Free Range Humans Announces Casting For Winter 2018/19 Season

Free Range Humans continues its goal of bringing quality entertainment further north in the DMV area with stellar professional casts for its second season of three intimate musicals, STRIKING 12, I LOVE YOU BECAUSE, and 35MM: A MUSICAL EXHIBITION.

Producing Artistic Director Elizabeth Lucas says, "We picked these shows for both their humor and their heart. They are all by living writers who capture the quirks and challenges of being alive now with wit, insight, and brilliant music."

First up in December, Helen-Hayes-winning actor Alan Naylor leads an ensemble of multi-hyphenate talents in STRIKING 12, a holiday cross between a concert and urban fairy tale. The company of actor/singer/musicians includes regional favorites Robin Weiner (Annapolis Shakespeare), recording artist Natalie Spehar, Michael Reid (NextStop), and Paige Austin Rammelkamp (Monumental, Red Branch), as well as recent American University grad Lauren Farnell and percussionist Kevin Uleck.

A modern musical fairy tale to delight both people who love the holidays and people who hate them, STRIKING 12 is the story of a grumpy, overworked New Yorker who resolves to spend New Year's Eve alone in his apartment when an unexpected visitor brings some much-needed cheer. The evening springs to life through actor/musicians playing an eclectic score that combines pop, rock, jazz, showtunes, and more.

"The most important ingredient for a successful musical is a first-rate score, and this one is terrific...the lyrics are alive with wit and humor, and they don't shy away from surging emotion." - Charles Isherwood, New York Times

STRIKING 12 will start with an immersive experience staging in Frederick December 6-8 at the beautifully renovated Union Mills building on Carroll Creek, then move to the intimate traditional jewelbox theatre at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown December 13-22. The production marks the second at BlackRock Center for the Arts as part of their creative consortium, a program to highlight quality regional arts.

In February, Free Range Humans favorites Matt Hirsh (Helen Hayes winner) and Allison Bradbury (ArtCentric) play the leading couple in I LOVE YOU BECAUSE, a modern twist on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice about a young, uptight greeting card writer whose life is changed when he meets a flighty photographer. Supported by comic geniuses Jen Bevarelli (Helen Hayes Nominee), Michael Reid (also in STRIKING 12), Mikey Bevarelli (Helen Hayes Nominee) and Meredith Eib (Adventure Theatre) playing their eccentric friends and siblings, they learn to love each other not in spite of their faults, but because of them. Hirsh and Bradbury were seen in FRH's first production last June as the ill-fated couple in MURDER BALLAD.

"Recalling the heady heyday of the Golden Age Broadway musical comedy with as much joy, verve, and color as it toasts New York, the Urban Romance Capital of the World...I LOVE YOU BECAUSE is as feisty, friendly, and funny a musical comedy as seen in ages...This gem is for lonely hearts and lovers alike." - Matthew Murray, Talkin Broadway

I LOVE YOU BECAUSE will start with a Valentine's experience staging in Frederick February 7-10 at the intimate Serendipity Market in downtown Frederick, then continues to BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown February 14-23.

The season concludes with 35MM: A MUSICAL EXHIBITION, a groundbreaking collision of musical theatre, photography, and pop/rock music by the hot up-and-coming writer Ryan Scott Oliver. Helen Hayes winner Matt Hirsh (also in I LOVE YOU BECAUSE), regional favorites Rikki Howie (Keegan, Toby's), Camryn Shegogue (Olney), Stacy Carroll (Other Voices), and Katie Rey Bogdan (Stillpointe), and Catholic University newcomer Benjamin Hergenroeder lead this intense evening of song in an experimental immersive staging at McClintock Distilling in Frederick, March 14-23.

35MM: A MUSICAL EXHIBITION is a collection of 'snapshot stories' woven together as each of the evening's original songs is performed while the audience is immersed in the stunning photography that inspired it. 35MM brings the connection between pleasures visual and aural into razor-sharp focus, creating a singular, multi-sensory emotional journey.

"When theater pundits talk about the future of Broadway and the new generation of composers, they're talking about artists like Ryan Scott Oliver ... a major new voice in musical theater" - Entertainment Weekly

The season of live productions is augmented by a screening of Producing Artistic Director Elizabeth Lucas' multi-award-winning pop/rock movie musical CLEAR BLUE TUESDAY on January 18 at Area 31 in Frederick, followed on January 19 by a devised storytelling workshop inspired by her process for making the movie.

In the course of seven incredible Tuesdays over seven tumultuous years, eleven New Yorkers are transformed by love, desire, art, ambition, fury, grief, faith, fear, hope and, ultimately, connection with each other in the rousing indie rock musical drama, CLEAR BLUE TUESDAY. Up-and-coming director Elizabeth Lucas and a cast of actor-singer-songwriters drawn from the worlds of the rock scene, comedy clubs and Broadway stage have created a wholly unique musical motion picture experience about the persistence of love and the resilient heart of a city in the face of catastrophe. Bursting with pop melodies, sly humor and stirring emotions, CLEAR BLUE TUESDAY is a fresh, impassioned testament to everyday transcendence.

Free Range Humans is a new immersive entertainment company based in Frederick, MD. Details and tickets are at experience-human.com.

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