FST's 2007 Summerfest Season Announced

Theatre All Summer Long at FST!

Florida Studio Theatre Announces Its 2007 Summerfest Season 

FST's 2007 Summerfest Season is composed of four plays that are sure to keep audiences entertained and enlightened all summer long.  Summerfest Subscribers will get to enjoy a musical celebration of the 1930s and '40s, a heart-warming tribute to Ann Landers and a 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. 

The Summerfest Season plays from June 13 through August 26 in the Keating Theatre.  A Subscription to all 3 plays can be purchased for $29-$42. 

Florida Studio Theatre kicks off its 2007 summer season with a bright collaboration of jazz, blues, and bebop melodies entitled The All Night Strut (Conceived and originally choreographed by Fran Charnas).  Beginning Wednesday, June 13^th, this international hit includes classic tunes such as "Fascinating Rhythm," "In the Mood," "Minnie the Moocher" and "As Time Goes By." Sarasota audiences may remember FST's production of The All Night Strut in the Goldstein Cabaret during the 2000 season.  

FST is proud to present this revival of a show that serves as a reminder of an era that contained great highs and lows for the American people.  It is the fascination with this time period that keeps the music and themes in The All Night Strut fresh for a modern audience.  Artistic Director Richard Hopkins says that the show "pays tribute to the 30's and 40's, to the America that went through the Depression and World War II." 

Veteran FST director Dennis Courtney (The British Invasion, Piano Men, Ethel Waters, etc.) will be staging the show with help from Music Director Scot Wooley.  The 4-person cast is comprised entirely of returning FST actors including Sophia Hinshelwood (Over the Rainbow), Jennifer Johns (My Way), Joel Newsome (Over the Rainbow) and FST regular Jim Weaver (Over the Rainbow, It Ain't Nothin' but the Blues, etc.)

When The All Night Strut played in 2000, The Longboat Observer commented that it "takes the audience on a sentimental journey, using music and four talented singers to recreate the magic of the era."  The Pelican Press called the show "a classy, sassy celebration."  

The classic songs of Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Fats Waller, and other genius composers will begin in the Keating Theatre June 13 and echo throughout out Sarasota until Sunday, July 1st. 

Following The All Night Strut, FST audiences will have all their questions answered by the queen of advice herself in David Rambo's The Lady With All the Answers.  "Dear Ann Landers" is a greeting that people around the world spent decades relying on as a source of reliable guidance.  Ms. Landers regaled her readers with direct and often humorous responses on every topic from religion to the proper way to hang toilet paper.   

The Lady With All the Answers finds the woman behind the letters (Eppie Lederer) reviewing a lifetime of advice in her Chicago apartment.  Drawn from her real life and letters with the cooperation of her daughter (Margo Howard), the play takes place one evening as she tries to meet the deadline on a particularly difficult column that deals with her advice to herself.  The play is a funny walk down memory lane that brings up some highlights of the column that helped to shape the social scene of the 20^th Century. 

Starring as Ann Landers (the one and only character) will be popular Sarasota actress Carolyn Michel.  FST audiences will remember Michel's other one-woman roles including Rose and Dorothy Parker.  Martin LaPlatney (Fiction, Bee Luther Hatchee, etc) will direct. 

The Lady With All the Answers has been called "highly entertaining" by the Chicago Tribune and "folksy, funny, straightforward" by the LA Times. 

The Lady With All the Answers plays from July 11 through July 29 in the Keating Theatre. 

Closing out the 2007 Summerfest Season will be the winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire.  This compelling drama examines the ways in which one family attempts to deal with the type of loss that can potentially destroy a family. 

The Corbetts are a family trying to reconnect in spite of the loss of a child.  In spite of its difficult theme, the play is not overwhelmingly sad.  Rather, it runs the gamut of emotions, offering humor, cheer, awkwardness and fear as the individual members of the family attempt to comfort each other and return to their lives.  If there is a way down, there must be a way back up. 

In addition to winning the 2007 Pulitizer Prize for Drama, Rabbit Hole was also nominated for 5 Tony Awards including Best Play.  Rabbit Hole has been called "a beautifully observed new play" by the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly said of the play, "Grade: A!  Deeply affecting."   

Rabbit Hole plays from August 8 through August 26 in FST's Keating Theatre.

Florida Studio Theatre

1241 North Palm Avenue

Sarasota, Florida 34236

Box Office 941-366-9000

Website www.fst2000.org

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