THE LETTERS Opens at Andak Stage Company March 14

The Andak Stage Company announces the sixth world premiere of their first three seasons.

John W. Lowell's THE LETTERS is a drama of intimidation and disinformation, staged as a cat-and-mouse struggle in pre-glasnost Russia. At the Ministry of Information where the task is, in fact, disinformation: re-writing history to remove embarrassments from the lives of Soviet heroes, the battle comes to a head. A fight over a set of sexually compromising letters, written by one of the country's great composers, could turn deadly.

Dakin Matthews will produce and Anne McNaughton will direct the first stage production of this most promising playwright's new work. Norman Snow and Julia Fletcher star as the dueling pawns in an intriguing ‘fight to the finish' at the office...under an oppressive regime. The production will be designed by Dean Cameron at Andak's NewPlace Studio Theatre in the NoHo Arts District.

John W. Lowell has written nine plays: Sheridan Square, Autumn Canticle, Leo Tolstoy Is In The Next Room Dying, Two Women In A Garden, The Genius Of The System, The Letters, The Great Purim Adventure Of Chip Malibu, Taken In, and Rensselaer. His work has been featured at The Denver Center Festival of New Plays, which did the premiere professional reading of The Genius of the System in 2001. Autumn Canticle has received productions at the Walnut Street Theatre and the Celebration Theatre (GLAAD award nominee), after a workshop production with the Eureka Theatre Company. Leo Tolstoy... premiered at the San José Stages, following readings by The Acting Company and Circle Repertory Company. Several of the above-noted productions and readings were directed by actor/director David Ogden Stiers. MR. Lowell's Taken In premiered at the Richmond Triangle Players Theatre, and has since been produced to great acclaim in London and Santa Cruz. The Letters has had readings with PlayBroker and The Directors Company. Most recently, he composed the music for the world premiere of Mikhail Kuzmin's 1907 play, The Dangerous Precaution, at Theatre Rhinoceros.

THE LETTERS opens Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 8:00pm (with receptions to follow performances on 3/14 & 3/15) and will run through Sunday April 19, 2009. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm at NewPlace Studio Theatre, 10950 Peach Grove Street, North Hollywood, CA 91601. All tickets are $20, with discounts for seniors, students, industry members, and groups. For tickets (866) 811-4111 or visit www.Andak.org.

Anne McNaughton (Director) is the Associate Artistic Director of Andak Stage Company and has directed previous productions of Spite for Spite, The Bay At Nice, and world premieres of The Prince of L.A., The Savannah Option, A Magic Christmas, Don Juan The Trickster of Seville, and her own Molière update, San Fran Scapin. She was the Artistic Director of the Valley Shakespeare Festival in Saratoga and a founding member of both the Antaeus Company and John Houseman's Acting Company, for which she directed U.S.A. off-Broadway. Anne was a Resident Director at San Jose Rep, California Actors Theatre, Berkeley Stage Company, and Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, and taught and directed at College of Marin and in the American Conservatory Theatre's advanced training program. She is a member of the first graduating class of the Juilliard Drama Division and holds a graduate degree in directing from Stanford University. Her award-winning productions in the San Francisco Bay Area include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Richard III, Artichoke, and Letters Home. Most recently, she directed The Prince of L.A. and Collected Stories at the Old Globe, Twelfth Night for Company Rep, and The Liar, The Proof of the Promise, Trial By Jury and The Will for the Antaeus Company.

Julia Fletcher (Anna) appeared in previous Andak productions of Spite for Spite, The Prince of L.A., The Savannah Option, and A Magic Christmas. She also appeared in Dakin Matthews' new verse translation of The Liar for the Antaeus Company. Julia comes from a distinguished theatrical family and has been acting since childhood, appearing at such theaters as A.C.T. in San Francisco, A Contemporary Theatre and the Intiman in Seattle, Berkeley Rep, the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, San Jose Rep, P.C.P.A. in Santa Maria/Solvang, and the Geffen Playhouse. Julia has played Juliet, Ophelia, Lady Macbeth, Helena and Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Margaret in Richard III, Ariel in The Tempest, Lavinia in Mourning Become Electra, Sally Talley in Talley's Folly, Lydia Languish in The Rivals, and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, among many other roles. Julia has been a professional stage manager and director and was the Founding Artistic Director of the Pacific Theatre Ensemble, now known as the Pacific Resident Theatre. She is also a voice actress, featured prominently in Animatrix, Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, Vampire Hunter D, Ferngully 2, Aeon Flux, the Final Fantasy games, and many "Anime" series.

Norman Snow (The Director) appeared in the Andak Stage Company of Martin Crimp's The Misanthrope. On Broadway Mr. Snow appeared in The School for Scandal, The Beggar's Opera, Macbeth, Inherit the Wind, The Robber Bridegroom, Edward II, The Three Sisters, Scenes and Revelations, The Time of You Life, Measure for Measure, and Next Time I'll Sing For You. Off-Broadway, he was seen in One Crack Out, The Lower Depths, The Fantod, Timon of Athens, and Cymbeline. He has appeared regionally at the Goodman Theatre (Richard III, Holiday, Lone Canoe), Great Lakes Theatre (Man and Superman, Hamlet), Annenberg Theatre (The Power and the Glory), The Old Globe (Art, Henry V, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream), Pasadena Playhouse (David's Mother), Yale Rep (Major Barbara), Long Wharf Theatre (Reclaimed), Mark Taper Forum (Richard II), South Coast Rep (The Company of Heaven), Matrix Theatre (Habeas Corpus), and the Globe West Hollywood (If Only). His films include The Europeans, Hard Choices, The Last Starfighter, and Manhunter. On TV he has appeared in many series and soaps, including Law and Order, L.A. Law, Quantum Leap, Star Trek, Days of Our Lives, and The Young and the Restless. Mr. Snow graduated from Juilliard as part of the first drama class (Group One), and was a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company and of The Antaeus Company. He was also, for ten years, a member of the renowned choir at St. Charles Borromeo in L.A. under maestro Paul Salumunivich, with whom he sang on numerous picture soundtracks as well as with the L.A. Master Chorale and the L.A. Philharmonic in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex.