Summer Stock Austin Sets 10th Season: CHICAGO, FOOTLOOSE & More

Award-winning Summer Stock Austin will open its 10th Anniversary Season with the first show they ever produced, FOOTLOOSE. Footloose, the perfect summer musical, is packed with exhilarating dancing, vibrantly vintage 80s costumes, and a score filled with music that defined an era. Footloose will be directed and choreographed by SSA Co-Founder Ginger Morris. The 2014 season will also include Kander & Ebb's sizzling Broadway Blockbuster, CHICAGO. This sharp-edged satire, set in the roaring 20s, features a dazzling score that inspired immortal staging by Bob Fosse. SSA Co-Founder, Michael McKelvey directs Chicago with choreography by Rocker Verastique. Theatre-For-All, the Summer Stock Austin "family audience" production, will be following up last year's hit, THE BREMEN TOWN MUSICIANS, with the World Premiere of Allen Robertson's STONE SOUP. Mr. Robertson will stage and music direct the production.

Austin's professional artists joining the season include music directors Lyn Koenning (UT Theatre & Dance) and Dustin Struhall (Ordinary Days); Costume designers Pam Friday (Bremen Town Musicians), Glenda Barnes (Swing!), and Teresa Carson (TexArts); Lighting designer Robert Wyburn; and Production Manager Shannon Richey (Texas State University).

Tickets go on sale in June and are available at TheLongCenter.org or by calling (512) 474.LONG (5664). Also available at the Long Center's 3M Box Office located at 701 West Riverside Drive at South First Street.

Since July 2005, college and high school students from across Texas meet to mount several productions with professionals from Austin and around the country in a one-of-a-kind experience. They work as a traditional "stock" company; each member performs, designs, builds and assists on the various aspects of theatrical productions. Similar programs charge high school students tuition, but Summer Stock Austin not only offers this experience to all participants free of charge, many of the college students work as mentors throughout the process.

The company is led by a host of professionals with experience ranging from Austin to Broadway. Through this work, college students begin making invaluable connections as they embark on their professional careers. High school students will have a similarly unique experience as they gain first-hand knowledge of working in a professional setting.

Summer Stock Austin's philosophy is to create an environment of shared learning by incorporating high school students, college students and professionals in a fast-paced production series where everyone involved shares in the responsibility of creating high-quality theatre.

Summer Stock Austin is a joint program of the Long Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with Austin Playhouse.

Past SSA Productions: Footloose, Much Ado About Nothing, West Side Story, Rumors, The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Stoopid Tales, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Assassins, Oklahoma, Bat Boy, Jack and the Beanstalk, Sweeney Todd, Little Shop of Horrors, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, A Year with Frog and Toad, The Producers, Urinetown, Legally Blonde, Chess, Pippin, Swing! and The Bremen Town Musicians.

Performance Calendar
Footloose July 24, 25, 26, 27; August 2, 3, 6, 9, 10
Chicago July 30, 31; August 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Stone Soup July 26, 27; August 2, 3, 6, 8, 9

Please consult the performance schedule on www.summerstockaustin.org for exact show times.

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