Contra Costa Civic Theatre Opens 55th Season with THE ADDAMS FAMILY, Now thru 10/19

Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) opens its 55th season with the Bay Area premiere of The Addams Family, a new musical based on the delightfully macabre drawings by cartoonist Charles Addams. CCCT's production will be directed and choreographed by New York-based Alex Perez and music directed by Michael Wiles, with set design by Stewart Lyle, costume design by Lisa Danz, lighting design by Zoe Gopnik-McManus, and sound design by Michael Kelly. This multiple Tony and Drama Desk award nominee, with book by Marshall Brickman (Jersey Boys) and Rick Elice (Peter and the Starcatcher), and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party), plays weekends from today, Sep 19-Oct 19.

The cast for this first-ever Bay Area production includes Mark Enea as Gomez and Molly Daniels as Morticia, with Tosca Maltzman as Wednesday, Jonah Rotenberg as Pugsley, Sandi Weldon as Grandma, Ron Pickett as Uncle Fester, and Greg Lynch as Lurch. Others in the company include Lewis Rawlinson as Wednesday's boyfriend Lucas; Tom Curtin and Allison Meneley as Lucas' parents, Mal and Alice; and Ashley Adams, Trisha Ayllon, Isabella Khoury, Sam Machado, Melody Perera, Daniel Quezada, and CC Sheldon as the Ancestors.

Based on Charles Addams' single-panel cartoons that appeared in The New Yorker, among others, The Addams Family presents the characters as envisioned by their creator, rather than their film and television incarnations. From the official website: "The Addams Family features an original story, and it's every father's nightmare. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. A man her parents have never met. And if that weren't upsetting enough, she confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he's never done before - keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday's "normal" boyfriend and his parents."

Alex Perez (Director/Choreographer) is a Member of Actors Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and Stage Directors and Choreographers. Broadway, Off Broadway NYC Performance/Directing/Choreography credits include: Oz (Playhouse 91, Producers Club), Ultimate Drag Off (Times Square Arts Center, Reprise Room), Media Killed the Video Star (Dillons Lounge), Tryst (Promenade Theatre). Regional and other favorite directorial projects include: Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland; Arts Festival Oberhavel, Germany; Half and Half (Penguin Rep Theatre); Millbrook Playhouse (PA); Acting Manitou (Maine); Rent; Cabaret; Urinetown; Batboy; Dracula; Jesus Christ Superstar; Hairspray; In the Heights; Avenue Q; and Spring Awakening. Performing credits include: De La Guarda (Daryl Roth Theatre), Capeman (Marquis), Lost Arryos, Rus (HERE Arts Center), and various others. Film & TV: Law & Order, Person of Interest, The Good Wife, One Life To Live, MTV Networks, etc. Alex is currently the Artistic Director and Founder of HT Musical Theatre in NJ, and enjoyed residencies as Acting Coach and Director at Saint Peters University, Ohana Arts in Honolulu, HI and Stagedoor Manor, NY. Throughout the years, Alex has earned numerous awards for his work as Director/Choreographer and Performer including NJ ACT Perry Awards, Papermill Playhouse Awards, and various festivals. Upcoming projects include: Rent at NJSDA, and Winter Wonderland at Thin Air Theatre, Cripple Creek, Colorado.

Single tickets for The Addams Family are available online at www.ccct.org or by phone at 510.524.9132. Adult tickets are $29 in advance, or $35 at the door; youth tickets for ages 16 and under are $15 in advance, or $20 at the door. Subscriptions for the 2014-15 season are still available; subscription prices are $99 for adults and $59 for youth.

All performances take place at CCCT's intimate and fully accessible theatre in the Flynn building located at 951 Pomona Avenue (cross street Moeser) in El Cerrito. Free parking is provided in the adjoining lot. For more information, visit www.ccct.org.