Asolo Rep Announces Change in 11-12 Season

Michael Donald Edwards, Producing Artistic Director of Asolo Repertory Theatre and Steven High, Executive Director of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art announced today that a co-production of John Logan's Tony Award winning drama, Red will play March 30-April 22, 2012 in the Ringling Museum's Historic Asolo Theater. Red replaces the previously announced production of Who the #tiny_mce_markeramp;% is Jackson Pollock?!

"Having to make a change in play selection is always difficult and is almost always dictated by outside circumstances," said Michael Donald Edwards. "Asolo Rep had commissioned a theatrical version of the documentary Who the #tiny_mce_markeramp;% is Jackson Pollock?!, but we recently discovered that a California playwright has independently written and produced another play based on the main events and characters of the documentary, albeit with a changed title and character names. Since our piece could no longer be a world premiere, our approach to the production was no longer viable. While this news was disappointing to us, it presented us with a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with the Ringling Museum on a different work about the art world, one that just happened to win six Tony Awards in 2010, including the prize for Best Play."

"Red is the perfect piece of dramatic literature for our first co-production with Asolo Rep." said Steven High, Executive Director for The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. "It is a two-character play, wherein actors engage with the living dynamics of a great painter's work. We are proud to be working with our colleagues at Asolo Rep on this most important project. Red will be a powerful addition to the Ringling's 2011-12 Art of Our Time programming."

"What do you see?" painter Mark Rothko asks in the opening line of John Logan's two-person drama, Red.

This becomes the central question in the compelling theatrical depiction of one of the 20th century's most important and complex artists. The play is set in 1958 at Rothko's studio in the Bowery, where the master of abstract expressionism is working to complete the biggest commission in the history of modern art-a series of murals for New York's famed Four Seasons restaurant. Over the course of two years, Rothko works feverishly to complete the commission, under the watchful gaze of his young assistant and the unseen, yet threatening presence of a new generation of artists. Passionate and provocative, Red is a fascinating portrayal of the ambition, vulnerability and agony inherent in the art of making art.

"Intense and exciting...What we see, above all, is an artist seeing, and it's impossible not to feel thrilled by the privilege."-New York Times
"Logan sends American abstract impressionist painter Mark Rothko into battle with his demons in this electrifying play of ideas, and the artist's howls are pure music...So intense that anyone who leaves the theater should be shot."-Variety
"The most compelling drama I've seen all year...a sizzling, intellectually thrilling two-character drama."

-Chicago Tribune

The replacement means a change in the previously-announced Asolo Rep schedule, which is now as follows:

MY FAIR LADY
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe????
Based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion?
NOVEMBER 18-DECEMBER 23

ONCE IN A LIFETIME
By Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman?
JANUARY 6-APRIL 1

GOD OF CARNAGE
By Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton?
JANUARY 13-FEBRUARY 29

YENTL
By Leah Napolin and Isaac Bashevis Singer
A play based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story "Yentl The Yeshiva Boy"????
JANUARY 20-APRIL 26

FALLEN ANGELS
By Noël Coward
MARCH 9-MAY 13

HAMLET, PRINCE OF CUBA
By William Shakespeare

Adapted by Michael Donald Edwards
Spanish Translation by Eduardo Machado
MARCH 23-MAY 6

RED

By John Logan
A Co-Production with the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
MARCH 30-APRIL 22

Tommy Tune PRESENTS: STATE OF THE ART SONG & DANCE
A World Premiere, Conceived, Choreographed and Starring Noah Racey
Directed by Jeff Calhoun
MAY 25-JUNE 17

AN EXCITING SUMMER MUSICAL TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
JUNE 22-JULY 15

Subscriptions to Asolo Rep's 2011-2012 season are currently on sale through the box office at 941-351-8000 or 800-361-8388. Single tickets will go on sale to the public on September 19, 2011. Summer Box Office hours are 10am to 5pm Monday through Friday. For more information on the upcoming 2011-2012 season, visit www.asolorep.org.

Don't Miss a Miami Metro News Story
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...