ArtsWest Sets AMERICAN IDIOT Creative Team

ArtsWest has announced the creative team behind the first production of its 2015-2016 season, two-time Tony Award-winning musical Green Day's American Idiot: Eric Ankrim, Director; R.J. Tancioco & Chris Ranney, Co-Musical Directors; Trina Mills, Supervising Choreographer; and Shadou Mintrone & Gabe Corey, Choreographers.

Equal parts house party, opera, rock concert, and theater, ArtWest's immersive, environmental staging of Green Day's American Idiot explodes the idea of the traditional theater space as a group of lost young Americans at the crossroads of their lives take over an entire building and use it to tell their story.

"We've brought together something of a 'dream team' to create this production," says ArtsWest Artistic Director Mathew Wright. "There's a cast of 32 of Seattle's finest young musical theater artists, three choreographers, two musical directors, and one Eric Ankrim. Eric is one of my favorite theater thinkers in Seattle - he has a limitless imagination, a fervent passion for innovation, and a solid understanding of the dual worlds of storytelling and music that make for great musical theater."

Currently directing Grease at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Ankrim played the role of Aaron in First Date, a role he later reprised in the Broadway production. Ankrim is a Seattle favorite, both on stage as an actor (Oklahoma; Carousel) and off as a director (Elf: The Musical; In the Heights; Trails). Most recently, he was in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, a co-production of ACT and 5th Avenue Theatre.

To bring this radical vision for Green Day's American Idiot to life, Ankrim and Mathew Wright have assembled a virtuoso creative team, including co-musical directors R.J. Tancioco (Grease; Jasper in Deadland; Lizard Boy) and Chris Ranney (No Way to Treat a Lady; A Chorus Line); supervising choreographer and former SeaGal Trina Mills (A Chorus Line; Sound of Music); and choreographers Shadou Mintrone (Zane Booker's SLJ Arts Initiative, Brian Sanders' Junk, and most recently Spectrum Dance Theater under the direction of Donald Byrd) and Gabe Corey (Guys and Dolls; The Music Man).

Tickets for Green Day's American Idiot are on sale July 15, 2015 and may be purchased online at www.artswest.org or by phone at (206) 938-0339.

The two-time Tony Award-winning hit musical Green Day's American Idiot brings the band's Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album to life in this electric-rock opera of youthful disillusion that will ignite your senses and stir your soul.

When Johnny, Tunny, and Will flee the constraints of their hometown for the thrills of city life, their paths are quickly estranged as their attentions become divided - by familial obligations, seductive love interests, the armed forces, and the struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world none of them could have imagined.

Green Day's American Idiot plays September 10 - October 11, 2015 at ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery (4711 California Ave SW, Seattle WA 98116). Tickets (ranging from $19 - $49.50) go on sale July 15 and may be purchased online at www.artswest.org or by phone at 206.938.0339, or at the box office Thurs. - Sat. 1:30-7:30 p.m.

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