Burning Coal Theatre Company Kicks Off Season 9/6 With BRIGADOON

Burning Coal Theatre Company will open its 16th season with Lerner and Loewe's classic musical Brigadoon. The production will run September 6 – 23, 2012 at the Murphey School, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm (September 6 – 8, 13 – 15 and 20 – 22, 2012) and Sundays at 2 pm (September 9, 16, 23, 2012). Sunday, September 9 at 2 pm is our 'Pay What You Can' Day. That performance will also be Audio Described. Tickets are $20 or $15 for students, seniors and active military. All tickets are $10 on Thursday evenings. For reservations and information, please call 919-834-4001 or visit www.burningcoal.org.

About Brigadoon
The classic American musical by Lerner & Lowe tells the story of two Wall Street men who journey on a hunting trip to Scotland. While deep in the misty woods, they discover a small town that isn't on any map. Once inside, they discover something rarer still about the town and themselves. Brigadoon brings to light the importance of love even when faced with impossible obstacles. "A stranger could stay if he loved someone here... not Brigadoon itself, mind, but someone in Brigadoon... enough to be willing to give up everything to stay near that person... which is only right because after all, lad... if you love someone deeply enough, anything is possible."

Brigadoon originally opened on March 13, 1947 at the Ziegfeld Theater on Broadway with original direction by Robert Lewis and original choreography by Agnes De Mille. De Mille won the Tony Award for Best Choreography. The show ran for a total of 851 performances before it was moved to the West End, where is ran 685 performances at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1949.

About the Director
Emily Ranii, who began working with Burning Coal at the age of 13, will stage Brigadoon for Burning Coal. Originally from Raleigh, Ranii is working toward her Master's Degree in Directing from Boston University. Her undergraduate degree in theatre is from Cornell University. For Burning Coal, she has directed The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Much Ado About Nothing. For The ArtsCenter in Carrboro: Child's Christmas in Wales, 10 By 10 Festival 2007-2009; For Playmakers' PRC2: 9 Parts of Desire; For Cornell University: The Body Project; For The Actors' Gang: Carnage (Asst. Director).

About the Choreographer
Robin Harris, Director of the NC State University Dance Program, holds a BA in French and an MA in Dance from The Ohio State University, and has received certification from the Dance Notation Bureau as a Labanotation teacher. A choreographer of over twenty-five major works, Robin is a recipient of two NC Arts Council Choreographers Fellowships, a recipient of the Raleigh Medal of Arts and, and an Indy Award. Robin has been recognized for her choreographic work by the North Carolina Arts Council, the City of Raleigh Arts Commission, the American Dance Festival, and by the American College Dance Festival Association on both regional and national levels. Her work has been presented five times in National Galas of the American College Dance Festival Association, including performances at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Additionally, Robin has served as a guest artist at Washington and Lee University, James Madison University, University of Maryland – College Park, and Hollins University. Full evenings of her work have been presented by NCSU Center Stage and the Southeast Women's Studies Conference. Robin's work toured four seasons with the North Carolina Dance Festival. In 2002, National Public Radio's Studio 360 aired a piece about Robin's choreographic work, 30 and 73.

About the Music Director
Julie Oliver is a current teacher and band director at Wake County Public Schools, as well as an actress for multiple theatres. She attended the University of Kansas with a degree in Music Education, and received the National Board Certification WMMS Teacher of the Year Award.

About the Cast and Crew
Tommy will be played by actor Andrew Bosworth of Raleigh. Jeff will be played by actor James Anderson, who appeared last season in Enron with Burning Coal. Fiona will be played by Natalie Reder of Raleigh. Charlie will be played by Jeff Aquiar of Greensboro.

The scenery and lights will be designed by the head of lighting at Cornell University, Ed Inteman. Costumes will be designed by Raleigh's Karen Williams and props will be created by Raleigh's Elizabeth Newton. The production stage manager is Raleigh's Adam Budlong. The assistant director will be Raleigh's Lori Mahl and the assistant choreographer will be Zia Affronti Morter of New York City.

For further information, please contact Burning Coal's managing director, Simmie Kastner, at 919.834.4001 or visit our website at www.burningcoal.org.

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