Patti Cohenour Stars in Goodspeed's YOU ARE HERE, Opening Tonight!

A Chicago housewife turns one small step into a giant, life-changing leap in Bartram & Hill's new musical You Are Here. Goodspeed Musicals continues its commitment to innovative, thought-provoking works with this intimate tour-de-force new musical featuring Tony Award nominee Patti Cohenour as Diana, Broadway performers Andrea Frierson as Voice 1 and Stacia Fernandez as Voice 2, and Spamilton: An American Parody starDan Rosales as Voice 3. You Are Here will begin performances today and run through June 10, 2018 at The Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn.

July 20, 1969...a man walks on the moon...and Diana, a Chicago housewife, walks out of her comfortable suburban life. Suddenly alone in a fast-changing world, she finds a series of unexpected encounters can turn one small step into a giant, life-changing leap. This intimate, hilarious and heart-breaking tour-de-force musical will leave you cheering for the resilience of the human spirit.

Diana is played by Patti Cohenour, who was the first American actress to play the role of Christine Daaé in the original company of The Phantom of the Opera. Ms. Cohenour was most recently the standby for the role of Elizabeth Arden in the 2017 Broadway musical War Paint. Her other Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include The Light in the Piazza as Signora Naccarelli, The Sound of Music as Mother Abbess and The Mystery of Edwin Drood as Rosa Bud, for which she earned Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations. Ms. Cohenour's international performances include Magnolia in Show Boat directed by Hal Prince (Toronto), Christine in Phantom of the Opera (dir.Hal Prince in Toronto and Canadian National), and The Mystery of Edwin Drood in London's West End.

Voice 1 is played by Andrea Frierson, who was seen in Goodspeed's production of Show Boat. Her Broadway credits include Once on This Island, The Lion King and Marie Christine. Ms. Frierson was also in the original Broadway production of For Colored Girls... and the original cast of A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. She is author and star of the Off- Broadway show Me & Ella at the York Theatre Company. Stacia Fernandez will play Voice 2. Ms. Fernandez has been previously seen in Goodspeed's production of Lucky Guy. Her Broadway credits include Mamma Mia!, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Swing! and Beauty and the Beast. Playing Voice 3 will be Dan Rosales, who was seen in Goodspeed's 2013 Festival of New Musicals staged reading of Come From Away. Mr. Rosales most recently starred in the Off-Broadway production of Spamilton: An American Parody. He also played the role of Peter Pan in the National Tour of Peter Pan 360 and was in New York City Center's production of Wringer.

You Are Here features book by Brian Hill. He was resident director of the Toronto, Vancouver and National companies of Forever Plaid and served as associate director for the US National Tours of Sunset Boulevard and The Sound of Music. He was director and dramaturge of Come From Away for the CMTP, Goodspeed Musicals and NAMT. For Disney Theatrical Productions, he was resident director of the Toronto and Broadway companies of The Lion King and associate director of Broadway's The Little Mermaid. For the Stratford Festival, he directed Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and was associate director for Man of La Mancha and Fiddler on the Roof. With composer/lyricist Neil Bartram, he has written The Adventures of Pinocchio, The Theory of Relativity(Goodspeed Musicals 2015) which is now available for licensing through Music Theatre International and The Story of My Life, which debuted at Goodspeed's Terris Theatre prior to its premiere on Broadway in 2009 when it earned four Drama Desk Award nominations (Outstanding Musical, Music, Lyrics, and Book). Current Bartram and Hill projects include Bethune and Senza Luce (CMTP), Les Belles Soeurs, Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) and Something Wicked This Way Comes (Delaware Theatre Company). Brian wrote the new book for The Old Globe's production of October Skyand the revised book for The Goodman Theatre's acclaimed production of Brigadoon.

Music and lyrics for You Are Here are by Neil Bartram. Neil is the composer and lyricist of Broadway's The Story of My Life with book writer Brian Hill (four Drama Desk Award nominations including two for Neil - Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics). His adaptation of Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio was commissioned by Chicago Shakespeare Theater and is now licensed through the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. His musical The Theory of Relativity, commissioned by Sheridan College and their Canadian Music Theatre Project, was written specifically for and about college age students and had its US premiere at Goodspeed Musicals in 2015 with its London premiere in the same year. It is now licensed worldwide by Music Theatre International. Neil also wrote the music and lyrics for Spin, an adaptation of the Korean film Speedy Scandal which was directed by Eric Schaeffer at the Signature Theatre, Arlington, VA. Recently, Neil wrote the score for Chicago Shakespeare Theater's and Asolo Rep's productions of Shakespeare in Love. Current projects include Senza Luce and Bethune (both commissioned by Michael Rubinoff and the CMTP), You Are Here (commissioned by the Signature Theatre), a musical adaptation of Michel Tremblay's play Les Belles-Soeurs, a musical based on Ray Bradbury's classic novel Something Wicked This Way Comes and the stage adaptation of Disney's beloved film Bedknobs and Broomsticks, all with book writer Brian Hill. Neil's awards include the ASCAP Foundation's Yellen Award, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, a Dramatists Guild Fellowship and a Dora Award. Cast albums include The Story of My Life and The Theory of Relativity (both on PS Classics). Neil is a member of the Dramatists Guild and ASCAP, and is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Music Theatre Workshop. Neil's work is published by Warner/Chappell Music.

This bittersweet musical will be directed by Sarna Lapine. Ms. Lapine is a freelance director based in New York. Most recently, she directed the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford. Her upcoming production of Kate Hamill's Little

Women will be at Primary Stages. Additional credits include the US National Tour of Dirty Dancing; Sondheim on Sondheim for the Boston Pops and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Associate Director, The National Theatre's War Horse (North America & Japan Tour); Director, National Tour of Lincoln Center Theater's South Pacific; and Resident Director on the First National South Pacific Tour. On the concert front, Lapine has developed and directed projects for Encores! (City Center), the Boston Pops, Umeda Arts Theatre in Japan, the 92 Street Y and the Bucks County Playhouse, and has co-conceived and directed critically acclaimed cabaret shows for Paolo Szot (Café Carlyle) and the actress Emily Bergl (54Below & Café Carlyle). Select directing credits include Other Desert Cities at Theatre Aspen for which she earned the Henry Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play, Tribes at Segal Centre of Montreal, Hope and Gravity by Michael Hollinger at Creede Repertory Theater, Sunday in the Park with George at Short North Stage, and Waiting for Lefty and The Year of Magical Thinking at the Intiman Theatre. Lapine has directed readings at Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Dramatists, BMI, Ars Nova, New York Theater Workshop, The LARK, Stella Adler, The Araca Group, Boomerang Theatre and Dixon Place, among others. She has been a teaching artist at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and Fordham University.

Choreography for You Are Here will be by Patrick McCollum, whose Broadway credits include The Band's Visit and Oh, Hello!. Other credits include Man From Nebraska at Second Stage, The Lightning Thief at TheatreWorks, Blueprint Specials at Public Theater Under the Radar Festival onboard the Intrepid, Rain at The Old Globe, Unknown Soldier at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Wilderness at the Abrons Arts Center and The Legend of Georgia McBride at Dorset. He was the Associate Choreographer for the Broadway productions of Angels in America, The Last Ship, Peter and the Starcatcher and Rocky, and the Dance Supervisor for Wicked. His Off-Broadway credits include Associate Choreographer for Murder Ballad at Manhattan Theatre Club and Movement Consultant for Permission at MCC.

You Are Here Scenic Design will be by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, whose recent credits include New Musical Monsoon Wedding at the Berkeley Theatre and Opera Kinkakuji at Kanagawa Prefectural Hall, Japan. Her upcoming projects include The Legend of Georgia McBride at the Guthrie Theatre,Photograph 51 at Umeda Theatre in Tokyo and Osaka and The Invisible Hand at Cleveland Playhouse. As an Associate Scenic Designer, Ms. MacAdams' Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, Bridges of Madison County and Golden Boy.

Costume Design will be by Valérie Thérèse Bart, who was the Associate Costume Designer for Goodspeed's The Circus in the Winter. Ms. Bart's most recent credits include Rigoletto at Minnesota Opera and The Invisible Hand at the Cleveland Playhouse. She designed for the world premieres of Listen, Wihelmina! at the Wolf Trap Children's Opera, Vanity Fair at The Pearl Theatre and She, After at Urban Arias. Additional credits include the National and International tours of Tina Packer's Women of Will, Too Heavy For Your Pocket at Roundabout Theatre, Butterfly at Heartbeat Opera, and The Servant of Two Masters at Seattle Repertory Arts Emerson, Guthrie Theatre, Shakespeare Theater Company and Yale Repertory.

Lighting Design will be by Ken Billington, who has been nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning in 1997 for Best Lighting Design for Chicago. With nearly 100 Broadway productions to his name, some of his most recent designs include Dames at Sea, Amazing Grace, Chaplin, The Scottsboro Boys,Sunday in the Park with George It Shoulda Been You, and The Drowsy Chaperone. He has also served as Lighting Designer for numerous Goodspeed productions, including A Sign of the Times, Amazing Grace, Lucky Guy, The Story of My Life, The 60's Project, They All Laughed and The Road to Hollywood.

Music Direction for You Are Here will be by David Holcenberg. David returns to Goodspeed having previously worked on The Terris Theatre premiere ofThe Story of My Life. Mr. Holcenberg's Broadway credits include Groundhog Day, Rocky, Matilda The Musical, Ghost The Musical, Bye Bye Birdie, The Story of My Life, Mamma Mia!, Seussical, Titanic and Show Boat.

Orchestrations are by David Shrubsole. Mr. Shrubsole's most recent work was the Drama Desk Award- winning Conversations With Coward. He was the Musical Supervisor for Broadway's American Psycho. Other work of Mr. Shrubsole includes The Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre; Porgy & Bess at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre; So, This Then is Life at 59e59; and Sweeney Todd at West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Sound Design will be by Jay Hilton, who is pleased to continue his long association with Goodspeed Musicals. Jay has designed countless productions at both The Goodspeed and The Terris Theatre in Chester. His work has also been heard on Broadway and National Tours and at Regional Theatres from coast to coast. In addition to being Goodspeed's Resident Sound Designer, Jay serves as Goodspeed Musicals Audio Supervisor.

Casting for You Are Here is by Paul Hardt of StewartWhitley Casting.

You Are Here will run May 18 - June 10, 2018. Curtain times are Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 pm, Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 pm and 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are available through the Goodspeed Box Office (860.873.8668), open seven days a week, or on-line at www.goodspeed.org. For show highlights, exclusive photos, special events and more, visit us at goodspeed.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

For over 30 years, The Terris Theatre has been Goodspeed's home for developing fresh, innovative and original new musicals. Many new and reimagined musicals have been developed in Chester, Conn., before moving on to Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tours and other Regional Theatres. Because this is a developmental theatre, the show can change on a day-to-day basis. New scenes are added, songs are moved, costumes are changed, dialogue is tweaked?all based on audience response and feedback.

Under the leadership of Executive Director Michael Gennaro, Goodspeed Musicals is dedicated to the preservation, development and advancement of musical theatre. Goodspeed produces three musicals each season at The Goodspeed in East Haddam, Conn. and additional productions at The Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn. The first regional theatre to receive two Tony Awards (for outstanding achievement), Goodspeed also maintains The Scherer Library of Musical Theatre and The Max Showalter Center for

Education in Musical Theatre. Goodspeed gratefully acknowledges the support of United Airlines, the official airline of Goodspeed Musicals and official audio sponsor Sennheiser. This production is also made possible with the support of the Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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