City Theatre Company's LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION Opens Today

The City Theatre Company continues to sizzle this summer with Terrence McNally's critically acclaimed play Love! Valour! Compassion, opening July 31. Hailed by many critics as McNally at the top of his form and winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, the celebrated Broadway show is directed by Matthew Burnett and runs four weekends through August 23. Lots of laughs and love with live theatre not to be missed!

Love! Valour! Compassion! centers on eight gay men who vacation together at an upstate New York country home for three summertime holiday weekends. Gregory, the host of the gatherings, is a successful but aging choreographer trying to complete what may be his last major work. Bobby, his blind and much younger live-in boyfriend loves him but is still discovering who he is and what he wants from the world. John is a cynical, mean-spirited, failed English playwright. His twin brother, James, is as kind and compassionate as John is angry and alienated. Ramon is John's current boyfriend, a young, handsome, and talented dancer just beginning his career, filled with confidence and brimming with sexuality. Perry and Arthur are the group's "role models" and are often the force of stability in an otherwise chaotic world. Finally, there is Buzz, highly charged and hilarious, always ready with a sarcastic one-liner, and is usually the life of the party. However, he is masking his troubled spirit. The friends gather together to confront their lives, loves and friendships, exploring the boundaries of their relationships and some of life's most profound and difficult questions.

Terrence McNally has always faced high expectations for his work, and not just because of his record of success. Along with writers like Larry Kramer, Tony Kushner, and Paul Rudnick, he is credited with exposing largely straight, mainstream audiences to popular gay characters and raising the level of awareness of issues in the gay community, particularly the devastation wrought by the AIDS epidemic. "I don't think theatre can solve the problems of a society, nor should it be expected to," says McNally. "Plays don't do that. People do. Plays provide a forum for the ideas that can lead a society to decide to heal and change itself." McNally has produced a string of successes as The Lisbon Traviata, Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Master Class, Ragtime, Corpus Christi, and the most recent, Mother and Sons. He is a winner of four Tony Awards, and in 1996, was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. The production is directed by guest director Matthew Burnett and features the outstanding cast of Rick Felkins, Kirk Kelso, Scott Poppaw, Marco Bazan, Dax Dobbs, Ryan Wilson, and Ty McLeod. "Our little theatre doesn't have many chances like this one. It is an exciting opportunity to stage McNally's work here in Austin," mentions Andy Berkovsky, City Theatre Artistic Director. "This play is perhaps the best he has ever written." More on McNally.

The City Theatre Company is an Austin-based, not-for-profit arts organization and is sponsored in part by the Austin Creative Alliance and the Austin Cultural Arts Division. Founded in 2006, the company has been recognized by the Austin Critics Table Awards, the B. Iden Payne Awards, the Central Texas Excellence in Theatre Awards, Austin Live Theatre, and has twice been voted "Best Theatre Company" by Austin American-Statesman's Austin 360. CTC is dedicated in providing quality theatrical experiences and entertainment for Austin artists and its community and continues the commitment to making productions accessible for everyone. CTC offers its discount ticket program with $10 Thursday seats and $12 student seats for any show. The ticket discount is available throughout the 2015 summer season.