Arizona Theatre Company Presents Summer on Stage '10, 7/28-31

Arizona Theatre Company is proud to present Summer on Stage 2010, featuring forty high school students from Tucson, Yuma, Las Vegas, and Chicago who will star in two productions on Arizona Theatre Company's stage at the Temple of Music and Art.

This summer's productions will be A.R. Gurney's touching drama The Dining Room and the hysterical film-derived musical The Wedding Singer with music by Matthew Sklar, book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, based on the New Line Cinema film also written by Tim Herlihy. Free performances are scheduled for July 28-31 at the Temple of Music and Art in downtown Tucson.

Set in the dining room of a typical well-to-do household, The Dining Room recounts the myriad of pivotal moments that occur in this all-important of household locales. The action is comprised of a mosaic of interrelated scenes that spans the spectrum of human emotions. Dovetailing swiftly and smoothly, the varied scenes coalesce, into a theatrical experience of exceptional range, compassionate humor and abundant humanity. Directed by Jenny Bazzell The Dining Room plays Wednesday, July 28 and Friday, July 30 at 7PM.

Jenny Bazzell (Director) is the Literary Manager of Arizona Theatre Company. Over seven seasons with ATC, she has provided dramaturgical expertise for many shows including the world premieres of Somebody/Nobody by Jane Martin, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, and Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure by Steven Dietz. Ms. Bazzell directed Underneath the Lintel and Fiction for Beowulf Alley, and directed/adapted Voices From the Struggle for Primavera's 25th anniversary celebration. As an educator, Ms. Bazzell helms the Tucson Teen Critic and Dramaturgical Internship Programs, served as advisor for UA Honors College playwriting program and has been a visiting instructor at UA School of Theatre Arts and Arizona Opera. Ms. Bazzell was a participant in the Director's Lab West in Pasadena and has worked as assistant director on A Moon for the Misbegotten, A Streetcar Named Desire, Copenhagen and Macbeth. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Theory and an MA in Theatre Studies both from the University of Arizona.

In The Wedding Singer, it's 1985 and rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jersey's favorite wedding singer. He's the life of the party until his own fiancée leaves him at the altar. Shot through the heart, Robbie makes every wedding as disastrous as his own. Directed by Cale Epps, choreographed by Amy Shuttleworth and with musical direction by ElizaBeth Spencer The Wedding Singer plays Thursday, July 29 and Saturday, July 31 at 7PM.

Cale Epps (Director) is the Phoenix Education Manager for Arizona Theatre Company. He is also an actor and director and has worked on numerous productions for several companies in the Phoenix area. He most recently directed 12th Night of the Living Dead for Stray Cat Theatre. As an actor his most recent project was Secret Order for Actor's Theatre of Phoenix. He was trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and A Noise Within Classical Repertory Theatre in Los Angeles.

Amy Shuttleworth (Choreographer) most recently served as choreographer for Arizona Repertory Theatre's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She has choreographed for several other theatres including Arizona Onstage Productions, Catalina Foothills Summer Theatre, and The Diamond Circle Melodrama in Durango, CO. Amy graduated this May with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Acting from the University of Arizona.

ElizaBeth Spencer (Music Director) has accompanied many SOS productions in the past, and she also served as accompanist for ATC's Actors' Lab and local auditions. She has her BS in music education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and has played for many Tucson high schools and organizations including SALOC, Catalina Foothills Summer Theatre, and Arizona Onstage Productions. She also traveled as the accompanist for the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus for 7 years, and is currently the pianist at St. Pius X Church. She has been playing shows for the University of Arizona School of Theatre Arts since 1996.

All Summer on Stage performances take place at the Temple of Music and Art, located at 330 S. Scott Avenue in downtown Tucson. Doors open at 6:30 PM and all Summer on Stage performances begin at 7PM. Performances are free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.

Summer on Stage is a five week actor training program produced by Arizona Theatre Company, the state's leading professional theatre company, and the nationally recognized University of Arizona School of Theatre Arts. Participants learn a variety of acting techniques including character development, voice for the actor, scene and monologue study, movement and dance. Students are educated through classroom work, and an intensive rehearsal process leads to two fully mounted productions performed at the Temple of Music and Art, the home of Arizona Theatre Company.

For more information about Summer on Stage 2010 or Arizona Theatre Company's other education and community programs, please contact Tucson Education Manager Alison C. Terry at (520) 884-8210 Ext. 8506, via email at aterry@arizonatheatre.org or visit www.arizonatheatre.org.

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