International City Theatre Presents SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, Opens 10/16

International City Theatre's 2009 Season finale is a show-stopping collection of transformational stories by one of musical theater's brightest composers. Songs For A New World, by multiple award-winning composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown, opens October 16 at ICT's home in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center (low-priced previews begin October 13). Jules Aaron directs, Brent Crayon is musical director, and Allison Bibicoff choreographs. The cast is comprised of four powerhouse singers: Parnia Ayari, Anthony Manough, Brent Schindele and Jennifer Shelton.

Songs For A New World was originally conceived as a sort of "theatrical cabaret" to showcase the work of then-unknown Jason Robert Brown, and it put him on the map when it opened at Off-Broadway's WPA Theater in 1995. Brown went on to win a Tony Award for Best Score for Parade in 1999 and Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics for The Last Five Years in 2001. The New York Times wrote that "Jason Robert Brown is a leading member of a new generation of composers who embody high hopes for the American musical," and the Philadelphia Inquirer called him "one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim." His songs, including the cabaret standard "Stars and the Moon" from Songs For A New World, have been performed and recorded by Audra McDonald, Betty Buckley, Karen Akers, Renee Fleming, Philip Quast, Jon Hendricks and many others.

"I wrote these songs when I was struggling in a city that didn't even notice I was there, when I was a lonely and single college dropout living in a studio apartment in Greenwich Village," wrote Brown in a 2001 production note. "Songs For A New World is a show that suggests that our best solution for the stress and terror and anxiety we feel is to come together and form a community that will support and uplift each other. So my very personal little piece has turned out to shine a little light on a whole lot of people."

"Jason not only writes compelling music, he knows how to develop strong characters and tell a really good story," says Jules Aaron. "Each song is like a little play. He writes about overcoming life's obstacles and moving forward, and he does it with great passion and humor. In this production, I've attempted to create stronger relationships between the individual characters and link their songs to tell a more linear story."

Jules Aaron has directed numerous critically-acclaimed productions on the International City Theatre stage including, most recently, The Threepenny Opera, Cabaret, Song of Singapore, Jesus' Kid Brother and Charley's Aunt, going all the way back to ICT's inaugural production, A Quiet End, in 1986. Elsewhere he has directed over 250 productions at venues such as New York's Public Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, La Mirada Performing Arts Center, TheatreWorks and the Philadelphia Theatre Company, and he is the former Artistic Director of the Grove Shakespeare Festival. He has directed many world premieres including works by John Guare, Leonard Melfi, William Hauptmann, Craig Lucas, Keith Reddin and Susan Miller, and has directed actors Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, Billy Zane, John Vickery, Jane Carr, David Birney, Ralph Waite, Joan van Ark and Bruce Davison, among others. Jules is the recipient of multiple accolades including Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly, Back Stage and Drama Logue Awards.

You may remember Jennifer Shelton as the Dominatrix in ICT's Five Course Love, Yvonne in The Story, Maureen/Queenie in Honk!, or Swinging on a Star. Last seen by Long Beach audiences in her Carpenter Center Cabaret, she's also had the pleasure of headlining the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra's 2008 Valentine's Day Cabaret, hosting their Holiday Celebration concerts, and their concert, An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein. Jennifer toured the country with the first National Company of Ragtime (Livent), and has performed with such companies as The Hollywood Bowl/LA Philharmonic, CLO of South Bay Cities, Laguna Playhouse, McCoy Rigby, and Sacramento's Music Circus. Favorite credits include: Spider Woman in Kiss of the Spider Woman, As Thousands Cheer, Lois Lane in It's a Bird... Superman!, and Tilda in Do Re Mi (MTG); Ceil in And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little and Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun (CCAP); Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (Rubicon); Cinderella in Into the Woods (Lamb's); Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Sarah in Ragtime, and Irene Molloy in Hello, Dolly! (Moonlight); Yum-Yum in Hot Mikado and World Goes 'Round (Musical Theatre West); Rosemary in How to Succeed... (Starlight); and Sarah in Guys and Dolls.

Brent Schindele began his acting career as Tony in the national touring production of West Side Story and has since played leading roles in dozens of regional theaters around the country. He most recently appeared Off-Broadway, reprising his leading-man parodies in The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!, a show he also premiered at the Laguna Playhouse, Colony Theatre, Prince Theater in Philadelphia, Cape Playhouse on Cape Cod, and the Tony Award-winning Cincinnati Playhouse. Recent local credits: the title role in The Scarlet Pimpernel (Glendale Centre Theatre); Cinderella's Prince/the Wolf in Into the Woods (Lyric in Hollywood); Trigorin in a musical adaptation of The Seagull (Theatre @ Boston Court); and the frontman/keyboardist for the holiday rock show Striking Twelve (Ensemble Theatre Company, Santa Barbara). He played Romeo in Tony Plana's East L.A. production of Romeo & Juliet, the Soldier in Jason Alexander's Reprise! production of Sunday in the Park with George, and Steve the Quarterback in the L.A. premiere of Zanna, Don't! (L.A. Drama Critics' Circle Award). He spoke mostly French opposite Scott Bakula in No Strings at Reprise!, sang from the piano in Noel Coward's Tonight at 8:30 at Pacific Resident Theatre (L.A. Drama Critics' Circle Award), and did his own stunts as an Oscar-nominated action-movie star in Mitch Albom's "And the Winner Is..." at Laguna Playhouse. Brent also played Peter, Simon the Zealot, 10 other roles and keyboards in the orchestra (not simultaneously!) in the recent Broadway tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Anthony Manough's Broadway credits include Disney's The Lion King and Jesus Christ Superstar. Locally, he has been seen as Drumio in The Taming Of The Shrew, Puck/Philostrate in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare Festival/LA); Andre in Ain't Mis'Behavin' (Cabrillo Music Theatre); Songs For A New World, A Rubicon Family Christmas, and as Anselmo/Muleteer in Man Of La Mancha (Rubicon Theatre); as Miguel in Damn Yankees (Reprise Theatre Compnay); The Magic of Motown: A Tribute to Barry Gordy (Hillcrest County Club) and as 'Britney Spears' in Queen's We Will Rock You (Paris Las Vegas). A graduate of The Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Howard U., Anthony has been nominated for the prestigious Helen Hayes Award and an Ovation Award.

Newcomer Parnia Ayari is a recent graduate of the Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program at UCLA's school of Theater Film and Television, where she appeared in Mel Shapiro's original musical, Homer in Cyberspace. In her home town of San Diego, she appeared in J*Company's Once Upon A Mattress and Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Parnia is co director and choreographer for the Persian Cultural Dance Academy in San Diego.

Set Design for Songs For A New World is by Stephen Gifford; Lighting Design is by Jared A. Sayeg; Sound Design is by Paul Fabre; Costume Design is by Kim DeShazo; Hair and Wig Design is by Anthony Gagliardi; Property Designers are Patty and Gordon Briles; Production Managers are Bill and Jennifer Georges; Casting is by Michael Donovan Casting; Shashin Desai produces for International City Theatre.

International City Theatre is the Resident Professional Theater at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, and the recipient of the Margaret Harford Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle for "Sustained Excellence in Theater."

Songs For A New World runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm, October 16 through November 15. Tickets are $35.00 and $40.00 on Thursdays, and $40.00 and $45.00 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, except opening night which is $50.00 and $60.00 and includes a reception with the actors following the performance. Preview performances take place on Tuesday, October 13; Wednesday, October 14; and Thursday, October 15 at 8 pm. Preview tickets are $32.00. International City Theatre is located in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center at 300 E. Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach. For reservations and information, call the ICT Box Office at (562) 436-4610 or go to www.InternationalCityTheatre.org.

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