WSR's SHE LOVES ME to Open 2/7

Hot off of four BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards, Williams Street Repertory (WSR) has begun gearing up for their next musical, She Loves Me. Directed by Roger Zawacki, the delightfully endearing production opens February 7 at 8:00 pm, and runs for select dates and times through February 16 at Raue Center For The Arts in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

"I chose this for our season not only because its perhaps one of the best musicals of all time but also for the sheer fact that it fell on Valentine's Day!" exclaims Richard Kuranda, founding artistic director.

Funny, intelligent, honest and sentimental, She Loves Me is a warm romantic comedy with an endearing innocence and touch of old world elegance and nostalgia, yet as universal and relevant as ever in this age of internet romances. Audiences will enjoy the sorted love affair reminiscent of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail."

Roger is thrilled to be directing one of his favorite musicals for WSR. His recently directed productions include The Nerd and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Woodstock Opera House and The Taming of the Shrew and The Merry Wives of Windsor for Riverview Theatre in McHenry. Roger was the theatre director at Johnsburg High School for 32 years where he directed over 100 productions. He is a 1971 graduate of Northwestern University where he co-founded an off campus theatre and also is the vice-president of TownSquare Players.

Playing the star-crossed lovers, Georg and Amalia, are Deric Gochenauer and Katherine Damisch respectively. The core ensemble of Wiliams Street Repertory is well represented with Mike Potts, Mark Mahallak, Frank Gaughan, Amanda Flahive and Kate Wilford. Making up the rest of the cast are a mix of WSR veterans and newbies: Dominic Rescigno, Ryan Dooley, Sarah Weinstein, Kelly Maryanksi, Kevin Goss, Joel Bennett, Michael Neumann and Brandon Stone.

Behind the scenes, the production crew includes Mike Potts (Musical Director), Mark R. Mahallak (Choreographer), Pat Henderson (Stage Manager), Richard Kuranda (Founding Artistic Director), Mike Vandercook (Director of Production), John Dwyer (Production Coordinator/Sound Supervisor), Cat Wilson (Lighting Designer), Steven Spera (Technical Manager/Lighting Supervisor), Nick Rastenis (Scenic Designer), Patty Halajian (Costume Designer), Heather Olcott (Production Assistant/Props Master) and Daniel Carylon (Sound Designer).

Over the past year Raue Center has attracted regional and national attention from media powerhouses like Playbill.com and BroadwayWorld.com.

Steve Cochran of WGN Radio praised WSR calling its work, "Challenging, provocative and, oh yeah... Fun."

Rick Kogan of WGN also had rave reviews of Raue Center and WS Rep saying, "You must, must see this amazing work at this beautiful theater. Outstanding."

Tickets start at $25 and group pricing is available! Tickets can be purchased online at WWW.WSREP.ORG,WWW.RAUECENTER.ORG or via the Box Office at 815.356.9212 or 26 N. Williams Street in downtown Crystal Lake. Sponsored by Crystal lake Bank & Trust, Country Inn and Suites, Northwest Herald, RFP Photography, Inc. and WSR's official lighting sponsor is ComEd.

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