SENSE AND SENSIBILITY Plays Milwaukee Rep, Now thru 1/13

From the author of Pride and Prejudice comes this heartwarming, humorous tale of two sisters struggling to move past a family disaster. Sensible, reserved Elinor and passionate, impulsive Marianne find the road to true love beset with dashing suitors and well-meaning relatives, devoted friends and devious rivals, and scandalous secrets and unexpected twists in a period-perfect adaptation that captures all of the deliciousness, flirtation and folly of Jane Austen's well-loved novel. 

Mark Healy has adapted the play from the book by Austen. Making his Rep debut, Art Manke will direct the play. The cast features Associate Artists Jonathan Gillard Daly and Laura Gordon, and guest actors John-Patrick Driscoll, Nick Gabriel, Kate Hurster, Ben Jacoby, Victoria Mack and Meaghan Sullivan. Rep Artistic Intern Ensemble Members Jonathan Altman, Emily Berman, Jess Prichard and J.R. Yancher are featured in the Ensemble as well as Anna Cline and Brandon Herr.

The Associate Producers for this production are Steve and Nancy Einhorn and James and Pati Ericson. Sense and Sensibility runs in The Rep's Quadracci Powerhouse from tonight, December 11, 2012 – January 13, 2013 and opens on Friday, December 14, 2012.

"Sense and Sensibility is my favorite of Jane Austen's wonderful works," says Artistic Director Mark Clements. "I love the relationship between the two sisters – their contrasts, their journeys, their growth throughout – and how this 200-year-old story still resonates. We all fall in love, we all have our hearts broken, we all go through periods where our lives are suddenly turned upside-down, and Austen's beautiful prose manages to get right to the heart of those moments and makes us feel and say 'wow, I know that, I felt that, I understand that.'"

"Our production of Sense and Sensibility features a bravura Acting Company – with most playing multiple roles – to bring all of Jane Austen's multiple characters to life," added director Art Manke. "The design is a feast for the senses, with the scenery based on the Picturesque Art movement of the time that featured crumbling, antique architecture in lush natural gardens. The costumes are sumptuous period pieces, all set to swirling movement with an original musical score. Sense and Sensibility is the perfect holiday treat: a classic story that appeals to all ages, filled with songs, dances and plenty of romance and comedy."

Written in the closing few years of the 18th Century, Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen's earliest full-length novel and was published in 1811 in London. All six of Austen's completed novels have been adapted a number of times for film, television and the stage. Mark Healy's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility premiered at Northcott Theatre, Exeter, England on March 16, 2001; it was commissioned and directed by Ben Crocker.

THE CAST
Jonathan Altman (Ensemble) is a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble and has been seen this season in The Rep's productions of The Diary of Anne Frank and Assassins; Emily Berman (Ensemble), is also a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble who just appeared as Margot Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank; she is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan; Anna Cline (Ensemble) is making her Milwaukee Rep debut with this production; she recently received her BFA in Musical Theatre from Western Illinois University where she received three Irene Ryan nominations and went on to win "Best Ensemble Work" and "Best Comedy Acting" at the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival; Jonathan Gillard Daly (Henry/Carey/Sir John/Dr. Grogan), a Rep Associate Artist, was most recently seen on the Quadracci Powerhouse stage as Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank; other roles include The Proprietor in Assassins and Heck Tate in To Kill a Mockingbird, among many others; Daly is also a founding member of the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN; John-Patrick Driscoll (John Dashwood/Colonel Brandon), returns to The Rep after being an acting intern during the 02/03 Season; he was most recently seen as MacDuff in Shakespeare Theatre of Rhode Island's production of Macbeth and as Boo Radley and Mr. Gilmer in To Kill a Mockingbird at Arkansas Repertory Theatre; Nick Gabriel (Edward Ferrars/Robert Ferrars) is a member of the Core Acting Company at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco; he received his MFA from ACT and serves on the faculties of all five educational programs offered by the institution; Laura Gordon, a Rep Associate Artist, was most recently seen as Mrs. Frank in The Rep's The Diary of Anne Frank; she has performed in over 75 productions at The Rep including Death of a Salesman, The Lady with All the Answers, Pride and Prejudice, Enchanted April, The Crucible and Doubt, among many others; Brandon Herr (Ensemble), making his Rep debut, is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with his BA in Theater Arts with a concentration in Acting; recent productions there include Cloud Nine, MacBeth, Much Ado About Nothing, All My Sons and Hamlet; Kate Hurster (Elinor Dashwood) is also making her Rep debut; credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Denver Center Theater Company and Lantern Theater, among others; she received her MFA in Acting from Swarthmore College; Ben Jacoby (Willoughby), makes his Rep debut with this production; credits include The Glass Menagerie, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Hamlet, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Les Miserables at the Utah Shakespeare Festival; Victoria Mack (Marianne Dashwood), also making her Rep debut, was seen on Broadway in Venus In Fur (Vanda understudy); Off-Broadway credits include: A Little Journey (Drama Desk nomination, Best Revival), The Truth About Blayds, Mr. Pim Passes By and Far and Wide at the Mint Theater and Flight at the Lucille Lortel Theatre; film credits include The Stare, Atlantis and A Song in the Shell. TV: The Good Wife, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and MTV; Meaghan Sullivan (Fanny/Lady Middleton/Lucy), a Chicago native, received her BFA in acting from the University of Illinois and an MFA in acting from the University of Delaware's PTTP; regionally she has worked at Delaware REP, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Texas Shakespeare Festival; she is a proud alum of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble; Jess Prichard (Ensemble), a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble who just appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank, completed his MFA in Acting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Prichard has been a touring company member with Imago Theatre as well as a professional clown; he has also spent two summers with Associate Artist Jonathan Gillard Daly at the Great River Shakespeare Festival; J.R. Yancher (Ensemble), a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble, was just seen in The Rep's production of Assassins as James Blaine and in the Chorus as well as in the Ensemble in The Diary of Anne Frank; he is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts.

CREATIVE TEAM
The Creative Team for Sense and Sensibility includes: Art Manke (Director – see bio below); Scott Bradley (Scenic Designer), whose Broadway credits include Joe Turner's Come and Gone and Seven Guitars; Off-Broadway credits include Eurydice, The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci and Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Second Stage Theatre Company); regional credits include Oregon Shakespeare Fest, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Seattle Repertory Theatre; Angela Balogh Calin (Costume Designer), a Los Angeles-based designer with over 100 productions in regional and L.A. theatres, recent designs include The Great Wall Story and To Kill a Mockingbird at Denver Center Theatre Company, Trip to Bountiful and The Weir at South Coast Repertory; Calin's designs garnered L.A. Drama Critic's Circle, Backstage/Garland and Drama-Logue Awards; Thomas C. Hase (Lighting Designer), a frequent Rep collaborator, is an international lighting designer whose work in the U.S. includes: Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, BAM, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Dallas Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Goodspeed Opera House, Portland Opera, New Orleans Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Center Stage Theatre, among many others; Steven Cahill (Sound Designer) has designed Off-Broadway at Daryl Roth Theatre (A Woman of Will); regional credits include The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Denver Theatre Center, The Old Globe Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Chautauqua Theatre Company and Pasadena Playhouse; Sandy Ernst (Casting Director) is The Rep's Associate Artistic Director and Casting Director; Jill Walmsley Zager (Dialect Coach) recently returned to Milwaukee from three years as Co-Head of Voice and Dialects and the Company Coach at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco; recent Rep credits include: The Diary of Anne Frank, The Mountaintop, Assassins, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Christmas Carol, Lombardi, Yellowman, Ten Chimneys, Cabaret, My Name Is Asher Lev, Laurel and Hardy and The 39 Steps; Sarah Deming-Henes (Stage Manager) returns to The Rep after stage managing To Kill a Mockingbird and Song Man Dance Man last season; Rebecca Lindsey (Assistant Stage Manager) returns to The Rep for her fifth season; Kaitlin Kitzmiller (Stage Management Intern), attended the University of Omaha where she graduated in the spring of 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Technical Theatre; Lenny Banovez (Assistant Director) returns to The Rep as a directing intern after having previously been a member of The Rep's Artistic Intern Ensemble; Rep credits include King Lear, Tartuffe, Hula Hoop Sha-Boop, Dogpark: The Musical and They Came from Way out There.

Jane Austen (Author) was born in 1775 in the English village of Steventon. She grew up in a highly literate family. Austen's father was an Oxford-educated clergyman and her mother was a humorous, aristocratic woman. Educated only briefly outside of her home, Jane Austen read freely in her father's library of 500 books. This left her better educated than most young girls of the time. At 15, Austen began writing her own novels, and by age 23 she had completed the original versions of Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. After Austen's father died in 1805, Jane, her mother, and sister lived in a small house provided by her then-wealthy brother in the village of Chawton. When Jane received a proposal from the wealthy brother of a close friend, for whom she felt no affection, she initially accepted him, only to turn him down the next day. This was a difficult decision for her, as she understood deeply that marriage was the sole option women had for social mobility. She further understood the vulnerability of single women without family estates who depend on wealthy relatives for a home. This subject is at the heart of Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen died on July 18, 1817, at age 41.

Mark Healy (Adaptor) has adapted several novels for the stage, including John Fowles The Collector and The French Lieutenant's Women, Dracula and Jane Austen's Persuasion. A native of England, Healy attended the Welsh College of Music and Drama and toured with Royal Shakespeare Company. His perfoming credits include Woman In Black on the West End, Hamlet in Hamlet (Northcott Exeter), Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility (Northcott Exeter), Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (National Tour) and numerous television series including Ghost Squad, Doctors and Family Affair.

Art Manke (Director) is a five-time winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his productions of a wide range of classics and new work. His staging of The Three Musketeers opened the Denver Center Theatre Company's current season, and in February, he will direct Noel Coward's Fallen Angels for the Pasadena Playhouse. Mr. Manke is a co-founder and former Artistic Director (1991 – 2001) of A Noise Within, L.A.'s acclaimed classical theater company, where he directed the work of Shakespeare, Moliére, Wilde, Coward and Sophocles. Other credits include work with South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Laguna Playhouse, Magic Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, American Players Theatre and Connecticut Repertory Theatre, among others. He directs for television, holds a BFA from the University of Illinois and an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater.

Tickets for Sense and Sensibility are from $10.00 – $65.00 (prices are subject to change). Single Tickets for all of Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 2012/13 productions are now on sale. Single Tickets can be purchased online at www.MilwaukeeRep.com, through The Rep's Ticket Office by calling 414-224-9490 or in person at 108 E. Wells Street. Group tickets are also available for purchase by calling Patron Relations Manager Christine Yundem at 414-290-5340.

To learn more about The Rep or its productions, visit www.MilwaukeeRep.com.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

· Rep in Depth begins 45 minutes before every performance in the Quadracci Powerhouse and gives an insider's look at the play from a member of the cast or artistic team with a pre-show discussion. This Rep in Depth will be led by guest actor Meaghan Sullivan.

· Audio-Description Performance – on Tuesday, December 18 at 6:30 p.m. there will be an Audio-Described Performance for patrons who are blind or have low vision.

· American Sign Language Interpreted Performance – On Thursday, January 3 at 7:30 p.m. there will be an American Sign Language Interpreted Performance for patrons who are deaf or have low hearing.

· Captioned Theater Performance – On Sunday, January 6 at 2:00 p.m. there will be a Captioned Theater Performance.

· The Rep Talkbacks will be held after the 7:30 p.m. performances on Wednesday, December 19, 26, January 2 and 9. The Rep Talkbacks are offered immediately after select performances and offer an opportunity for audience members to ask questions about the play to Rep company members and actors in the production. For more information on The Rep Talkbacks, please contact the Ticket Office at 414-224-9490 or refer to The Rep's Patron Guide.

· New this year – The Rep is hosting an event called 'Round Six Happy Hour. The event will start with a pre-show reception in Quadracci Powerhouse lobby. The third event will be held on Thursday, December 13 at 6 p.m. and features complimentary appetizers and free beer provided by Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery. The event will also feature live music. This event is sponsored in part by 88Nine. The cost to attend the event is only $20 and includes the show ticket and pre-show reception. The reception begins at 6:00 p.m. and the performance of Sense and Sensibility begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.Milwaukeerep.com/entourage/ or by calling The Rep's Ticket Office at 414-224-9490. For more information, please contact Kaitlin Schlick, Marketing Coordinator, at 414-290-0712.

· Matinee Lunch – Join us for lunch and a conversation about Sense and Sensibility on Wednesday, January 2 from 11:45 – 1:15 p.m. at the InterContinental Milwaukee in Salon A. Cost is $15 per person. Please RSVP by Monday, December 24 to Jennifer Bloomer at 414-291-4790 or jenniferbloomer@intercontinentalmilwaukee.com.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater is a nationally-recognized company that presents compelling dramas, powerful classics, award-winning contemporary works, full-scale musicals and side-splitting comedies housed in its three unique performance venues – the Quadracci Powerhouse, Stiemke Studio and Stackner Cabaret. The Rep also produces an annual production of A Christmas Carol at the Pabst Theater. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mark Clements, The Rep is committed to creating plays that are meaningful and relevant to the society we live in – plays that are challenging, visceral and engage the community through the issues they explore.

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