Light in the Piazza Creators Hold April 27th Pre-Performance Talk

lLincoln Center Theater's Platform Series, a forum for public discussion between Lincoln Center Theater artists and interested theatergoers, continues its 2004-2005 season on Wednesday, April 27, at 6:30 pm with a pre-performance talk with book writer, Craig Lucas, and lyricist/composer, Adam Guettel, the creators of the new musical, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, along with Elizabeth Spencer, the author of the novella on which the musical is based. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, which has just received 11 Outer Critics nominations including best Musical, is the latest production of Lincoln Center Theater's 20th Anniversary Season.

Platform Series events take place between the matinee and evening shows on Wednesdays, from 6:30 pm to 7:15 pm, in the lobby of the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65th Street). Admission is free and open to all; however, seating in the lobby is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis only, beginning at 6:00 pm. (Speakers and schedules are subject to change. Call 212-362-7600 to confirm on the day of the event.).

Playwright Craig Lucas returns to LCT where his play, God's Heart, received its world premiere in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Mr. Lucas' other plays include Reckless (revived earlier this season by the Manhattan Theatre Club), The Dying Gaul, Blue Window. His screenplays include adaptations The Secret Lives of Dentists, Longtime Companion and adaptations of his plays: Prelude to A Kiss, Recless, Blue Window and, most recently, The Dying Gaul, which also marked his directorial debut and opened last month at the Sundance Film Festival.

Adam Guettel wrote the music and lyrics for the musical, Floyd Collins, originally produced at Playwrights Horizons and for Saturn Returns: A Concert, which was originally produced at the Public Theater and recorded by Nonesuch Records under the title Myths and Hymns. He wrote the music for the New York Theatre Workshop production of John Guare's Lydie Breeze and collaborated with Guare on Love's Fire for the Acting Company. He scored the feature documentary, Arguing the World and the CBS documentary Jack. Four of his songs are featured on Audra McDonald's recording Way Back To Paradise.

Elizabeth Spencer's novella, The Light in the Piazza, was first published in 1959 in The New Yorker magazine. She was born in rural Carrollton, Mississippi and has written novels, short stories and a play over her 50 year career as a writer. Her fiction, which also includes Fire in the Morning, This Crooked Way, The Voice at the Back Door, Knights & Dragons, No Place for an Angel, The Salt Line and The Night Travellers is rooted in her native Mississippi, Italy (where she lived for 6 years in the 1950s) and Montreal.

Lincoln Center Theater's platform series was introduced in the summer of 1998. Transcripts of the previous talks are available on-line at www.lct.org.

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