Abby Mueller, SIX Creators and More Join MEET THE ARTISTS with The Ordway

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is excited to announce 12 new guest artists who will appear in its virtual 'Meet the Artists' series this spring and summer. This free series of livestreamed conversations with local and national performing artists is curated to take audiences inside the Ordway's flagship series, Broadway at the Ordway.

Meet the Artists episodes are hosted by the Ordway's Producing Artistic Director Rod Kaats. Other Twin Cities artists will join as co-hosts for some of the events, including Rajané Katurah and Austene Van.

"We launched this virtual series to celebrate artists, who are now among the most underemployed group of workers in the country," said Kaats. "The audience response has been incredible, and the audiences have grown steadily. I think it's because this series brings artists and theater lovers closer together in a time when all of us are craving connection and missing the magic of live performance."

Each 'Meet the Artists' conversation includes an hour-long, livestreamed, free-flowing conversation with artists, followed by a 20-minute audience Q&A session. Viewing the livestreams is free, but reservations are required.

"It has been exciting to watch this series grow in popularity and impact. Starting this spring we will welcome three incredibly talented musical theater writers to the series, including the two 25-year-old writers behind the global musical sensation "SIX," said Kaats.

Below are the six new episodes in the series, scheduled from April through June 2021.

Abby Mueller with Christine Sherrill

5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, April 6

They've got a friend.

Abby Mueller and Christine Sherrill make each other laugh. While doing a musical together in Chicago they discovered they had the same sense of humor and became backstage bosom buddies. They're both masterful artists that command the stage, and each theater royalty in their own right: Abby is Queen Jane Seymour in the Broadway musical "SIX," and Christine played Donna the Dancing Queen in the Ordway's acclaimed production of "Mamma Mia!" Don't miss this very special episode of Meet the Artists and your chance to have virtual quarantine cocktails with Abby and Christine.

Adrianna Hicks

6 p.m. CDT on Monday, April 19

With class and grace, she's taking her place.

There's n-n-n-n-n-n-no way you should miss Adrianna Hicks. New York magazine critics awarded her the diva worship triple crown: "A combination of J.Lo, Jennifer Hudson and Lemonade-era Beyoncé." That's the way they described her interpretation of Catherine of Aragon, the role she played in the Ordway's pre-Broadway production of the musical "SIX." Whether it's gospel music in her church choir, American standards in concert with Michael Bublé or musical ballads from Broadway to Bavaria, Adrianna Hicks sings every style with style.

And if you ask her, she'll sing it in German (Wunderbar, right?). This event will be co-hosted by Rajané Katurah, a Twin-Cities actor and singer who appeared in the Ordway's production of "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and was named one of the "Twin Cities Artists Primed for Greatness in 2019" by the Star Tribune.

Dick Scanlan

6 p.m. CDT on Thursday, May 6

A thoroughly modern gentleman.

Dick Scanlan knows a thing or two about making a Broadway musical, with a particular knack for adapting beloved movies for the stage.

This includes "Thoroughly Modern Millie," the Tony Award winner for Best Musical and a new musical: "An Officer and a Gentleman," which will be part of the upcoming Broadway at the Ordway season (which he will also direct). Dick was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards for the book for the musical "Everyday Rapture" and was a script consultant on the Broadway production of "Motown the Musical."

This accomplished writer has also written articles that appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Playboy; his short stories have been published in Best American Gay Fiction; and he served as editor-in-chief of POZ, a national magazine for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Anna Uzele

6 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, May 18

Listen up, let her tell you a story.

Anna Uzele knows, sometimes things get turned upside down. In 2018 when she was in New York City on a school trip, she auditioned for the Broadway production of "Once on This Island."

Forty-eight hours later she was in rehearsal for her Broadway debut. In 2019 she started turning herself upside down, doing handstands to help her maintain the stamina to dance in the high and mighty heels of Catherine Parr in the Ordway's pre-Broadway production of "SIX."

Not all of Anna's tales are about being upside down, but what you will hear in all of them is this: Even when life throws her off balance, Anna knows how to find her equilibrium. So tune in, listen up and let her tell you a story.

This event will be co-hosted by Twin Cities actor, director and choreographer Austene Van, who is the artistic director of Yellow Tree Theatre and directed the musical "Annie" at the Ordway in 2017.

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert, Courtney Mack and Mallory Maedke

6 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, June 1

The rule of three. It's unbreakable.

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert, Courtney Mack and Mallory Maedke are reliable, always ready and unshakeable. What else would you expect from unbeatable Midwesterners? You know what they say: You can build them up, you can tear them down, but nothing can stop this fearless threesome from being ready at a moment's notice to jump into platform heels and slay in the musical "SIX." From auditioning together, living together and touring together, these hometown Queens can always be counted on to bring 300%.

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss - Live from London!

5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, June 29

Two of a kind. No category.

"SIX" writing partners (and self-proclaimed queens themselves) Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss always knew they wanted to create a male-free musical. Their studies at Oxford, the prestigious British university, led them to the perfect group of unsung female characters, six women, all of them queens and married to the same notorious man - reduced by history to a simple mnemonic rhyme: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. Tune in to the Meet the Artists season finale with the two 25-year-olds whose deceptively simple idea blew up into a global musical sensation.

While each conversation in the Meet the Artists series is free, reservations are required. Go to Ordway.org/Events/Meet-the-Artists to make a reservation for any of the events scheduled through the end of June 2021.

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