13th PERRY-MANSFIELD NEW WORKS FEST Ends 6/20

The Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival (June Lindenmayer, Executive Director; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director) has announced casting for the line-up of new works for the 2010 summer festival of theatre and dance at the venerable performing arts school in Steamboat Springs, CO. The 13th Annual New Works Festival is scheduled June 18 - 20 with staged readings of the plays and a special dance presentation.

The Perry-Mansfield 2010 New Works Festival casting and schedule is as follows:

Friday, June 18, 2010 at 8:00 p.m., Main Studio
ATLANTIC THEATER COMAPNY
I Don't Want To Talk About It
By Kenny Finkle
Directed by Christian Parker

Featuring Leslie Ayvazian as Shelby/Wolftribe, Mary GorDon Murray as Rona, Keith Nobbs as Marcus, with additional casting TBA.

Neil Pepe and Atlantic Theater Company open the festival with a new play entitled I Don't Want To Talk About It by Kenny Finkle directed by ChristianParker. Thirty-three-year-old Marcus gets more than he bargains for when he stops to pick up his mother, Rona, who has just run out on a marriage counseling session and is walking home along a busy highway. In this time-bending new comedy, Finkle tells the story of how a family goes off the tracks thanks to a seductive visit from a charismatic stranger, and how a son can reclaim his parents twenty years later.

Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 1:00 p.m., Julie Harris Theater
Primary Stages
The Morini Strad
By Willy Holtzman
Directed by Casey Childs

Featuring Kelly AuCoin as Brian and Maria Tucci as Erica

Andrew Leynse and Primary Stages bring theater veteran Willy Holtzman's The Morini Strad, a new play about a craftsman hired to restore a priceless violin who finds himself more deeply involved when he makes a pact with the aging virtuosa who made it famous. Primary Stages Founder and Executive Producer, Casey Childs, directs.

Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 4:00 p.m., Julie Harris Theater
DENVER CENTER THEATRE COMPANY
Flooded
By Julie Marie Myatt
Directed by Jessica Thebus

Featuring Brad Bellamy as Frank Taylor, Kathy Brady as Mother Williams, Romi Dias as Beth Gomez, Shawn Douglass as William Williams, Charlie I. Miller as Multi-Media Specialist, and John Livingston Rolle as John Goode

Kent Thompson and the Denver Center Theatre Company will present Flooded by Julie Marie Myatt. A star TV meteorologist turns oracle when he abandons bland L.A. for the wilder weather of North Carolina. As natural disasters mount worldwide, William unknowingly channels an on-camera voice of doom that ties extreme climate events to the sins of mankind. Despite the show's popularity, he finds to his sorrow that following his own path may cost him everything he holds dear. Playwright Myatt deftly plucks the dark threads of myth, folk tale, and religious prophecy in this unique and timely play. Jessica Thebus directs.

Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 8:00 p.m., Main Studio
Dance Presentation
A new work choreographed by Nicholas Villeneuve

Featuring Eric Bourne, Jen Golonka, Niall Jean Lessard, Hamilton Nieh, Kelly Robotham and Jessica Alejandra Wyatt.

Special guest choreographer Nicholas Villeneuve will present a dance presentation sponsored by Terry & Noel Hefty through The Messing Family Foundation. The New Works Festival will display a dynamic evening of diverse pieces ranging from the humorous to the narrative and abstract classicism. Villeneuve's work brims with visceral physicality and a clear athletic quality that is compelling. The New York Times has branded him as "dancing with a sunny charm." The new work titled "Portal" will be based on the exploration between life and what lies beyond the next threshold. It will be presented in four movements and dedicated to the late Rosalia "Charo" Alonso. An alumnus of The Alvin Ailey School and The Juilliard School in New York City, Villeneuve has worked with Hans van Manen of Nederlands dans Theatre and has been privy to performing works by modern master choreographers such as Agnes De Mille, José Limon and Talley Beatty, among others.

Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 2:00 p.m., Julie Harris Theater
ACTORS THEATER OF LOUISVILLE
Maple and Vine
By JorDan Harrison
Directed by Anne Kauffman
*Co-Commissioned by Actors Theater of Louisville and Berkley Repertory Theatre

Featuring Patrick Darragh as Dean, Joel de la Fuente as Ryu, Rebecca Henderson as Katha, Pedro Pascal as Roger, and Jeanine Serralles as Ellen

Marc Masterson and Actors Theatre Of Louisville close out the festival with Maple and Vine by JorDan Harrison. Katha and Ryu have become allergic to their fast-paced modern lives. After they meet a charismatic man from a community of 1950's re-enactors, they forsake cell phones and sushi for Jell-o molds and Tupperware parties. This witty and inventive new play explores the virtue of slowness and the joy of difficulty. Directed by Anne Kauffman and co-commissioned by Actors Theatre Of Louisville and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

The Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival, co-chaired by James Steinberg and Karolynn Lestrud, brings performing arts professionals together in the Rocky Mountains to develop new pieces of drama, musical theater and dance, and to mentor new talent in each medium. The 2010 New Works Festival reunites the successful artistic partnership of New York's Atlantic Theater Company, Actors Theatre Of Louisville, Denver Center Theatre Company, and New York's Primary Stages. The Festival will also showcase works by emerging chorographer Nicholas Villeneuve sponsored by Terry & Noel Hefty through The Messing Family Foundation.

Now in its 97th year, Perry-Mansfield, founded by Charlotte Perry and Portia Mansfield, is recognized as the oldest continuously operating performing arts school and camp in the nation.

New Works Festival Artistic Director Andrew Leynse said, "I am thrilled to announce our 13th season of new works and to continue our unique collaboration with so many colleagues. Each year we have had an unprecedented number of artists come to Perry-Mansfield from all over the country, and this year looks to be another unique achievement."

All rehearsals and performances will take place at Perry-Mansfield (40755 Routt County Road 36, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487). Free open rehearsals will take place June 16 - 20.

Performances are June 18-20. Single tickets for the staged readings are $15, the dance performance is $20. A special Festival Weekend Ticket Package is available for $60 and includes all staged play readings, the dance presentation and festival receptions. For tickets and information, please call 800-430-2787 or 970-879-7125, or visit the website at www.perry-mansfield.org.

Photo credit: Richard Finkelstein

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