Hillbarn Theatre Conservatory Presents WONDERFUL TOWN This November

Hillbarn Theatre, the Peninsula's premier theatre company, announced today that youth actors from its Conservatory will present the Tony Award-winning musical, WONDERFUL TOWN. The story follows the adventures and misadventures of two sisters, Ruth and Eileen-one an aspiring writer and the other a dancer-who move from their comfortable hometown in Ohio to Greenwich Village, a bohemian area in New York City to fulfill their dreams. Wonderful Town will perform at Hillbarn Theatre (1285 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City) November 2-4, 2018. The performance schedule is as follows: Friday, November 2 and Saturday, November 3 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, November 4 at 2 p.m. Tickets for all performances are $20 and available now at hillbarntheatre.org or by calling 650.349.6411.

Wonderful Town is based on Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov's earlier play, My Sister Eileen, (which is in turn based on stories by Ruth McKenney), with a bright Leonard Bernstein score, including such classics as "A Little Bit in Love" and "Ohio." The show is cheery love letter to the colorful experience of living life in New York. Set in the summer of 1935, Ruth is an aspiring writer and Eileen is a dancer who wants to pursue a life on stage. One sister can't find a man no matter what she does, the other can't keep them away. Together, these two sisters take on the world, pursuing their dreams and finding love along the way.

"Wonderful Town is a true Broadway musical in every sense of the word, with larger than life characters, incredible music, and production numbers that will knock your socks off!" says Conservatory Director Randy O'Hara. "It is so exciting to be sharing this classic story from the golden age of musical theatre with a new generation."

Under the direction of O'Hara, Wonderful Town features (in alphabetical order) Giada Auranicky, Nikolas Baker, Maddie Banas, Ashley Beck, Annika Bjornso, Claire Boege, Leilani Campos, Vishrut Chawla, Amelia Chou, Tommy Consunji, Mel Cowan, Henry Fradin, Grace Isola, Noah Itzkovitz, Simiran Dasan, Claire Lenden, Dhalia Levy, Ceylon Liu, Atiya Shah, Alina Shah, Samantha Mefford, Ashley Pedro, Zev Rodnitzky, Zaina Sharaiha, and Sarah Zacanella.

The creative team for Wonderful Town includes Angela Harrington (music director) and Lani Yort (choreography).

Since 1941, the historic Hillbarn Theatre has served the San Francisco Bay Area by embracing this founding ideal - to create theatre with the community, for the community, striving always for excellence in production and education. Hillbarn has won a Theater Critics Circle Award, was accepted at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival, was honored with several mayoral proclamations for excellence in theatrical production and education, received three Theatre Bay Area awards, a Dean Goodman Awards for Artistic Excellence, and a Foster City Honors Award for Executive Director Lee Foster.

The Conservatory at Hillbarn Theatre is a year-round performing arts conservatory with four main programs: Mainstage musicals at Hillbarn, Classes at Hillbarn, Outreach Enrichment classes and camps, and Outreach Productions in/at local schools. Its primary focus is to create a safe place where young people of all levels of talent and experience can build and hone their performance skills while developing self-esteem, teamwork skills, and friendships that will last a lifetime. Classes are for youth ages 4 to 18 as well as adults and provide students with the opportunity to work with Hillbarn's staff of trained theatre professionals.