Austin Playhouse Opens 2013-14 Season with MAN OF LA MANCHA Tonight

Austin Playhouse will open its 2013-14 season with Man of La Mancha next month, beginning tonight, September 6. The production will run through October 6, 2013, and play Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.

Winner of five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Man of La Mancha has enchanted audiences for decades with the lyrical adventure of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Set during the Spanish Inquisition, Miguel Cervantes, writer and tax collector, is imprisoned for foreclosing on a church. In order to win favor with his fellow prisoners he tells the tale of Don Quixote, a would-be knight who sees only goodness in a world of darkness and despair. The musical shifts from the prison's bleak reality to Quixote's idealized world with prisoners becoming characters in Quixote's story. Featuring a breathtaking score including "The Impossible Dream," "Dulcinea," and the title song, Man of La Mancha is powerful American musical theatre at its best.

Starring Rick Roemer as Cervantes/Quixote, Jacob Trussell as his manservant/Sancho Panza, Boni Hester as Aldonza (Dulcinea), Huck Huckaby as the Governor/Innkeeper, Ben Wolfe as the Duke/Dr. Carrasco, Josh Wechsler as the Padre, Wendy Zavaleta as the Housekeeper,Claire Grasso as Antonia, Brian Coughlin as Pedro, and Leslie Hethcox as the Barber, with Kimberly Barrow, Ann Richards, Stephen Mercantel, Paul Koudouris, Glenn DeVar, Brian Losoya, and Patrick Crowley.

Direction by Don Toner, musical direction by Michael McKelvey, choreography by Lisa del Rosario, costume design by Jessica Colley-Mitchell, set design by Don Toner and Patrick Crowley, lighting design by Don Day, and sound design by Joel Mercado-See.

The Season opens with Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion, & Mitch Leigh, running September 6 - October 6, 2013, followed by the murder-mystery And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, November 22 - December 22, 2013, a new adaptation of Corneille's 17th century farce The Liar by David Ives, February 7 - March 9, 2014, the world premiere of Roaring by Cyndi Williams, April 4 - May 4, 2014, and aTBA, May 23 - June 22, 2014.

In addition to the five-play season, Austin Playhouse will produce the popular comedy The Dead Presidents' Club by Larry L. King, October 18 - November 3, 2013, and the provocative recent Broadway hit Venus in Fur by David Ives, January 3 - 26, 2013.

Tickets are $34 Thursday/Friday, $36 Saturday/Sunday, $38 Opening Night with champagne reception: Friday, September 6, 2013. To order, call the box office at 512.476.0084 or visit www.austinplayhouse.com.