Dog Days Theatre Continues with DOUBLE INDEMNITY on 8/8

FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training's inaugural season of Dog Days Theatre continues with DOUBLE INDEMNITY, David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright's stage adaptation of James M. Cain's titillating crime novel that inspired the groundbreaking Academy Award-nominated film noir of the same name. Dog Days Theatre is a new theater project offering smart, contemporary works just light enough for the dog days of summer, featuring two plays mounted in the Cook Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, using professional actors, directors and designers from the community and around the country along with the talents of the Conservatory's graduate students. Directed by FSU/Asolo Conservatory Director Greg Leaming and Jesse Jou, DOUBLE INDEMNITY previews August 8 and 9, opens August 10 and runs through August 27.

Femme fatale Phyllis Nirlinger has woven an enticing web of deception and seduction that wily insurance agent Walter Huff just can't resist. It's the perfect crime - Walter will sell Phyllis' unsuspecting husband life insurance just in time for Phyllis to "accidentally" reap the benefits. But as the entanglement escalates and suspicions arise, Phyllis and Walter discover that they might not be able to get away with murder. Sexy, smart and scintillating, DOUBLE INDEMNITY is the perfect summer guilty pleasure.

"James M. Cain practically invented the 'noir' style - dark, brooding, sexy, urban, full of very real people discovering that they are capable of very dangerous actions," said Director Greg Leaming. "And this stage adaptation captures all of the wonderful atmosphere and twisted plotting of the novel - a lot of which was actually discarded in the film. It's a fantastic piece for actors, and I think it's going to make a terrific theatrical event for Dog Days' inaugural season."

Director Greg Leaming previously directed Book of Days (2016), The Actor's Nightmare/The Real Inspector Hound (2015), The Water Engine (2014), and more for the Conservatory. His recent directorial work at Asolo Rep includes Ah, Wilderness! (2016), Good People (2015), and Other Desert Cities (2014). Co-director Jesse Jou previously directed The Drunken City (2017) and How I Learned to Drive (2014) at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory.

FSU/Asolo Conservatory alumna Katie Cunningham portrays vixen Phyllis. At Asolo Rep, Ms. Cunningham appeared in W. Somerset Maugham's Our Betters (2016), directed by Asolo Rep Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards, Both Your Houses (2016), and God of Carnage (2012). Don Walker plays Phyllis' husband, Herbert Nirlinger. Mr. Walker has appeared in Born Yesterday (2017), All the Way (2016), Both Your Houses (2015), and 1776 (2012) at Asolo Rep.

The cast also features current FSU/Asolo Conservatory student Erik Meixelsperger as insurance agent Walter Huff. Recent Conservatory graduate Mike Perez plays Norton, a fellow insurance worker who investigates the crime.

Beloved longtime Asolo Rep actor Douglas Jones plays Keyes, Walter's boss who leads the investigation. Mr. Jones was an associate artist at Asolo Rep for 30 seasons where he played principal roles in The Matchmaker (2015), Both Your Houses (2015), The Grapes of Wrath (2014), You Can't Take it With You (2013), Glengarry Glen Ross (2013) and more. FSU/Asolo Conservatory students Sara Linares plays Lola, Phyllis' stepdaughter, and Nettie, an insurance company secretary; and Wes Tolman plays Nino, Lola's boyfriend, and Jackson, an unexpected witness who threatens to reveal Phyllis' scheme .

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DOUBLE INDEMNITY CAST
(In order of appearance)

Walter Huff....................................................ERIK MEIXELSPERGER

Phyllis Nirlinger.................................................Katie Cunningham*

Keyes.................................................................Douglas Jones*

Lola Nirlinger/Nettie...................................................SARA LINARES

Herbert Nirlinger........................................................Don Walker

Nino Sachetti/Jackson.................................................Wes Tolman

Norton.......................................................................MIKE PEREZ

*Members of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

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DOUBLE INDEMNITY SELECTED ARTISTIC BIOS
(In Alphabetical Order)

Katie Cunningham* (Phyllis) is a proud alumna of FSU/Asolo Conservatory and is delighted to join Dog Days! Favorite roles at Asolo Rep: Pearl in Our Betters; Marjorie in Both Your Houses; Annette in God of Carnage. NYC: TACT; FringeNYC; American Place Theatre; The Night Shift (co-founder); Drunken Shakespeare (co-founder). Katie appears regularly at a host of regional theaters across the country and is a teaching artist at McCarter Theatre Center. Proud union member: AEA & SAG-AFTRA.

Douglas Jones* (Keyes) Asolo Rep: Malachi Stack, The Matchmaker; Solomon Fitzmaurice, Both Your Houses; S.B. O'Donnell, Philadelphia, Here I Come!; Pa Joad, The Grapes of Wrath; Kirby, You Can't Take it With You; Shelley Levene, Glengarry Glen Ross; Russ, Clybourne Park; Polonius/Gravedigger, Hamlet, Prince of Cuba; Juror #10, Twelve Angry Men; Frank, Equus; among others. Seasons elsewhere: The Cleveland Play House, Milwaukee Rep, California Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Huntington Theatre, American Stage, The Playmakers, the Straz Center, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, and four plays Off-Broadway. Graduate of Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London.

JESSE JOU (Co-Director, Double Indemnity) is thrilled to return to Sarasota where he directed The Drunken City by Adam Bock and How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel (both with FSU/Asolo Conservatory). He works primarily on new and contemporary plays. He is an alumnus of the Cherry Lane Mentor Project; the Drama League's Directors Project; the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab; and The Civilians R&D Group. Jesse graduated from the Yale School of Drama and teaches at Texas Tech University.

Greg Leaming (Producer; Director, Double Indemnity) Asolo Rep: Ah, Wilderness!, Good People, Other Desert Cities, The Game's Afoot, Boeing Boeing, Hearts, The Imaginary Invalid, The Play's the Thing, Men of Tortuga, Anything to Declare?. Banyan Theatre: Fat Pig and Mrs. Warren's Profession; FSU/Asolo Conservatory: Book of Days, The Actor's Nightmare/The Real Inspector Hound, The Water Engine, The School for Lies, Twelfth Night, Cloud Nine, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Pericles, Blue Window, Murder by Poe and The Mystery Plays. His translations/adaptations include: The Patsy and A Flea in Her Ear, from Feydeau; Anything to Declare? from Hennekin and Veber; and The Italian Straw Hat from Eugene Labiche. Twelve years as director of FSU/Asolo Conservatory and Associate Director of Asolo Repertory Theatre. His work has been seen at many theatres around the country, including Portland Stage Company, Hartford Stage Company, Long Wharf Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Merrimack Rep, Stamford Theatre Center, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Clarence Brown Theatre Company, Stage West, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Shakespeare Sedona, and Southwest Shakespeare.

SARA LINARES (Lola/Nettie) went to New College of Florida where she majored in Humanities with a focus on Performance. She has worked at the Micro Theater in Miami and is currently pursuing her MFA in Acting at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. Sara is very honored to make her debut with Dogs Days Theatre. Catch her in Oedipus this coming conservatory season.

ERIK MEIXELSPERGER (Huff) graduated from The University of Minnesota-Duluth with a BFA in Acting and is currently a second year in pursuit of his MFA at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. He is thrilled to make his Dog Days debut in Double Indemnity and can also be seen in the Cook Theatre this fall as Kreon in Oedipus.

MIKE PEREZ (Norton) is thrilled to be a part of the inaugural season of Dog Days Theatre. Originally from New York City, Mike recently graduated from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training where he enjoyed performing in The Great Society, Born Yesterday, and many other memorable productions.

Wes Tolman (Nino/Jackson) is the Squatty Potty Prince and a graduate student at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory moving into his third and final year. Previously at Asolo Rep he has understudied roles in All the Way and Living on Love. One of his greatest theatre experiences was playing Eddie Carbone last season in the Conservatory's production of A View from the Bridge.

Don Walker (Nirlinger) in summers past, has appeared on the Cook stage in several Banyan Theater productions, including Painting Churches with favorite co-star Jenny Aldrich. Directing assignments included The Price and My Old Lady. At the Tampa International Fringe Festival this spring, he played a deceased swordsman/poet in Cyrano on the Moon, with Jenny as the aged and dying Roxanne. Don is president of Theatre Odyssey, which presents a Ten-Minute Play Festival in the Cook each May.

Single tickets for Dog Days Theatre's summer season are $28 and two-play packages can be purchased for just $45.

The Tuesday, August 8 preview performance of DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a special "Pay What You Can Performance," offering tickets at whatever price patrons can afford when purchased the day of the performance, at a minimum of $3 per seat.

Tickets are available now by calling 941.351.8000, visiting www.asolorep.org, or visiting the Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office, located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. Summer box office hours are Monday-Friday 10am-5pm.

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training is a celebrated three-year graduate program culminating in a master of fine arts degree. For more than 35 years, tens of thousands of actors from across the continent have auditioned for admission. A maximum of 12 students are admitted each year. In their second year, the students perform in the Cook Theatre, a 161-seat space designed to create an intimate experience for the audience and actors. Third-year students are seen on the Mertz Stage working with the Asolo Rep's professional actors in exciting and significant roles.

For more information, visit http://www.asolorep.org/conservatory/welcome.

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