TheatreWorks Presents AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS World Premiere 7/14-8/8

The bids come fast and furious as an off-the-wall family of professional auctioneers puts its heart, its heritage, and even its longest held secrets on the block in the uproarious world premiere of AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS, by one of America's hottest young playwrights, Laura Schellhardt (The K of D), presented by TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed theater of Silicon Valley. A funny off-beat look at a family figuratively putting their lives up for sale, this sold-out favorite from last summer's New Works Festival is moving up to the mainstage where it will act as the center piece of the 2010 New Works Festival. Featuring Jessica Lynn Carroll, Molly Coogan, Diane Dorsey, Lance Gardner, Heidi Kettenring, and Liam Vincent, with TheatreWorks Director of New Works Meredith McDonough at the helm, AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS plays July 14-August 8 (press opening July 17) at TheatreWorks at Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. For tickets and information, the public may call 650-463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

An obsessive note-taker and keeper of mementos, even Arthur is caught off-guard as he gets to know the members of the Ainsley family and their outrageous neuroses in this unexpected comedy. Hired by matriarch Alice Ainsley to record the history and meaning of the items she has collected before time and age destroy her memory, Arthur must understand the family's complicated and dysfunctional past in order to take the story down correctly. As her last act, Alice endeavors to release her four adult children from their overwhelming attachment to the material world by putting the Ainsley Auction House itself on the block, a family home that has become a self-inflicted prison. At once absurd and moving, AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS shows the Ainsley children let go of the objects that surround and define them, come to terms with their fears of rejection and loneliness, and learn to recognize human relationships for the value that cannot be quantified.

Playwright Laura Schellhardt received an MFA in playwriting from Brown University where she was a protégé of Paula Vogel. She is the author of many original works including the hit play The K of D, called a "tour de force" by the Washington Post and "haunting" by the San Francisco Chronicle. Her work has been produced in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Washington D.C., Providence, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Orlando, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Provincetown, Massachusetts. She is also the author of Screenwriting for Dummies. Laura is a recipient of the TCG National Playwriting Residency, the Jerome Fellowship, the New Play Award from ACT in Seattle, and a Dramatist Guild Fellowship. She currently heads the playwriting program at Northwestern University.
TheatreWorks has assembled an impressive cast for AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS including Jessica Lynn Carroll (as Amelia), Lance Gardner (as Arthur), and Liam Vincent (as Aiden) in their mainstage debuts at TheatreWorks, where they have appeared previously in staged readings. Ms. Carroll has appeared previously at Foothill Music Theatre and City Lights Theatre Company. Mr. Gardner has performed around the Bay Area in roles at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Magic Theatre, and Marin Theatre Company. Mr. Vincent has extensive Bay Area theatre credits, including numerous roles with California Shakespeare Theater as well as roles with A Traveling Jewish Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Rounding out the cast are Molly Coogan (as Annalee), Diane Dorsey (as Alice) and Heidi Kettenring (as Avery) in their TheatreWorks debuts. Ms. Coogan's credits include roles with 42nd Street Moon, Lamplighters Music Theatre, and Magic Theatre. Ms. Dorsey's credits include roles at Court Theatre, Edinburgh Fesival, Goodman Theatre, and Wisdom Bridge Theatre. Ms. Kettenring played Nessarose in a limited run of the hit musical Wicked in Chicago and has also been seen at Marriott Theatre Lincolnshire, Court Theatre, and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

TheatreWorks Director of New Works Meredith McDonough will helm this hilarious world premiere. McDonough has been actively developing new works for the past ten years at theatres including Actors Theatre Of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Round House Theatre, The Public Theatre, LABryinth Theatre Company, Ars Nova, Women's Project and Productions, New Georges, and the Drama League. She spent two years as the New Works Program Director at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and three seasons as a resident director at Actors Theatre Of Louisville, famed for its annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. She has directed over twenty world premiere plays and musicals, and recently directed the regional premiere of Michael Hollinger's Opus at TheatreWorks.

AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS will act as the centerpiece for the TheatreWorks 2010 New Works Festival, assembling playwrights and composers from across the nation presenting works in various states of development. This popular annual event attracts thousands of theatre lovers who flock to Palo Alto, happy to get a first glimpse at future hits. Each new work undergoes nightly revisions as authors and composers tweak and adapt material in response to audience reactions and feedback, and festival-goers interact directly with the writers in a special "Meet the Festival Artists" panel. This year's festival will see multiple staged readings of four new plays and musicals, as well as a developmental production of a new musical. Theatrical luminaries who have presented new material at the TheatreWorks New Works Festival have included Tony Award®-nominee Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), Tony Award-nominee Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family), Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha Norman (‘Night Mother), Tony Award-winner Rachel Sheinkin (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), and many others. Rock n' roll musical Memphis, now in its tenth month on Broadway and the recipient of eight Tony Award nominations was developed through TheatreWorks at this festival, and later on its main stage.

With over 8,000 subscribers and 100,000 patrons per year, TheatreWorks has captured a national reputation for artistic innovation and integrity, often presenting Bay Area theatregoers with their first look at acclaimed musicals, comedies, and dramas, directed by award-winning local and guest directors, and performed by professional actors cast from across the country.

Previews: July 14, 15, 16
Press Opening: Saturday, July 17
Closes: Sunday, August 8

Performance Schedule:
Previews: 8pm
Tuesdays and Wednesdays: 7:30pm
Thursdays and Fridays: 8pm
Saturdays: 2pm, 8pm
Sundays: 2pm, 7pm

Pre-show "How Theatre Works" discussion July 15 at 6:30pm; Post-show Discussion Wednesdays with cast and artistic staff July 21, 28, and August 4; "Visual Voice" audio-described performances are available August 6 at 8pm, and August 7 at 8pm, and August 8 at 2pm.

TheatreWorks at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto

Tickets:
$19 (student)-$67; savings available for students, educators, seniors, and members.
A $2 convenience fee will be assessed for online and telephone orders.

For information or to order tickets call (650) 463-1960 or visit theatreworks.org.

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