarrahan* (Anton Diabelli) returns to The Lyric Stage where he performed in The Chosen, The Temperamentals, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Grey Gardens, November, Souvenir, and Dirty Blonde. Other local credits include Next Fall, The Drowsy Chaperone, Reckless, Some Men, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Five by Tenn, Company, The Last Sunday in June, Elegies: A Song Cycle, Ruthless!, A Class Act, and A New Brain (SpeakEasy Stage), The Wind in the Willows and Happy Days (Gloucester Stage), Nine Circles (Publick Theatre and Gloucester Stage), The Moon For The Misbegotten and Buried Child (Nora Theater), and The Wrestling Patient (SpeakEasy Stage/Boston Playwrights/40 Magnolias). Will worked as an actor, singer, and pianist for many years in Seattle before moving to Boston's South End in 2001.

Paula Plum* (Dr. Katherine Brandt) first appeared at The Lyric Stage in Dial M for Murder in 1975. (She was 3.) Since then she has been seen at The Lyric Stage in The Goat, Private Lives, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Blithe Spirit, Sideman, The Heiress, Mercy Seat, Miss Witherspoon, and Three Tall Women. As a founding member of Actors' Shakespeare Project, she has played Cleopatra (Antony & Cleopatra) , Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), and The Countess (All's Well That Ends Well); and appeared in The New Century, Savannah Disputation, History Boys, Body Awareness, and Divine Sister (SpeakEasy Stage), and No Exit, Ivanov, Mother Courage, Lysistrata , The Marriage of Bette and Boo, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile (American Repertory Theatre). In November she appeared on ABC Lifetime's The March Sisters at Christmas, and will be featured in the upcoming ABC pilot Terminales. Paula is the recipient of four IRNE Awards, the 1995 and 2007 Eliot Norton Award for Best Actress, the 2004 Eliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence, and the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University. In 2009 she was one of five actors nation-wide to receive the Fox Actor Fellowship in association with SpeakEasy Stage. She is married to actor Richard Snee.

Dakota Shepard (Clara Brandt) is making her Lyric Stage debut. Other roles include Festen (Gamm Theatre), Becky Shaw (u/s, Huntington Theatre), A Bright New Boise and Farragut North (Zeitgeist Stage), Priscilla Dreams the Answer (Fresh Ink), The Europeans (Whistler In the Dark), The Scarlet Letter and A Christmas Carol (New Rep On Tour), Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Now!), The Storytelling Ability of a Boy, The Bald Soprano, Intimate Apparel, and Matt and Ben (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater), Our Country's Good and Wintertime (Cape Rep), and many commercials. This spring, Dakota will appear in These Shining Lives (Stoneham Theatre) and the feature films Labor Day (Jason Reitman, dir.) and In Your Eyes (Joss Whedon, prod.). Dakota received a B.A. in Drama from Vassar College. www.dakotashepard.com

Victor L. Shopov (Anton Schindler) appeared at The Lyric Stage last season in The Temperamentals. Other local credits include A Bright New Boise, Tiny Kushner, Enron (2010 IRNE Award, Best Actor in a Play), and Farragut North (Zeitgeist Stage Company), Indiscreet Discretion (Fort Point Theatre Channel), Hideous Progeny, The Mistakes Madeline Made, and Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls (Holland Productions), The Country Club (Happy Medium Theatre), Macbeth (Gurnet Theatre Project), and The Heidi Chronicles (Longwood Players). He has also worked with Bad Habit Productions, the Vokes Players, Whistler in the Dark, and members of the Boston Playwrights' Platform, and holds degrees from Emerson College and Northeastern University.

Catherine Stornetta (Pianist) is back at The Lyric Stage in an unexpected role, having previously been the musical director for Animal Crackers, Ain't Misbehavin', and Avenue Q. She has been a musical director for Forbidden Broadway, Forbidden Hollywood, and Forbidden Christmas for many years and has performed in Boston, New York, Japan, Singapore, Australia, all but four states, and on cruise ships circumnavigating the globe. She has also orchestrated and conducted the orchestral version with the Detroit, Hartford, Winnipeg, North Carolina, Rochester, Syracuse, and Adelaide (Australia) Symphonies. Additionally, she orchestrated and conducted the orchestral version of Forbidden Christmas. She was the musical director for the three-year run of Menopause, The Musical in Boston. She composed the score for the Cable ACE-award winning documentary Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space, produced for the Arts and Entertainment Network "Biography" series, and she has written and had produced Intriguing People for People magazine, 12 Angry Reindeer, Reindeer Games, and The All-of-a- Kind Family (written with Melia Bensussen). She has worked extensively as a composer, musical director, arranger and teacher in Boston. In her salad days, she was a student of Darius Milhaud and Claude Frank, and on occasion, a piano soloist with the Boston Pops.

Moisés Kaufman (Playwright) is a Tony and Emmy Award-nominated director and playwright. His play 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda on Broadway, was nominated for five Tony awards (including one for Ms. Fonda). Previous to that, Mr. Kaufman directed the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play I Am My Own Wife, earning him an Obie award for his direction as well as Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Lucille Lortel nominations. His plays Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project have been among the most performed plays in America over the last decade. Mr. Kaufman also directed the film adaptation of The Laramie Project for HBO, which was the opening night selection at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and won the National Board of Review Award, the Humanitas Prize, and a Special Mention for Best First Film at the Berlin Film Festival. The film also earned Mr. Kaufman two Emmy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writer. He is the Artistic Director of Tectonic Theater Project and a Guggenheim Fellow in Playwriting. Other directing credits include Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Mark Taper Forum); Macbeth with Liev Schreiber (Public Theater); This Is How It Goes (Donmar Warehouse); One Arm by Tennessee Williams (Steppenwolf Theater Company); Master Class with Rita Moreno (Berkeley Repertory Theater); and Lady Windermere's Fan (Williamstown Theater Festival).

Spiro Veloudos (Director) began his 15th season as Producing Artistic Director of The Lyric Stage by directing The Mikado. Last season he directed Big River, Superior Donuts, and Avenue Q. In previous seasons, he directed The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (five IRNE Awards including Best Director, Elliot Norton Award for Best Production and Best Director), Animal Crackers, Blithe Spirit, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, and Kiss Me, Kate. Spiro recently received the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from Salem State College. He was the recipient of the 2006 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. During his tenure, The Lyric Stage has earned numerous awards and honors including Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Production (Nicholas Nickleby , Speech & Debate, Miss Witherspoon, The Old Settler), and Outstanding Musical Production (Sunday in the Park with George); Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award for Outstanding Production (Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Settler, Glengarry Glen Ross, Nicholas Nickleby), and Outstanding Musical Production (Grey Gardens, Urinetown: The Musical, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George). His numerous directing credits at The Lyric include A Little Night Music (IRNE Award for Direction), Glengarry Glen Ross (IRNE Award), Sunday in the Park with George (Best of the Year in Boston's Globe, Herald, and Phoenix; Elliot Norton and IRNE Award for direction), Assassins (Best Production of 1998:The Boston Globe), Lost in Yonkers, and Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story (Elliot Norton Award, along with Assassins), and Speed-the-Plow (Elliot Norton for Outstanding Production). Mr. Veloudos received StageSource's Theatre Hero Award (2003) and was named Best Artistic Director by Boston Magazine in 1999. He serves as the president for the Producers Association of New England Area Theatres, is on the Board of Directors of StageSource, and is adjunct faculty in Performing Arts at Emerson College.

Cristina Todesco** (Scenic Design) Past Lyric designs: The Understudy, Grey Gardens, Dead Man's Cell Phone, The Underpants, Arms and the Man, A Little Night Music. Recent productions include The Way of the World (Boston Conservatory), The Sussman Variations (Boston Playwright's Theater), Sticks and Bones (Harbor Stage), Coriolanus (Commonwealth Shakespeare), Animal Farm, Romeo and Juliet (Olney Theater Center, National Players Tour), Sleuth, The 39 Steps (OTC), Beckett Shorts (A.R.T. Institute), Three Viewings (Newrep), Red, The Divine Sister (SpeakEasy Stage), Twefth Night (2012 Elliot Norton Award Best Design, and Best Production, Actors Shakespeare Project), and Love Song (Elliot Norton Award for Best Fringe Production, Orfeo Group). She is the recipient of the 2008 and 2011 Elliot Award for Best Design for The Clean House (New Repertory Theatre) and The Aliens (Company One). Other theaters include: Huntington Theatre, Williamstown Theater Festival, Summer Play Festival, The Culture Project at Barrow Street Theater, Opera Boston, Granite State Opera, Stoneham Theater, Suffolk University, Boston College, Gloucester Stage, New College Theater. She is of on the faculty at Boston University's School of Theater Arts.

Charles Schoonmaker** (Costume Design)

Karen Perlow (Lighting Design) returns once again to design at The Lyric Stage where favorite productions include: Time Stands Still, My Name Is Asher Lev, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Miss Witherspoon, Urinetown, the Musical, Dirty Blonde, and Lobby Hero. Upcoming or current projects: Two Gentlemen of Verona with Actor's Shakespeare Project, Other Desert Cities at SpeakEasy Stage. A three-time winner of the IRNE Award for Best Lighting Design (2009, 2007, 2002), Karen teaches Lighting Design at MIT. www.karenperlowlightdesign.com

Shawn Boyle** (Projection Design) returns to The Lyric Stage having designed lighting for Superior Donuts, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Shipwrecked!, The Year of Magical Thinking, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Shawn has also designed two seasons of Lyric First Stage. Recent Projection Design credits include: My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (Auburn Theater Festival), City of Angels (Goodspeed Opera House), Tommy (Berkshire Theater FestivaL. Shawn is a member of United Scenic Artists, as a Lighting and Projection Designer. Shawn received his B.F.A. from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Shawn is currently working toward an M.F.A. in Projection Design at the Yale School of Drama. www.ShawnEdwardBoyle.com

Maureen Lane (Production Stage Manager) returns to The Lyric Stage where she was Production Stage Manager for The Temperamentals, Superior Donuts, Or,, Broke-ology, The Understudy, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Groundswell, and Dead Man's Cell Phone. Regional credits (selected): Anna Christie (Northern New England Rep, New London, NH); King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors, Waiting for Godot (NorthEast Shakespeare Ensemble, Lebanon, NH); Body Awareness, An Ideal Husband, Born Yesterday, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, Bakersfield Mist (Wellfleet Harbor Actors' Theater); Crimes of the Heart, Master Harold...and the Boys, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Going to St.. Ives, The Belle of Amherst (Gloucester Stage). Other Boston-area credits (selected): Mauritius (Huntington Theatre), The Seafarer, The Little Dog Laughed, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Fat Pig, Brooklyn Boy (SpeakEasy Stage), Gagarin Way, The Well of the Saints, This Lime Tree Bower (Súgán Theatre). Maureen has also worked at The Project Arts Centre in Dublin, Ireland and The Pleasance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is a stage-management mentor at MIT and serves on the board of The Theater Community Benevolent Fund as well as the Boston-area Actors' Equity Liaison Committee.

A. Nora Long (Assistant Director) is Associate Artistic Director at The Lyric Stage where she is responsible for dramaturgy, casting, and working with the artistic director on season planning and artistic programs. She is an Artistic Director of New Exhibition Room, a Boston-area fringe company and member of the Boston Center for the Arts Emerging Theatre Company program. She has worked with several theatre companies in Boston as a writer, director, actor, dramaturg, and translator including The American Repertory Theatre, Bad Habit Productions, Mill 6, Whistler in the Dark, and Another Country Productions. She is currently working on an ensemble-built piece called EEP! Show for New Exhibition Room, premiering in August, 2013. She received her M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from The American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in Theatre and Italian. She is the fall, 2012 recipient of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America's Dramaturg Driven Grant.

Samantha Setayesh (Assistant Stage Manager) was ASM on The Lyric Stage production of The Chosen. She is a recent technical theatre graduate from Plymouth State University. Past stage management credits include On Golden Pond, Pippin, Still Life with Iris, and Marat/Sade. On tour she was assistant stage manager for Front Page Follies Big Top Tour and Wilderness Wonders Big Top Tour with Circus Smirkus.

Pictured: James Andreassi (Ludwig van Beethoven) and Paula Plum (Dr. Katherine Brandt). Photo by Timothy Dunn.

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