Theater Latté Da Announces Casting For TO LET GO AND FALL

Theater Latté Da announces the cast for award-winning playwright Harrison David Rivers' (Five Points) latest play, To Let Go and Fall. This newest play-with-music by Rivers marks his eighth produced work. New York-based director Sherri Eden Barber helms the production in the Twin Cities with original music composed by Minneapolis-based Jelloslave cellists Jacqueline Ultan and Michelle Kinney. Performances begin May 29 at the Ritz Theater (345 13th Avenue NE in Minneapolis). Single tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at Latteda.org or by calling 612-339-3003.

Todd and Arthur are two former ballet dancers reunited at New York's Lincoln Center Plaza having not seen each other for more than 25 years. This beautifully-told story takes us through the lives of both men, their choices, regrets, and coming to terms with age, illness, and sexual identity.

Harrison David Rivers is winner of the 2018 Relentless Award and has received McKnight and Many Voices Jerome Fellowships, a Van Lier Fellowship, an Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship and New York Stage & Film's Founders' Award. Rivers was the most produced playwright in the Twin Cities last season including This Bitter Earth (Penumbra Theatre), A Crack in the Sky (History Theatre), and Five Points (Theater Latté Da).

Of his newest play, Rivers shares, "As a writer I find that I return again and again to the same themes, images and ideas. I call them my "preoccupations" - music and dance, intimacy, illness and time. To Let Go and Fall might just be the most "me" play I've written."

Sherri Eden Barber is a New York-based theatre director and Artistic Director of Richochet Collecitve. Recent directing credits include Tiny Beautiful Things (Pasadena Playhouse), good friday (The Flea Theater), and Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Ricochet Collective - Teatro Circulo). She has developed new work with Rattlestick, Orchard Project, Culture Project, among many others. Barber is a recipient of The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Directors Fellowship, the Core Company Director for The Orchard Project, a Drama League Directing Fellow, and recipient of the US/UK Exchange Award.

Cellists Jacqueline Ultan and Michelle Kinney, founding members of Minneapolis-based Jelloslave, compose original music to bring To Let Go and Fall to new emotional heights. A featured act at some of the Twin Cities most prominent festivals and venues, Jelloslave has performed at the Northrup Summer Music Series, Mill City Summer Concert Series, and many more.

The production stars Mark Benninghofen (Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music) as Todd and André Shoals (Ragtime, Peter and the Starcatcher, Man of La Mancha) as Arthur. Austen Fisher (Latté Da debut), JuCoby Johnson (Six Degrees of Separation, NEXT Festival) Tyler Michaels King (Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Jon-Michael Reese (Man of La Mancha, NEXT Festival) play Todd and Arthur as teenagers and young men. The production also features dancers Conner Horak and Da'Rius Malone, members of the James Sewell Ballet, making their Latté Da debut.

To Let Go and Fall features scenic design by Maruti Evans, costume design by Sarah Bahr, lighting design by Mary Shabatura, sound design by Kevin Springer, properties design by Abbee Warmboe, and projections design by Kathy Maxwell.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater. www.latteda.org

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