Capital Stage's MASTER CLASS Extends Through 4/17

Capital Stage's critically-acclaimed production of Terrance McNally's Master Class is enjoying sold-out performances and will extend one week, closing on April 17. Tony winner for Best Play, Master Class takes place in a voice master class taught by opera diva Maria Callas, who is both dismayed and impressed with her students. While sharing her career, Callas retreats into the past glories and heartbreaks of her life.

The showtimes will be Wednesdays at 7pm, Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 2pm through April 10. Four additional performances have been scheduled on Thursday & Friday, April 14 & 15 at 8pm, Saturday, April 16 at 7pm, and a closing performance on Sunday, April 17 at 2pm. Ticket prices range from $26-$33. Discount tickets are available as follows: Preview Tickets are $15; Student Rush Tickets are $12; Senior Sunday Matinee Tickets are $22; and Group Rates are available for parties of 12 or more. Tickets are currently available at the Capital Stage Box Office, by phone at 916-995-5464 or online at www.capstage.org. The Pilothouse Restaurant offers a specially priced $29 three-course dinner for theatre patrons. Pilothouse reservations can be made through the box office.

The Play
The play is a portrait of opera diva Maria Callas as told through her recollections of the glories, triumphs, and tragedies of her own life and career. Her voice is gone, her lover is long departed, and her sanity could possibly be next. All she has is a lonely itinerary of master classes and luggage packed full of the memories that are her only travel companion. Her students are the hapless targets of her sharp tongue, while she remains the picture of innocent aristocracy. Master Class shows that while the actress may have left the stage, she will never give up her audience.

The Playwright
Terrence McNally has won four Tony Awards for his plays Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion! and his books for the musicals Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman. His other plays include Corpus Christi; A Perfect Ganesh; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Lisbon Traviata; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; and It's Only a Play, all of which began at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Earlier stage works include Bad Habits, The Ritz, Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, Next and the book for the musicals The Full Monty, A Man of No Importance and The Rink. For San Francisco Opera he wrote the libretto for an opera based on Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking, with music by Jake Heggie. Mr. McNally has written a number of TV scripts, including Andre's Mother, for which he won an Emmy.

The Production Members

Master Class features Capital Stage Associate Artist and recent Bay Area Critics nominee for Best Female Lead Janis Stevens (Fiction, Les Liaisons Dangereuses) as Maria Callas. Returning to Capital Stage is Michael Wiles (Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Fat Pig) as Manny. The cast also includes Wendolyn Cooper as First Soprano (Sophie), Ian Cullity as Tenor (Tony), Andrew J. Perez (Stagehand) and Laura Pyper as Second Soprano (Sharon). Master Class was directed by Capital Stage Co-Founder & Producing Director JoNathan Williams.

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