THE FULL MONTY, LITTLE WOMEN & More Set for Theatre Aspen's 2014 Season
Award-winning Theatre Aspen announced the lineup for its 31st season today. The Hurst Theatre will open with the musical comedy The Full Monty, running in repertory with the musical Little Women, and a brand new comedy by Sandy Rustin called The Cottage. Casting begins early in 2014.
Artistic Director Paige Price said, "Following last year's record-breaking season which included LES MISERABLES, we decided to go for a season with variety, lots of music and a dash of naughtiness."
Carbonell Award winner and Theatre Aspen favorite Mark Martino will direct and choreograph The Full Monty, opening June 24th. With a book by five-time Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize nominee Terrence McNally (Ragtime, Master Class) and music and lyrics by David Yazbek (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), the musical comedy opened on Broadway in 2001, garnering ten Tony Award and twelve Drama Desk nominations. Paul Black will design sets and lighting, with costumes by Nicole M. Harrison. Vernon Willet is Production Stage Manager.
The musical Little Women, based on the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott, opens July 2nd, with a book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. The creative team comprises Tom Ward (sets), Paul Black (lights) and Executive Artistic Director Paige Price, who directs.
Opening July 24th is The Cottage; a farce inspired by the works of Noel Coward and set in the 1920s English countryside. Written by Sandy Rustin Fleischer, this tale of sex, betrayal and true love unfolds when Sylvia Van Kipness exposes her love affair to her husband and her lover's wife. A surprising web of secrets unravels in this hilarious-and-almost-murderous-romantic comedy.
Rustin, whose Rated P for Parenthood premiered at the West Side Theatre in New York City, appeared at Theatre Aspen in Crimes of the Heart, has appeared on stage and screen and can regularly be seen at Upright Citizen's Brigade in "Gravid Water," (Best Improv Show - Time Out, NY). Her scripted series, "Overbooked" is in production with Nickelodeon's new network, Nick Mom. Don Stephenson, currently on Broadway in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is on board to direct.. Stephenson has appeared in seven Broadway shows and is set to direct a star-studded Titanic this February at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.
Theatre Aspen (Aspen Non-Profit Business of the Year in 2012) was awarded the "Outstanding Regional Theatre" Henry Award in Denver in 2009 and Alison Luff (Wicked) won a Best Supporting Actress Denver Post Ovation Award for her work as Olive in Theatre Aspen's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Recent Ovation nominees include Joan Hess, Beth Malone, Aaron Rhyne, Julia Foran and Sandy Duncan.
Season passes will go on sale in early January, 2014. Productions take place in the new Hurst Theatre in Rio Grande Park and will be underwritten by season sponsor ANB Bank, with the generous support of The City of Aspen and The Aspen Club and Spa.
For further information contact Theatre Aspen at 970-925-9313 or visit www.theatreaspen.org.
