Penobscot Theatre Company Presents Maine Premiere Of Tony Award Winning Musical, FUN HOME

Penobscot Theatre Company presents Maine premiere of Tony Award winning musical, Fun Home April 25 - May 12 Bangor, ME - Penobscot Theatre Company is thrilled to present the five-time Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home.

Refreshingly honest and wildly innovative, Fun Home is based on Vermont author and cartoonist Alison Bechdel's acclaimed graphic memoir. Audiences will follow Bechdel at three different life stages as she grows and grapples with her uniquely dysfunctional family, her sexuality and her father's secrets.

The 90-minute musical first premiered Off Broadway at The Public Theatre in 2013 and transferred to Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre in 2015. With a book by Lisa Kron and a score by Jeanine Tesori, Fun Home ran for a year and a half on Broadway before touring the country. It was the first all-women writing team to receive Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Score. Noting its focus on family, The New York Times raved, "Heart-gripping and cathartic, Fun Home occupies the place where we all grew up."

Making her Penobscot Theatre Company debut is Colorado based actress Susannah McLeod. She, along with Brewer High School Senior, Lana Sabbagh (Annie, It's A Wonderful Life) and eleven-year-old Evelyn LaCroix of Skowhegan play Alison, Medium Alison and Small Alison, respectively.

Penobscot favorite Dominick Varney (The Santaland Diaries, Shear Madness) and New York based actress, Megan Marod play Bruce and Helen, Alison's parents. John Bapst alumna Emma Howard (Wit) returns to the Penobscot Theatre Company stage as Joan. Cameron Wright and youths Cuddy Steadman and Luka Bogolyubov round out the ensemble cast.

Fun Home is directed and designed by Penobscot Theatre Company production manager, Tricia Hobbs who directed and designed Penobscot's riveting production of Wait Until Dark, earlier in the season.

Hampden Academy alum David John Madore returns to the area as music director and AJ Mooney is choreographer. Penobscot Theatre Company resident costume designer, Kevin Koski joins resident sound and lighting designers Sean McGinley and Scout Hough in bringing the world of the play to life. Production stage manager Meredith Perry designs properties.

In conjunction with the production, and with support from Osher Environment Systems, the City of Bangor and the Maine Theater Fund of The Maine Community Foundation, pre and post-show talks will accompany each performance. Post-show talk-backs will directly follow each matinee production in the Opera House and pre-show talks will be held at the theatre's 51 Main Street space, an hour before each evening performance. Each ½ hour talk is free and open to the public. "Fun Home offers a wonderful opportunity for audiences to delve deeper into this multi-faceted, intellectually provocative new piece," says producing artistic director, Bari Newport. "American musicals based on autobiographical graphic novels and comic books are a rare breed. Even more rare, though, are haunting, disturbing, wacky and miraculous musicals adapted from a cartoon-paneled memoir, penned by an all-female writing team. We are proud to be presenting the Maine premiere of this special piece."

Additionally, the theatre company is donating twenty tickets to each performance to LGBTQ ally groups from around the state. The name and mission statement of groups present will be shared at the beginning of each performance. Groups interested in taking advantage of this offer should contact laura@penobscottheatre.org.

One and all are welcome to Fun Home! Fun Home runs April 25 - May 12 at the historic Bangor Opera House (131 Main Street, Bangor). Performances run Wednesdays-Sundays. Performance times vary. See website for details. Discounts are available for seniors, military, students, educators and groups of eight or more. Ticket prices range from $15 - $39 and can be purchased by calling the box office between 12pm - 5pm, Monday - Friday at (207) 942-3333 or by visiting www.penobscottheatre.org.

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