WaterTower Theatre to Stage SEXY LAUNDRY This Winter

WaterTower Theatre Producing Artistic Director Terry Martin is set to direct the Michele Riml comedy SEXY LAUNDRY, which will be presented on the Main Stage November 20 - December 13, 2015. Veteran actors Wendy Welch and Bob Hess will co-star as Alice and Henry.

SEXY LAUNDRY is directed by Terry Martin. The Assistant Director is Diana Sheehan. The creative team includes Set Designer Clare DeVries, Lighting Designer Bryant Yeager, Sound Designer Kelsey Leigh Ervi, Properties Designer Tish Mussey, Stage Manager Caron Grant, Assistant Stage Manager Hillary Abbott and Dramaturg Kyle Eric Bradford.

SEXY LAUNDRY is produced in collaboration with Stage West in Fort Worth. The play was first performed at WaterTower Theatre as part of the Studio Theatre Discover Series in February 2015.

Tickets are on sale now at the WaterTower Theatre Box Office by calling 972-450-6232 or online at www.watertowertheatre.org. Tickets range in price from $20 - $40. The Box Office is located at the Addison Theater Center, 15650 Addison Road, Addison, Texas 75001.

After 25 years of "bliss" Alice and Henry are having marital problems. Alice has decided to re-kindle the flame of their dormant love life with a weekend in an upscale, swanky hotel room. "The L is the hottest new hotel in the city. It's a synthesis of Eastern design and western sensibility," she informs Henry. And to boost the odds, she has brought along a copy of 'Sex for Dummies' and a willingness to try things. Henry's brought only his bad attitude, announcing that "nothing's as good as it could be-that's life!" He gazes at the book with suspicion and dread. Alice and Henry snipe at and harangue each other through a rehash of marital ruts and potholes that have left them both spiritually spent. They share their erotic fantasies, exchange recriminations, and take turns confessing the details of their personal mid-life crises as the play moves from comic, to serious, and back again. In SEXY LAUNDRY, Henry and Alice's touching and hilarious rediscovery of themselves and the strength of their marriage will resonate with many audiences.

IF YOU GO:

SEXY LAUNDRY

Written by Michele Riml

In collaboration with Stage West

Directed by Terry Martin

Assistant Director - Diana Sheehan

Set Designer - Clare DeVries

Lighting Designer - Bryant Yeager

Sound Designer - Kelsey Leigh Ervi

Properties Designer: Tish Mussey

Stage Manager - Caron Grant

Performance Schedule:

In the Main Space at the Addison Theatre Centre

Show Run Dates: November 20 - December 13, 2015

Preview Dates: Friday, November 20 at 8p.m. and Saturday, November 21 at 8 p.m.

Pay-What-You-Can Preview: Sunday, November 22 at 2.00 p.m.

Opening Night: Monday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances: Wednesdays & Thursdays: 7:30 p.m.; Fridays: 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays: 8:00 p.m. (& 2:00 pm Nov. 28, Dec. 5 and 12); and Sundays: 2:00 p.m.

Ticket Prices: Single Tickets: $22 - $40 per show; Preview Tickets: $20

How/Where to Buy Tickets: Online: www.watertowertheatre.org; By Phone: 972-450-6232; Or In-person: WaterTower Theatre at the Addison Theatre Centre, 15650 Addison Road, Addison, TX 75001

Please note: The Box Office opens one hour before show time on performance days and remains open through intermission.

About The Playwright - Michele Riml is a critically acclaimed playwright from Vancouver, British Columbia. Her plays have been produced across Canada and in the U.S. including the Globe Theatre, The Grand, the Arts Club Theatre and the Belfry. Other plays include Miss Teen, Under The Influence, RAGE (winner of the 2005 Sydney Risk prize for Outstanding Original Play), and the acclaimed Poster Boys, which premiered at the Arts Club Theatre in 2008. Her plays for young audiences, commissioned by Green Thumb Theatre for Young People, include Cool, Invisible Girl, The Skinny Lie and Tree Boy. Michele was nominated for the 2008 Siminovitch Prize.

About the Director - Multi-award winning Director Terry Martin celebrates his 16th season as Producing Artistic Director of WaterTower Theatre where he has overseen more than 100 productions. In his role as WaterTower Theatre's Producing Artistic Director, Terry oversees both the administrative and artistic aspects of the Company's nearly $1.5 million annual operating budget.

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 more than 60 directing credits at WTT include SEXY LAUNDRY, Full Gallop, Dogfight, The Grapes of Wrath, Putting it Together, On the Town, Spring Awakening, The Diary of Anne Frank, Smokey Joe's Café, 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 as Joe Keller in WaterTower Theatre's production of All My Sons, at the Dallas Theater Center in Next Fall, 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 southern 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 BA 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 Wendy Welch - Wendy is thrilled to be back at WaterTower reprising her role in SEXY LAUNDRY with Bob Hess. Other WaterTower credits include Violet, Power Plays and Enter the Guardsman. She recently played Sonia in Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike (Uptown Players, CityRep and Stage West). A sampling of favorite roles include: Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman, Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker (USI/New Harmony, Indiana); Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza, The Storyteller in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Sarah Jane Moore in Assassins, Rose Stopnik in Caroline, or Change (Theatre Three); Sally Durant Plummer in Follies, Emily Cory in Richard Cory (Lyric Stage); Dorothy Lintott in The History Boys, Carol Channing in Best of Forbidden B'way (Uptown Players); Meg in Damn Yankees (Casa Mañana); and Nancy in The Unmentionables (Stage West). She is a recipient of the Leon Rabin Award, 3 Critics Choice Awards, and she and Bob Hess shared the honor of the Best Actor of 2014 by the Dallas Voice. Wendy is an SMU acting grad, has a private voice studio, and has a Master Class series in Musical Theater Audition with James McQuillen. Wendy is active in the commercial industry and has recently been seen in 2 Nat'l JC Penney spots, currently Baylor Hospital and Blackmon Mooring. Film: Shane Carruth's Upstream Color, and the soon to be released Occupy, Texas with Janine Turner, Peri Gilpin and Lorelei Linklater. She is represented by the Mary Collins Agency. Proud member of Actors Equity Assn. for 35 years

About Bob Hess - Bob Hess is delighted to be back at WaterTower Theatre in SEXY LAUNDRY after its successful run last winter, particularly with the lovely Wendy Welch. Past performances here have included Putting It Together, Company, The Exonerated, and Baptized to the Bone. Bob has appeared on nearly every stage in the Metroplex, most recently in The Nance and Vanya, Sonia, Masha And Spike (Uptown Players); Miracle on 34th Street (Dallas Children's Theater); On Golden Pond, The Interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald, and Big River (Casa Manana); The Quixotic Days and Errant Nights of Don Quixote (Amphibian Productions); To Kill a Mockingbird (Dallas Theater Center); The Odd Couple and Vieux Carre (Theatre Three); and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?(Kitchen Dog Theatre). A recipient of numerous Dallas Critics' Forum, Leon Rabin, and Column Awards, Bob currently serves as an adjunct professor of theatre at University of North Texas and is represented by The Mary Collins Agency.

About WaterTower Theatre - WaterTower Theatre will celebrate its 20th Anniversary in 2016. WaterTower Theatre began life in 1996 with 136 brave subscribers. Today, with over 2000 subscribers and a budget of $1.5 million, it consistently earns rave reviews in The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer, and other local publications. With 104 Dallas Theatre League Leon Rabin Award Nominations and 28 wins to its credit, as well as 17 Dallas Fort Worth Theatre Critics Forum Awards, WaterTower Theatre is home to the finest local talent.

WaterTower Theatre has produced 6 world premiere productions and 22 regional premiere productions to date. WaterTower Theatre's tradition of world premiere programming includes the recently produced new musical Creep, plus Song of Motherhood and Blind Lemon: Prince of Country Blues. Dramatic world premieres include Free Fall with Sandy Duncan, Baptized to the Bone by Dave Johnson (which is enjoying healthy post-WaterTower Theatre life) and A Country Life, Producing Artistic Director Terry Martin's southern adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Both Blind Lemon and A Country Life earned WaterTower Theatre a Dallas Theatre League Leon Rabin Award for Best New Work.

WaterTower Theatre is committed to nurturing emerging talent and expanding audiences. The annual Out of the Loop Fringe Festival strives to present new work by local and national writers. A major part of WaterTower Theatre's education program partners professional artists and technicians with students at our Summer Performing Arts Conservatory, where students ages 8 - 18 learn "life skills through theatre skills." In addition, master classes and workshops for professional performers offer an opportunity for continued education at the local level.

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