International City Theatre Presents INTO THE BREECHES!

"We Can Do It!" So said Rosie the Riveter, and so say the women of Long Beach in Into the Breeches!, the vibrant new comedy by George Brant that's up next at International City Theatre. Directed by Brian Shnipper, performances take place June 9 through June 25 at ICT's home in the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. Two low-priced previews are set for June 7 and June 8.

With all the male members of its company fighting overseas, it looks like Long Beach's Oberon Playhouse must cancel the 1942 season opener: an ambitious combination of Shakespeare's Henry IV and Henry V known as of The Henriad. But Maggie (Meghan Andrews) isn't ready to give up so easily. Can the show be pulled off without the men? Maggie thinks it can, and she's sure the now-absent director - her husband - would approve. Board president Ellsworth Snow (Nicholas Hormann) is unconvinced, but company diva Celeste Fielding (Leslie Stevens) jumps at the chance to play Prince Hal. With a rallying cry of "the show must go on," Maggie assembles a band of passionate if inexperienced performers: newcomers Grace (Emilie Doering) and June (Brooke Olivia Gatto), costumer Ida Green (Sydney A. Mason), Snow's wife, Winifred (Holly Jeanne), and army reject/stage manager Stuart Lasker (Lee James). Will their production be a victory on the home front, or a target for rotten tomatoes?

Into the Breeches! is a hilarious and moving story about what happens when we're all in it together. Sweetened by comedic and tender moments, the women soldier their way through rehearsals, longing for word from their missing loved ones while finding humor and heart in their endeavor.

Other plays by George Brant include Grounded, Marie and Rosetta, The Prince of Providence, Elephant's Graveyard, Tender Age, The Mourners' Bench, Any Other Name, Salvage and Grizzly Mama. An Affiliate Writer at the Playwrights' Center, his scripts have been produced internationally by such companies as The Public Theater, the Atlantic Theater Company, Cleveland Play House, Trinity Repertory Company, the Studio Theatre, Alley Theatre, Asolo Repertory, London's Gate Theatre, Page 73 and the Traverse Theatre. His plays have received a Lucille Lortel Award, an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, the Smith Prize, a Fringe First Award, an Off-West End Theatre Award, an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, four OAC Individual Excellence Awards and the Keene Prize for Literature. George received his MFA in Writing from the Michener Center at UT-Austin and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

The creative team for Into the Breeches! includes set designer Tim Mueller, lighting designer Donna Ruzika, costume designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Dave Mickey and prop designer Patty Briles. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA.

Into the Breeches! runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., June 9 through June 25. Two preview performances take place on Wednesday, June 7 and Thursday, June 8 both at 8 p.m. Tickets are $49 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays (except June 9, opening night, for which tickets are $55 and include a post show reception), and $52 at Sunday matinees. Low-priced tickets to previews are $37.

International City Theatre is located in the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center at 330 East Seaside Way, Long Beach, CA 90802.

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (562) 436-4610 or go to www.InternationalCityTheatre.org.

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