STEEL MAGNOLIAS, GODSPELL and More Set for Totem Pole Playhouse's 2014 Season

Totem Pole Playhouse, located in Caledonia State Park, has announced a new summer season with two plays and two full-scale musicals at substantially lower subscription prices, in addition to many new community-oriented programs to be offered throughout the season.

After a major increase in the price of season tickets and the number of productions last year Totem Pole will present Steel Magnolias; Ring of Fire, the Music of Johnny Cash; The Foreigner; and Godspell with a top subscription price set at hundreds of dollars less.

"Summer is a very busy time of year, especially for families with children, and presenting seven shows and several additional productions last summer proved to be more of a burden than a blessing for our subscribers." Totem Pole's new Producing Artistic Director, Rowan Joseph said. "A far greater burden was the huge increase in subscription prices on top of several new fees added to ticket sales." Joseph added.

According to Joseph, Totem Pole lost 710 subscription ticket holders, 43 percent of the theater's entire subscription base, due in large part to raising the prices. "Last year the best seats in the theater cost $414.50 for a single subscription ticket; this year that exact same seat will cost you $171.00." Joseph also announced that Totem Pole would no longer charge added fees for exchanging tickets and the ticket handling fees which were added last year. "As long as I'm running the playhouse," Joseph said emphatically, "the price of a ticket is the price of a ticket - period."

In addition to the new pricing, Totem Pole is launching a broad range of community-oriented new initiatives aimed at acknowledging the support the local community showed the historic playhouse last year. Sue McMurtray, who retired in December 2012 after working for 28 years at Totem Pole, has returned as the new Director of Marketing and Promotion. McMurtray said, "This terrific community which we are so proud to be a part of really rallied last year to save the playhouse, much as they did in the early 1970's when the theater burnt to the ground. When Rowan came on-board he set as one of his primary goals establishing programs to give back to the community."

Beginning this summer, the Opening Night Gala for each production will be used as a fundraiser for a community-based non-profit organization. Robert Harling's play, Steel Magnolias, which became a hit movie in 1989 and a critically-acclaimed TV special in 2012, will serve as a benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Central PA. Pennsylvania State Senator, Richard Alloway, will host the opening night festivities for Ring of Fire, the Music of Johnny Cash to benefit the Cumberland Valley Breast Care Alliance. The Adams County Literacy Council will be the beneficiary from the opening night performance of the hit Off-Broadway comedy, The Foreigner. And Gettysburg C.A.R.E.S., comprised of local churches which operate a homeless shelter and resource center, will receive half of the box office receipts from the first performance of the last production of the season, Godspell, based on the Gospel of St. Matthew.

The second performance and first Saturday of each production will be "Couple's Night Out" with Totem Pole offering a free glass of wine to couples buying tickets and providing free babysitting services for children ages 2 to 12 at St. John's United Church of Christ in Chambersburg.

Another change this season is that shows will open on Friday nights rather than Tuesdays with the plays running for 20 performances over two and a half weeks and the musicals running for 28 performances over three and a half weeks. Steel Magnolias will run May 30th through June 15th, Ring of Fire, the Music of Johnny Cash will run June 20th through July 13th, The Foreigner will run July 18th through August 3rd, and Godspell will run August 8th through August 31st. The 2014 summer season is sponsored by the Franklin County Visitor's Bureau and Patriot Federal Credit Union.

In addressing the many changes from last season, Dana Witt, President of the Board of Directors of Totem Pole Playhouse, said, "After all of the ups and downs of the past year what a relief and pleasure it is to have Rowan taking Totem Pole in a direction the entire board and I believe the entire community can fully support. Rowan is a seasoned professional with many years of experience in managing successful theaters in New York and Los Angeles. This coupled with his enthusiasm for our local community has gone a long way in stilling the trouble waters the playhouse has weathered these past few seasons."

Joseph relocated full-time last November to the Penn National community near the playhouse when he accepted the newly created position of Producing Artistic Director which combined the duties of the Artistic Director and the Executive Director of the playhouse. While he may be the new face of Totem Pole he is easily recognizable from such TV shows as The Gilmore Girls and Boston Legal and films such as Princess Diaries 2 with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, The Campaign with Will Ferrell and most recently Grudge Match starring Robert DeNiro and Sylvester Stallone. He was also one-half of "Team Bingo" on last fall's edition of the hit CBS series, The Amazing Race.

Joseph won't be the only familiar face at Totem Pole this summer, Ken Jenkins, who played 'Dr. Bob Kelso' for 9 years on the hit series Scrubs and who is currently playing Courtney Cox's father on the TBS' series Cougar Town will be directing and appearing in The Foreigner opening July 18th. Joining Jenkins in the cast will be soap opera star, Jill Larson, who played 'Opal Cortlandt' for 22 years on the long-running ABC series All My Children.

Jason Edwards, who starred in the Broadway production of Ring of Fire, the Music of Johnny Cash, will be starring in and directing Totem Pole's production opening June 20th. The 6-member band for the show includes some of the top musicians in Nashville; including legendary fiddle player Brantley Kearns, who toured for many years with Bobbi Gentry and Jim Stafford and played for four years with Dwight Yoakum's original band.

Joseph said that the casting for Steel Magnolias, opening May 30th was still coming together, "While Totem Pole won't have the star power of the movie version which featured Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Sally Fields, Julia Roberts, Olympia Dukakis, and Daryl Hannah the playhouse is lining up a solid cast of seasoned Broadway and TV actors."

The last production of the four show season, Godspell, will be directed by Joseph. In keeping with his philosophy of community it will feature a choir of children from Adams and Franklin Counties, PA and Washington County, MD; as well as local church choirs from the surrounding area. The Broadway musical, based on the Gospel of St. Matthew, opens August 8th and is suitable for the entire family.

Totem Pole also recently announced the Totem Pole Awards which will be presented annually to recognize outstanding achievement in musical theater production and performances by high school students in Adams, Franklin, and Fulton counties. The awards will be presented May 18th at Gettysburg College's Majestic Theater with 11 area high schools participating this year.

Additionally, for the first time in the playhouse's 64- year history, Totem Pole will be offering a "student rush ticket" whereby anyone age 16 to 22 can purchase unsold tickets one-half hour before curtain at $10.00 subject to availability."

Totem Pole General Manager, Daphne Blair, said, "Our renewal rate from last season's subscribers has been amazing, we have sold more than 300 additional subscription tickets as we did at this same point last year. We've also already sold-out an entire performance of Ring of Fire, the Music of Johnny Cash, something which has never happened before this early in a season."

"While I am very excited about my first season and the many stars we have coming to visit, Joseph said, "I am even more excited about all of our new community based initiatives and our lower ticket prices. I will never lose sight of the support and generosity this community has shown Totem Pole Playhouse over the past 64 years. I would also like to offer two words that seemed to get lost in all of the noise of last season - thank you!"

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