TheaterWorks' DANCING LESSONS, Starring Paige Davis, Extends thru March 6

TheaterWorks the award winning theater in downtown Hartford, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero, announced today that DANCING LESSONS by Mark St. Germain will extend its run through Friday, March 6, 2015 due to popular demand.

STORYLINE: A man with Asperger's seeks the instruction of a talented Broadway dancer, now sidelined with injuries. As their relationship unfolds, they're caught off-guard by surprising discoveries - both hilarious and heartwarming. This touching story about finding love in unexpected places is from the author of the acclaimed BECOMING DR. RUTH and FREUD'S LAST SESSION. Audience favorite Andrew Benator and TV's Trading Spaces Paige Davis star in this new romantic comedy.

Direct from its sold out World Premiere at Barrington Stage Company, TheaterWorks is thrilled to present Mark St. Germain's latest work. Paige Davis, making her TheaterWorks debut, reprises the role of Senga, a professional Broadway dancer struggling to accept the limitations a recent injury has placed on her career. Audience favorite, Andrew Benator returns to TheaterWorks in the role of Ever Montgomery, a brilliant scientist with Asperger's Syndrome who despite his inability to touch reaches out to Senga Quinn to learn to dance. Julianne Boyd, Founder and Artistic Director of Barrington Stage Company (BSC), directs DANCING LESSONS. Julianne previously directed TheaterWorks smash hit, BECOMING DR. RUTH also written by Mark St. Germain.

The production design team includes Brian Prather (Scenic Designer), Sara Jean Tosetti (Costume Designer), Michael Gilliam (Lighting Designer), Will Pickens (Sound Designer), Andrew Bauer(Projection Designer) and Christine O'Grady (Choreographer)with casting by McCorkle Casting, Ltd. C. Nikki Mills is Production Manager and Kate J. Cudworth is Production Stage Manager.

The production, now extended through March 6, 2015 plays TheaterWorks, City Arts on Pearl - 233 Pearl Street, Hartford, CT. For tickets and more information, click here.

BIOGRAPHIES:

ANDREW BENATOR (Ever Montgomery) TheaterWorks: American Buffalo, Santaland Diaries, The Understudy, Proof, Lobby Hero. Off-Broadway: Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight, Valparaiso, Flu Season. Regional: Alliance Theatre (Vera Stark, Good People, August: Osage County, Eurydice, Tennis In Nablus, A Christmas Carol), Barrington Stage (Lobby Hero), Kenny Leon's True Colors Theater (RACE), Theatrical Outfit (Freud's Last Session), Actor's Express (Seminar, Becky Shaw), Pittsburgh Public Theater, Sacramento's B St. Theater, San Jose Rep, San Francisco's Magic Theater, Georgia Shakespeare, Aurora Theatre, Theater in the Square. Television: Recurring roles on House of Payne, Meet the Browns, and Being Mary Jane, as well as appearing on Red Band Society, Burn Notice and others. Film: Last of Robin Hood, Million Dollar Arm, Quarantine 2, Game Six, The Good Student, Project Almanac. www.andrewbenator.com

PAIGE DAVIS (Senga Quinn) This is Paige's TheaterWorks debut. She was most recently seen on Broadway as Roxie Hart in Chicago. Before that she was Gloria in the highly acclaimed Boeing-Boeing. National tours include Beauty and the Beast, The Vagina Monologues, and the title role in Sweet Charity. Favorite regional roles include Maria in The Sound of Music at The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, April in Company at Missouri Repertory Theatre, Val in A Chorus Line at Austin Music Theatre, and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Chicago Cultural Center. Other regional credits include Camelot, Hello Dolly! with Nell Carter, Oklahoma, Anita in West Side Story and Catherine in Pippin among others. She is best known to television audiences as the effervescent star of TLC's groundbreaking hit, Trading Spaces. Recently Paige hosted a new series for the Hallmark Channel, Home and Family. She is the Emmy nominated host of Home Made Simple on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and she is the author of The New York Times bestseller Paige by Paige. A graduate of the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, she lives in Manhattan with her husband, Patrick Page, and their adorable Maltese, Georgie. www.paigedavis.com

MARK ST. GERMAIN (Playwright) At TheaterWorks: Becoming Dr. Ruth and Freud's Last Session. At BSC: The world premieres of Scott & Hem in the Garden of Allah, Dr. Ruth, All The Way, The Best of Enemies, Freud's Last Session, The God Committee, Ears on a Beatle, and Ciao! as well as the 2006 production of The Collyer Brothers at Home & Period Piece. He has also written the plays Camping with Henry and Tom and Forgiving Typhoid Mary. Mark wrote the musical comedy, The Fabulous Lipitones, with John Markus. With Randy Courts he wrote the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and Jack's Holiday. His musical Stand by Your Man was written for Nashville's Ryman Theater. Television includes The Cosby Show. Mark co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard's film Duma and directed and produced the documentary My Dog featuring Richard Gere, Lynn Redgrave, Billy Collins and wrote the award winning children's book, Three Cups. Mark is proud to be a Board Member and Associate Artist at BSC, a member of the HB Writer's Lab, and honored to have his name on the Stage 2 theatre.

JULIANNE BOYD (Director) previously directed Becoming Dr. Ruth at TheaterWorks. She co-founded the Barrington Stage Company in January 1995. Julianne has directed many productions at BSC, including Much Ado About Nothing, Dr. Ruth, All The Way, The Best of Enemies, The Crucible, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Streetcar Named Desire, West Side Story, Follies, the world premiere musical The Game, based on Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Mack and Mabel, Cyrano de Bergerac and The Importance of Being Earnest. In 1997 she directed BSC's smash hit production of Cabaret, which won six Boston Theatre Critics Awards and transferred to the Hasty Pudding Theatre in Cambridge for an extended run. Julianne conceived and directed the Broadway musical Eubie!, a show based on the music of Eubie Blake which starred Gregory Hines and garnered three Tony nominations. She has also worked extensively in New York and in regional theatres. From 1992 to 1998 she served as President of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the national union representing professional directors and choreographers in the U.S.

ROB RUGGIERO (Producing Artistic Director) has been a part of TheaterWorks artistic leadership for 22 years. He has directed over 50 shows, including the recent productions of Christmas on the Rocks, Annapurna, The Other Place and Time Stands Still. Rob has earned national recognition for his work on plays and musicals. His Broadway credits include Looped (starring Valerie Harper in a Tony-nominated performance) and High (starring Kathleen Turner). Off-Broadway, he conceived and directed the original musical revue entitled Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn (Nominated for the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle Awards). Rob conceived and directed the world premiere musical portrait of Ella Fitzgerald entitled Ella, which has been seen on over 24 regional theater stages from 2005-2010 before beginning a National Tour. His work has received multiple awards and recognition here in Connecticut, as well as in other cities around the United States. This summer, Rob returned to Goodspeed Musicals to direct the critically acclaimed 50th Anniversary revival of Fiddler on the Roof. This was his eighth collaboration with Goodspeed where he also directed highly successful productions of The Most Happy Fella (Connecticut Critic's Circle Award for Best Direction), Carousel (Broadway World Award), Annie Get Your Gun, Camelot, Big River, 1776 and a new adaptation of Show Boat (Connecticut Critic's Circle Award for Best Direction). This new version is now being licensed by the Rogers & Hammerstein Organization. www.robruggiero.com

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