Lost Girls Theatre to Stage Inaugural Show JULIET AMONG THE CHANGELINGS

Lost Girls Theatre is proud to announce their inaugural production Juliet Among the Changelings by Andie Arthur at the Main Street Playhouse in Miami Lakes from August 12 to 21. Juliet Among the Changelings will feature an entirely local cast and design team, including puppet design by Jim Hammond and Ronni Gerstel of the Puppet Network.

This brand new play explores issues of identity in adolescence and what it means to be special through Celtic myths about changelings and fairies, specifically drawing from the Scottish Ballad Tam Lin. Arthur is one of the co-founding artistic directors of Lost Girls Theatre.

Juliet Among the Changelings will be directed by Katherine Siegel, the other co-founding artistic director. Siegel comes back to Florida after directing extensively in Chicago. Both Siegel and Arthur are very excited to bring Lost Girls Theatre's first full production into the world, after spending three years building a core company and presenting other theatrical events, including participating in Microtheater's Local Theatre Festival and the Getting Lost Reading Series at the Deering Estate.

"Our journey is just beginning," says Siegel, "And I couldn't be more excited."

This first production features a cast entirely of local actors -- Sofia Duemichen, Diana Garle, Jennipher Murphy, and Courtney Poston. While Garle, Murphy, and Poston have been seen at various South Florida Stages, this will be Duemichen's professional debut, as she has just graduated from the high school of New World School of the Arts and is heading off to Rutgers this fall.

"I'm so excited to be working with this cast. They all bring such a great energy to the process and there's something magical about casting an actual teenager as the teenage protagonist," says Arthur.

The story of Juliet Among the Changelings focuses on a young woman trapped between our world and the world of fairy. When she was a baby, Juliet's mother gave her up to a magical creature for everything her heart desired. At 17 years old, Juliet has spent her entire life torn between two worlds - the normal mundane world of school and the magical world of the women who raised her. Now Lavinia, one of the changelings that raised her, has a plan to get back to the fairy world. Except Juliet isn't entirely sure she wants to go - because her friend, the foul-mouthed rebel Miranda has a plan for her to find her birth mother. Before the Winter Solstice, Juliet must figure out who she really is - human, fairy, or something else.

"I wanted to write a play specifically for Lost Girls Theatre - which takes advantage of our mission to present a theatre of wonder - and I also wanted to see if I could write the play version of a young adult novel, using the tropes of urban fantasy to explore the craziness that is being a teenager, " said Arthur.

Juliet Among the Changelings will feature the design team of Leslye Menshouse (who is a company member of Mad Cat Theatre) as the costume designer, George Horrocks as the lighting designer, sound design by Vyvian Figueredo, and puppets design by Jim Hammond and Ronni Gerstel of the Puppet Network, the premiere puppet design organization in South Florida, widely known for their Day of the Dead Festival.

Lost Girls Theatre is also doing some auxiliary events to raise funding and awareness for Juliet Among the Changelings. In-between shows on Saturday August 13, there will be a Goblin Market, where local artisans will be selling their wares. Lost Girls is also hosting two geeky trivia nights at On the Border Restaurant, which is located near the theatre, at 15301 NW 67th Ave, Miami Lakes. The first one will be on Tuesday July 26 at 7:30 PM and will be a Harry Potter trivia, in celebration of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child release and the second one will be on Tuesday August 2 on another topic beloved by geeks. Both trivia nights are open to everyone with a small donation with the chance to win geeky prizes. Every participant will get a free bookmark. Lost Girls is also running an IndieGoGo campaign to secure more funding for this project.

The main performance schedule is as follows: Friday August 12 at 8:00 PM, Saturday August 13 at 2:00 and 8:00 PM, Sunday August 14 at 8 PM, Thursday August 18 at 8:00 PM,Friday August 19 at 8:00 PM, Saturday August 20 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday August 21 at 8:00 PM. All tickets are $20 and available at www.lostgirlstheatre.com. The Main Street Playhouse is at 6766 Main St, Miami Lakes, FL 33014.

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