Theater Aspen Receives A Henry Award For Outstanding Regional Theatre

Theater Aspen received an award for Outstanding Regional Theatre at the 4th Annual Henry Awards ceremony held at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on Monday June 29th. Artistic Director Paige Price accepted the award, given by the Colorado Theatre Guild, which was founded in 1976 and boasts 250 members.

Theatre Aspen, Aspen's only professional theatre and school, is in its 26th season of summer repertory at the Alex Kaufman Theatre. The season opened with the regional premiere of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on June 25th; next up are the musical A Year with Frog and Toad (July 10th) and Neil Simon's Chapter Two (July 16th).

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Rachel Sheinkin) was directed and choreographed by Mark Martino. The Tony Award®-winning musical stars Broadway actors Joan Hess (Mamma Mia, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Kiss Me Kate), Jamison Stern (By Jeeves, Little Shop of Horrors), Jody Reynard (Legally Blonde, Taboo, Saturday Night Fever), Robin Lee Gallo (Spelling Bee) and Beth Malone (Ring of Fire, Marvelous Wondrettes). Rounding out The cast is Jonathan Kay, Jeff Leatherwood, Jordan Nichols and introducing Alison Luff as Olive.

Emmy Award-winning director Jay Sandrich (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cosby, Soap) directs Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical comedy Chapter Two, which stars Spelling Bee's Hess and Stern along with Sally Mae Dunn (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Follies, Will Rogers Follies, Beauty and the Beast) and James Ludwig (Spamalot, Little Shop) as George.

A Year With Frog and Toad (Tony Award® nominations for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score), directed by Lynn Aliya, will be presented as a "Theatre Aspen Family Show." The show stars Jeff Leatherwood, Alison Luff, Monica Montany and Denver's Jeremy Sortore and Scott Rathbun as Frog and Toad, respectively. Sortore and Rathbun reprise their rave-winning performances from the 2008 Arvada Center production.

The SUNDAY SERIES will be revived with Jesus in Montana: A Doomsday Cult, by Barry Smith, which won the Outstanding Solo Show in the 2005 NY Fringe Festival. A "Moth"-inspired storytelling evening called What's Your Story? Beth Malone's solo cabaret and Aspen's Got Talent, a youth cabaret, will also be presented.

Tickets are available from the Wheeler Box Office at 970-920-5770 or through aspenshowtickets.com. For further information, visit www.theatreaspen.org or call the theatre at 970-925-9313.

Theatre Aspen is generously supported by: American National Bank, Alex Kaufman, Hays Private Client, KTRS, Jessica and John Fullerton, Anonymous, City of Aspen, Les Dames d'Aspen, Morris&Fyrwald/Sotheby's, Maureen and Dan Holman, Syzygy, The Aspen Club and Spa, Soledad and Bob Hurst and Kelli and Allen Questrom. Media Sponsors are Aspen Sojourner, The Aspen Times, Aspen Daily News, Aspen Peak, Aspen Public Radio, KSNO, KSPN/KNFO, Plum TV, KUUR/TV 19 and Qittle.

Photo: Paige Price and Nevin Steinberg

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