Robin Armstrong, Akin Babatunde and More Among WaterTower Theatre's 2013-14 Directors; Season Kicks Off Tonight
By: BWW News Desk Oct. 11, 2013
WaterTower Theatre Producing Artistic Director Terry Martin previously announced the directors for the Company's 2013-2014 Main Stage season at the Addison Theatre Centre. Directing the season opener, Hank Williams: Lost Highway (tonight, October 11-November 3, 2013) will be Michael Serrecchia. The Game's Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays) (December 13- January 5, 2014) will be directed by Robin Armstrong. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (January 24-February 16, 2014) will be directed by Emily Scott Banks. Spunk (April 11-May 4, 2014) will be directed by Akin Babatunde.Good People (June 6-29, 2014) will be directed by René Moreno and Dogfight (July 25-August 17, 2014) will be directed by Terry Martin.
Subscriptions to the 2013-2014 season are now onsale by calling the Box Office at 972.450.6232. Single tickets to Hank Williams: Lost Highway andThe Game's Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays) go on sale September 18, 2013.
About Robin Armstrong: Robin returns to WaterTower where she directed Boeing-Boeing. Robin is a critically acclaimed director, violence designer and costume designer who has worked throughout the metroplex. Robin received her MFA from VCU in Richmond, VA, and a Bachelor of Science in Theatre from NSULA in Natchitoches, LA.
About Akin Babatundé: Akin Babatundé is an accomplished actor, director, and writer whose theatrical career spans Broadway, regional theatre, film and television. He has been a resident company member of prestigious theatrical institutions throughout the country: Trinity Rep (Providence, R.I.), Alley Theatre (Houston, TX), La Mama Theater (NY City) and the Dallas Theater Center. He is founder and artistic director of Vivid Theater Ensemble of Dallas and founder of Ebony Emeralds Classic Theater Company. Babatundé was the first African-American to direct for the Dallas Shakespeare Festival in the celebrated diverse production of Taming of the Shrew in 1993.
As a writer, Babatundé's work has been commissioned by Florida Stage, La Mama Theater, the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, Brown University, the Black Academy of Arts and Core Ensemble. His most recent work Shakespeare - Midnight Echoes tours in Texas paying homage to black performing artists who performed Shakespeare from slavery to the present. He has toured extensively with Core Ensemble in Of Ebony Embers -Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance. His one-man show, Before the Second Set - A Visit with Satchmo has received critical acclaim at theaters across the country. Babatundé wrote and starred in Blind Lemon Blues, which toured in Europe (Paris, Geneva, Brussels, Amsterdam) and received rave notices in the New York Times at its 2004 New York premiere at Central Park's Summer Stage. Television appearances include Law and Order and Wishbone, the PBS literary show for children.
About Emily Scott Banks: Emily Scott Banks returns to direct at WaterTower. An actress initially, Emily has won numerous awards for her work, including two Critics' Forum Awards; and Best Actress of the Year nods for Dallas Observer, D Magazine, TheaterJones and others. Some of her favorite roles include work at WaterTower - A Country Life, Enchanted April, Our Town and Boeing-Boeing. Work at other area stages includes A Most Dangerous Woman, The Normal Heart, Ghost-Writer, and The Clean House among many others. In 2009 she directed A Feminine Ending for WaterTower, and this past Spring she directed a critically acclaimed production of W;t for Theatre Arlington. Emily trained at the University of Texas at Austin, extensively with Shakespeare & Co, MA, and has been a student of the Meisner Technique with Terry Martin for over a decade.
About René Moreno: René Moreno returns to WaterTower Theatre where he directed A. R. Gurney's Black Tie last season. For WaterTower Theatre, he has also directedAugust: Osage County by Tracey Letts, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Living Out by Lisa Loomer, and Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room. An accomplished actor and director, he studied music at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and theatre and dance at Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, where he holds an MFA in directing. As an actor, he has performed on Broadway and Off-, at prestigious regional theatres across the country, on radio, television and film. He has directed numerous plays regionally, including classics and those of modern and emerging writers, in productions that have garnered critical acclaim and award recognition. A Dallas native, he is a member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society) and an Artistic Associate with Shakespeare Dallas, as well as an Affiliated Artist with the Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre.
About Terry Martin: Multi-award winning Director Terry Martin is in his 14th season as Producing Artistic Director of WaterTower Theatre where he has overseen more than 100 productions. His recent WaterTower Theatre directed productions include The Mystery of Irma Vep, Putting it Together, The Grapes of Wrath,Spring Awakening, The Diary of Anne Frank. In his role as WaterTower Theatre's Producing Artistic Director, Terry oversees both the administrative and artistic aspects of the Company.
Under his leadership WTT has grown from a small local theatre company to one of the leading regional theatres in Texas. While consistently maintaining the artistic integrity of the work WTT produces and gaining much critical acclaim, he has - through keen business acumen - managed to keep the theatre in the black and maintain a large paid capacity for the past many seasons.
Some of his 60 directing credits at WTT include Our Town, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, As You Like It, Almost, Maine, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Man of La Mancha, Humble Boy, The Crucible, Take Me Out, A Country Life (which he adapted from Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and won the 2005 Rabin Award - Best New Play), Cabaret, It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues, Company, An Inspector Calls, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Laramie Project, You Can't Take It With You, Book of Days, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2002 Rabin Award - Director of a Play), Sweeney Todd (2002 Rabin Award Nomination - Director of a Musical), Desire Under the Elms, Ravenscroft, Rockin' Christmas Party (2000, 2001), Enter the Guardsman (2001 Rabin Award Nomination - Director of a Musical), Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill and Little Shop of Horrors (2000 Rabin Award Nomination - Director of a Musical) among others. For Plano Repertory Theatre, he has directed Journey's End (2000 Rabin Award - Director of a Play), Dracula, La Bête, Little Shop of Horrors and Pump Boys and Dinettes. Terry was named "Best Theater Director" in the Dallas Observer's "Best of Dallas 2002."
He has appeared on stage most recently at the Dallas Theater Center in Next Fall, and at WTT in Our Town, and previously in Blackbird (2008 Dallas Fort Worth Theatre Critics' Forum Award), The Woman in Black, Dinner with Friends, The Guys, Bash: Latter-day Plays (2002 Rabin Award Nomination - Actor in a Play) and at PRT in The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me... (1998 Rabin Award - Actor in a Play, 1998 Dallas Theater Critics Forum Award), The Woman in Black (2000 Rabin Award Nomination - Actor in a Play), and Lonely Planet.
After growing up in south Alabama, Terry spent 12 years in New York City working in theatre, television and film. While there, he directed and acted at The Village Theatre Company, Carnegie Hall Studios and Theatre at St. Marks as well as television appearances on ABC's One Life to Live and NBC's To Serve and Protect. He holds a BFA from the University of Alabama and has trained professionally with Sanford Meisner, Fred Kareman, Wynn Handman, Sally Johnson and Lehmann Byck. Terry presently teaches on-going acting classes in the Sanford Meisner Technique at WTT, as well as having served as Adjunct Professor of Acting at the University of Texas at Dallas.
About Michael Serrecchia: Michael returns to WaterTower Theatre after a few years absence. Recent projects include the award winning productions of The Producers, Take Me Out for Uptown Players where he directed the regional premiere of Next to Normal. Other regional premieres include the award-winning productions of Pageant (Crossroads Theatre), A Class Act, The Full Monty, The Light in the Piazza and, The Drowsy Chaperone (Theatre Three). Michael's direction and choreography of Nine, the musical (ICT Mainstage) earned 9 Column Awards. In addition other favorites include On Golden Pond, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Sunshine Boys (CTD), Lobby Hero (Second Thought Theatre) Almost, Maine, Moonlight and Magnolias, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The Full Monty (Theatre Arlington), and It's a Wonderful Life and Oklahoma! (WaterTower Theatre). This past 2 season Michael was named one of the critics Top Directors in Dallas for The Drowsy Chaperone and in Fort Worth for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The Producers and How to Succeed in Business... the same year he received the prestigious Natalie Skelton Award for Artistic Excellence. Michael, an original cast member of A Chorus Line and Seesaw, has appeared in the films Every Little Step, Broadway: the Golden Age and in the upcoming Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age.
WaterTower Theatre is one of the leading regional theatres in North Dallas and Texas. The Company's 2013-2014 season will be its 18th season. It is consistently recognized for its artistic excellence by the Dallas Theatre League, Dallas/Fort Worth Theatre Critics Forum, The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Observer, D Magazine and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, among others. WaterTower Theatre has a subscription base of more than 2,000 subscribers and serves an audience of over 32,000 patrons annually.
THE SEASON:
Hank Williams: Lost Highway
Oct. 11 - Nov. 3, 2013
By Randal Myler and Mark Harelik
Sponsored by Frost Bank
Sponsored by WaterTower Theatre Board of Directors
Directed by Michael Serrecchia
More than 50 years after his death, Hank Williams still ranks among the most powerfully iconic figures in American music. A musical biography of the rise and fall of the brash, forever young, always legendary singer-songwriter Hank Williams stands among the greatest innovators of American popular music. Follow Williams on his often lonely journey from backwoods Alabama to super-stardom at the Grand Ole Opry. This unforgettable tribute highlights his unique magic as a performer and the simple spell of his yearning songs, and features over 20 hits, including "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Jambalaya" and "Hey, Good Lookin'."
The Game's Afoot (Holmes for the Holidays)
December 13 - January 5, 2014
Sponsored by Liberty Capital Bank
Regional Premiere
Directed by Robin Armstrong
It's December 1936 and stage star William Gillette, an iconic actor admired all over the world for his role as Sherlock Holmes, is shot onstage during a show. While he recuperates, he invites his fellow cast members to his Connecticut castle for a lively Christmas weekend of fun. But, when one of his guests is found stabbed to death, the fun turns dangerous. It's up to Gillette, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to find the killer before someone else is killed. The hilarity is non-stop in what is a glittering whodunit set during the Christmas holidays! Oh, did we mention it's written by Tony Award winner Ken Ludwig (Lend me a Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo).
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Jan. 24 - Feb. 16, 2014
By Laura Eason
Adapted from the novel by Mark Twain
Regional Premiere
Sponsored by Atmos Energy
Sponsored by Barbara and Bob Bigham: the Baylor Oral Health Foundation
Directed by Emily Scott Banks
Mark Twain's classic novel of Missouri boyhood comes to life in this high-spirited theatrical romp. Mischievous Tom and his pal Huck witness a murder and then embark on a string of wild escapades. Becky Thatcher, Aunt Polly, Injun Joe and the rest of the group join Tom in this timeless family tale. Laura Eason's brand new adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, brings out the child in all of us, as we explore the thrill of mischief-making, the fickleness of first love, the cold shivers of an adventure gone wrong, and the excitement of discovering real live buried treasure. This is a story for anyone who celebrates all that is glorious about childhood.
Spunk
Apr. 11 - May 4, 2014
By George C. Wolfe
Adapted for the stage from three short stories by Zora Neale Hurston
Music by Chic Street Man
Sponsored by Rainmaker Advertising
Directed by Akin Babatunde
Spunk is a wild, bluesy wail-three stories by the great Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston, adapted into a staggeringly theatrical play by George C. Wolfe, who won an Obie for its 1989 off-Broadway premiere production. A trio of vignettes of African-American life in the first half of the 20th century, Spunk is a raucous, charming, blues-infused look at love, revenge, jealousy, and the fine art of the hustle.
Good People
June 6 - 29, 2014
Regional Premiere
Sponsored by Women of WaterTower Theatre
Million Air Dallas
Directed by René Moreno
When Margie Walsh loses her job at a South Boston dollar store, she reaches out to her old friend and flame Mike, a Southie boy who made good when he became a successful doctor. What begins as an attempt to hit Mike up for a job takes on a threatening cast when Margie realizes the power that secrets from Mike's past life hold over his current one. Penned by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire, Good People is an incisive and funny character study of old friends, old flames and the question of whether you can ever leave the old neighborhood behind.
Dogfight: A New Musical
July 25 - Aug. 17, 2014
Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Book by Peter Duchan
Based on the Warner Bros. Film - Screenplay by Bob Comfort
Regional Premiere
Directed by Terry Martin
Winner of the prestigious 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical! Set on the eve of the Kennedy assassination on November 21, 1963,Dogfight chronicles the story of newly inducted Marine, Eddie Birdlace. Before shipping out to Vietnam, Birdlace and his friends make a bet: Each man contributes $50 to a pot, and whoever brings the ugliest date that night to a bar wins the prize. But when Eddie meets Rose, an awkward and idealistic waitress as his date, she rewrites the rules of the game and teaches him the power of compassion. Dogfight is a musical adaptation of the 1991 indie film starring River Phoenix and Lilly Taylor.
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