Rupert Holmes Penned RBG Play Makes Its World Premiere In St. Petersburg

This fall, freeFall continues their American Character Series with All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Other popular freeFall shows that have saluted the unique and enduring legacies of American Masters have included productions featuring the stories of James Beard, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Marie and Rosetta and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill are two of the most well attended plays in freeFall's 12 year history. "We felt this was such a great way to open our fall season," says freeFall Artistic Director Eric Davis. "It's also exciting for our company to collaborate with Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes on a world premiere play highlighting an icon like the notorious RBG." All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg plays freeFall for a limited run October 5 through 23 before transferring to the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY as part of their Literature Alive Series.

Supreme Court Justice "RBG" welcomes a friend of the family to her cozy chambers to convey, over the course of ninety fascinating and often funny minutes, a sense of her life and its many trials: losing her mother the day before she graduated as valedictorian of her Brooklyn high school ... being one of only nine young women studying law at Harvard while also raising a daughter and helping her husband battle cancer ... fighting for women's rights in the nineteen-seventies before condescending all-male courts ... and taking courageous stands for human rights as a voice of reason amid a splintering and increasingly politicized Supreme Court. An evening with a great and compassionate icon of straight-thinking American justice emerges ... an RBG who is not only "notorious" but victorious as she takes a stand for ordinary people facing the many challenges of a changing world. Bring your scrunchies, your hankies, your humor and your heart to this entertaining and uplifting event!

Rupert Holmes is the first person in theatrical history to solely win Tony awards as an author, a composer and a lyricist. He authored and composed the Broadway musical-comedy The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which won the Tony award for Best Musical and received a critically-acclaimed Broadway revival by the Roundabout Theater. His comedy-drama about the life of comedian George Burns, Say Goodnight, Gracie, earned him a Tony nomination for Best Play and won the National Broadway Theatre Award for Best Play. His stage comedy-thrillers Accomplice and Solitary Confinement broke existing box office records for the Kennedy Center and The Pasadena Playhouse, with both shows enjoying runs on Broadway, while Curtains starring David Hyde Pierce (and written with the legendary songwriting team of Kander and Ebb) won Holmes the Drama Desk award for Best Book of a Musical as well as two further Tony nominations

Michelle Azar is humbled and thrilled to take on the life of the great Ruth Bader Ginsberg as voiced by the esteemed Rupert Holmes. Her performance background began in Chicago where she sang with the Lyric Opera of Chicago's children's choir. She received an MA and BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and started working immediately as Janis Joplin in Beehive. Once moving to Los Angeles, she received Ovation awards for her roles in both dramatic and comedic roles with her theatre company, Neurotic Young Urbanites, and was the 2016 Stage Raw award winner for Best Actress in Eric Coble's My Barking Dog directed by Michael Michetti at the Boston Court Theatre. Other favorite stage credits: Bella in Lost in Yonkers, Berte in Boeing, Boeing ( La Mirada Theatre) Masha in Mayakovsky and Stalin (Cherry Lane Theatre) The Awakening of Spring (Circle Rep) and the creation of Constance Lily in the recent hit musical, Bronco Billy (Skylight Theatre). Select television and film credits include: NCIS LA, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, CRIMINAL MINDS, THE MAGICIANS, AQUARIUS, COMMUNITY, and the recently released film, SENIOR MOMENT with Jean Smart and William Shatner.

All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is directed by Laley Lippard (Steppenwolf Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Kennedy Center, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center) with set design by Tom Hansen and lighting design by Dalton Hamilton. Both designers call Tampa Bay home and are excited to be a part of this project as it continues to tour.

Tickets can be purchased online at freefalltheatre.com and run between $45 and $55. There is one preview performance on October 5 and admission is only $25. All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is part of freeFall's popular new subscription model.

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