Florida Studio Theatre presents an exciting new Summer Season, from a country musical with a big heart, a great family comedy, and a devilish trip to the South. The Summer Season plays from June 8 through August 28 in the Keating and Gompertz Theatres. A subscription to all three plays can be purchased for as little as $29, online at floridastudiotheatre.org or by calling the box
office at (941) 366-9000.
Artistic Director, Richard Hopkins stated, "FST's summer season is filled with great moments in theatre that challenge our beliefs, with a light look at moral issues. From women taking over dominant male roles in Cowgirls , to gay marriage in Our Son's Wedd ing, and a theological debate in The Savannah Disputat ion, the summer plays and characters face many questions of legacy, values, and tradition."
The 2011 Summer Season kicks off with the guitar musical Cowgirls, with music and lyrics by
Mary Murfitt and book by
Betsy Howie. Cowgirls tells the story of Jo and her saloon in Rexford, Kansas. To raise enough money to save Hiram Hall, she books the Cowgirl Trio to play a honky tonk performance sure to bring down the house. When the classical Coghill Trio shows up on the saloon doorsteps, the female group must find their inner-twang and go from Chopin to Country and save the debt-ridden saloon from foreclosure!
This production of Cowgirls will be a special reunion for FST. Cowgirls was first produced at FST in 1995 before it went off-Broadway and was nominated for an Outer Critics' Circle award for Best Musical.
Mary Murfitt, creator and writer, starred in the FST's production, as well as the off-Broadway production. Ms. Murfitt will return to FST to direct the production.
"I am thrilled to work with
Mary Murfitt again on this project, as we have quite the history with her and her work,"
Mr. Hopkins said. "We first met when she was working on Oil City Symphony, and then during the development of Cowgirls . The ‘guitar theatre genre' has been a pivotal part of FST - it once was a novelty to see actors who could sing, act, and play their own instruments. Now, it
has become a dynamic genre and we are happy to bring it back to the stage and have Mary's excellent comic timing and talent as the director."
Cowgirls will have preview performances on June 8 and June 9 at 8pm, with a press opening on Friday, June 10 at 8pm in the Keating Theatre. The play will run through Sunday, July 3.
Opening next in the Gompertz Theatre, Our Son's Wedding by
Donna de Matteo, the great family comedy where the past meets the present. An Italian-American plumber and his wife have arrived at their son's wedding- to another man. Complications ignite in a humorous story of a family that needs to let go of the past and look toward a new beginning.
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