Les Waters Directs OUR TOWN at Actors Theatre, Now thru 2/9

Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein have announced that Actors Theatre continues its 50th Anniversary Season with Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Widely regarded as one of the finest plays ever written by an American, Our Town will be directed by Obie-award winning director Les Waters. The production, part of the Brown-Forman Series, will begin previews tonight, January 21, open on January 23 and run through February 9, 2014. Single tickets are now on sale by calling the Box Office at 502-584-1205 or by visiting ActorsTheatre.org.

Day in and day out, Grover's Corners is Any Town, USA. The paper is delivered, the milkman visits, time passes and life continues. Only when such routine is interrupted is the fleeting beauty of the everyday brought more clearly into perspective. Join us as the Stage Manager guides us through this elegant portrait of the ordinary but remarkable joys and sorrows that define our lives. Our Town is the best American play celebrating the magic that makes a community.

The cast of Our Town will feature a number of familiar faces returning to Actors Theatre including Bruce McKenzie as the Stage Manager, WilLiam McNulty as Constable Warren and Ann Hodapp as Mrs. Soames. McKenzie most recently appeared at Actors Theatre in The Delling Shore during the 37th Humana Festival of New American Plays and as Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet as part of our 2012-2013 Season. Other Actors Theatre credits include, At the Vanishing Point (2004 Humana Festival) and Noises Off (1998). McNulty is a long-time resident company member and has appeared in more than 150 productions at Actors Theatre, including A Christmas Carol and Dracula this season, since he made his debut in 1976. Hodapp just finished performing in her 22nd production of A Christmas Carol, and her previous Actors Theatre credits include Brothers of a Common Country, Isle of Fogs, Does Anybody Here Do the Peabody and Gift of the Magi, among others.

Donald Sage Mackay joins them as Dr. Gibbs. An experienced actor and director, Mackay is making his Actors Theatre debut with Our Town. His previous theatre credits include the world premiere of stop.reset. at Signature Theatre, the west coast premieres of John Guare's His Girl Friday and J.T.Rogers' Blood & Gifts at La Jolla Playhouse and Sharr White's The Other Place, among others, and film and television credits include Transformers, Criminal Minds and a recurring role on Scrubs.

Robert Schleifer (Howie Newsome) is a Chicago-based actor who will be appearing at Actors Theatre for the first time. Schleifer is a recent recipient of the 2013 3Arts Awards - a program that advocates for Chicago's women artists, artists of color and artists with disabilities working in the fields of dance, music, theater, the teaching arts and visual arts- and most recently appeared as John Singer in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter at Steppenwolf. He has appeared nationwide in many prominent theatre productions including the Broadway National Tour of the Deaf West-co production of Big River and with Goodman Theatre, Milwaukee Shakespeare and Balliwick Repertory.

Joy Osmanski makes her Actors Theatre debut as Mrs. Gibbs. Previous regional credits include The Matchmaker and Major Barabara at San José Repertory, Be Aggressive at La Jolla Playhouse and Romeo and Juliet at A Noise Within. Wendy Rich Stetson returns to Actors Theatre as Mrs. Webb after appearing in Orange Lemon Egg Canary at the 2003 Humana Festival. Regionally, she has performed at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, The Dallas Theater Center, Geva and Portland Stage, among others. Michael Patrick Thornton joins the cast as Mr. Webb. A director, improviser and writer, Thornton is the artistic director of Chicago's The Gift Theatre and has previously worked with Les Waters on the Midwest premiere of Will Eno's Middletown at Steppenwolf Theatre.

The role of George Gibbs will be played by David McElwee, who is performing at Actors Theatre for the first time. McElwee most recently appeared opposite WilLiam McNulty in John Logan's Red at Florida Repertory Theatre. Rebekah Brockman makes her Actors Theatre debut as Gibbs's childhood sweetheart, Emily Webb. Brockman's theatre credits include Arcardia, Dead Metaphor, A Christmas Carol, Elektra and the U.S. premiere of Happy to Stand at American Conservatory Theater, and Romeo and Juliet and Blithe Spirit at California Shakespeare Company, among others.

Local actor Gregory Maupin, best known for his work with Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble, a company he co-founded, joins the cast as Simon Stimson, and Dathan Hooper, who recently appeared as Paul Robeson in Cisco Montgomery's 2010 production Jockey Jim, will play Professor Willard and Joe Stoddard. Local child actors Julien Allen (Wally Webb), MJ Farrell (Joe and Si Crowell), MaryCharles Miller (Rebecca Gibbs) and all nineteen 2013-2014 acting apprentices complete the cast.

The creative team includes Mimi Lien (Scenic Designer), Janice Pytel (Costume Designer), Matt Frey (Lighting Designer) and Ben Marcum (Sound Designer).

2013-2014 Season Ticket Packages are available online at ActorsTheatre.org, or by calling the Box Office at 502-584-1205.

Our Town Tech Event: Saturday, January 18 at 7 p.m.

After a light reception, you'll get a sneak peek at the production and catch a glimpse of what goes on during the technical rehearsal process. This event is free, but ticketed. Call the Box Office at 502-584-1205 for reservations.

• Opening-night festivities: Thursday, January 23

After the 7:30 p.m. performance.
Celebrate opening with a post-show champagne toast.

• OFFSTAGE@ACTORS: Friday, January 24

Revelry begins at 6:30 p.m., prior to the 8 p.m. performance.
In pursuit of a fun, casual night out? For just $20 a ticket, you can carouse with comrades in our lobby spaces while enjoying preshow live music, a cash bar and cheap eats-and take in some awesome theatre. For tickets, visit ActorsTheatre.org/OFFstage or call 502-585-1210.

• Conversation with the Artists: Sunday, February 9

Following the 2:30 p.m. performance.
Enjoy an engaging dialogue led by our staff with the performers and behind-the-scene artists.

Celebrating 50 years of outstanding theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the State Theatre of Kentucky, is the flagship arts organization in the Louisville community. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Les Waters and Managing Director Jennifer Bielstein, Actors Theatre serves to unlock human potential, build community and enrich quality of life by engaging people in theatre that reflects the wonder and complexity of our time.

Actors Theatre presents almost 500 performances annually and delivers a broad range of programming including classical repertory and contemporary work through the Brown-Forman Series, holiday favorites, a series of free theatre by its Acting Apprentice Company and the Humana Festival of New American Plays-the premiere new play festival in the nation that has introduced nearly 450 plays into the American theatre cannon over the past 37 years. In addition, Actors Theatre provides arts experiences to thousands of students across the state through its Education Department and boasts one of the nation's most prestigious continuing pre-professional resident training companies, now in its 42nd year.

Over the past half-century, Actors Theatre has also emerged as one of America's most consistently innovative professional theatre companies with annual attendance of 150,000 people. Actors Theatre has been the recipient of some of the most prestigious awards bestowed on a regional theatre, including a Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement, the James N. Vaughan Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement and Contribution to the Development of Professional Theatre, and the Margo Jones Award for the Encouragement of New Plays. Actors Theatre has toured to 29 cities and 15 countries worldwide totaling more than 1,400 appearances internationally. Currently, there are more than 50 published books of plays and criticism from Actors Theatre in circulation-including anthologies of Humana Festival plays, volumes of ten-minute plays and monologues, and essays, scripts and lectures from the Brown-Forman Classics in Context Festival. Hundreds of plays which premiered at Actors Theatre have also been published as individual acting editions, and have been printed in numerous other anthologies, magazines and journals making them an enduring part of the American theatre repertoire.
ActorsTheatre.org.

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