Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival Ends 6/20

The Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival (June Lindenmayer, Executive Director; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director), with sponsorship from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, has announced the line-up for the 2010 summer season of theatre and dance at the venerable performing arts camp and school in Steamboat Springs, CO. The 13th Annual Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival is scheduled June 18 - 20 with staged readings of new plays and a special dance presentation choreographed for the festival. The New Works Festival continues Perry-Mansfield's founding principle of nurturing new talent with new work.

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."

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. 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. Directed by Christian Parker.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Full casting will be announced shortly.

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.

2010 Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival 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

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

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

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

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

New Works Festival 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. Presented with artistic partnership from Primary Stages (under the artistic direction of Andrew Leynse), in collaboration with Actor's Theater of Louisville, Atlantic Theater Company, and Denver Center Theater Company, with sponsorship from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the New Works Festival continues Perry-Mansfield's founding principle of nurturing new talent with new work. Past festival works include What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling with book and lyrics by David Pittu and music by Randy Redd (premiered last Season at Atlantic Theater Company, followed by an extended run at New World Stages); When Tang Met Laika by Rogelio Martinez (later presented at Denver Center's Summit Festival and received its world premiere at Denver Center Theatre this winter); Mama Hated Diesels; The Songs and Stories of the American Truck Driver, by Randall Myler and Dan Wheetman; Lydia by Octavio Solis; Plainsong by Eric Schmiedl (received their world premieres at Denver Center Theatre Company); The Cherry Sister Revisited by Dan O'Brien, Wild Blessings: A Celebration of Wendell Barry, adapted for the stage by Marc Masterson and Adrien-Alice Hansel from the writing of Wendell Barry (both received their world premieres at the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre Of Louisville); The Receptionist by Adam Boch (was world premiered at Manhattan Theater Club); The Blue Flower by Jim Bauer & Ruth Bauer (Prospect Theatre at the West End Theater); A Sleeping Country by Melanie Marnich (Cincinatti Playhouse in the Park) and The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown with book & lyrics by Kait Kerrigan and music by Brian Lowdermilk, among others.

Perry-Mansfield In 1913, Charlotte Perry and Portia Mansfield fulfilled their dreams of creating a theater and dance camp in the mountains. Now, over ninety-five years later, Perry-Mansfield is recognized as the oldest continuously operating performing arts school and camp in the nation. Throughout the years, a number of distinguished alumni, faculty, and guest artists have passed through the doors of Perry-Mansfield. The list includes Robert Battle, Sammy Bayes, Jessica Biel, Ruthanna Boris, Wally Cardona, John Cage, Martha Clarke, Merce Cunningham, Harriette Ann Gray, Julie Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Hanya Holm, Lee Horsley, Doris Humphrey, Jack Lee, José Limon, Agnes De Mille, Daniel Nagrin, Peter Pucci, Jason Raize, Lee Remick, Stephen Schwartz, Amala Shankar, Ton Simons, Francis Sternhagen, Helen Tamiris, Joan Van Ark, and Charles Weidman. Today, students from all over the world take classes from a select group of accomplished and internationally renowned faculty. The tradition of Perry-Mansfield remains unsurpassed as the camp continues to prepare emerging young artists for the stage. Recent alumni are performing with Ballet Hispanico, Battleworks Dance Company, Munich Ballet, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Nederlands Dans Theater, and in film, on Broadway and television. Since 1992, Perry-Mansfield has been owned and operated by a 501(c)3 non-profit organization called Friends of Perry-Mansfield and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We invite you to share in the magic of Perry-Mansfield.

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