Anderson, Blagen & More Set For Guthrie's THE MASTER BUTCHERS SINGING CLUB

The Guthrie Theater today announced complete casting for the world premiere stage production of acclaimed Minnesota author Louise Erdrich's The Master Butchers Singing Club, which will kick off the 2010-11 season on the Wurtele Thrust Stage. Newly announced cast members are M. Cochise Anderson (Ancestor), Jennifer Blagen (Tante), Charlie Brady (Cyprian), Terry Hempleman (Roy), Tracey Maloney (Clarisse), Bill McCallum (Sheriff Hock) and Peter Thomson (Dr. Heech) - in addition to Sean Cackoski, Rebecca Hurd, Jake Ingbar, Ryan McCartan, Maeve Moynihan, Logan Pedersen and Nicholas Saxton as young people of Argus - who join the previously announced Katie Guentzel (Eva), Emily Gunyou Halaas (Delphine), Lee Mark Nelson (Fidelis) and Sheila Tousey (Step and a Half). Single tickets start at $29 and are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Marsha Norman (‘night, Mother, The Secret Garden, The Red Shoes, The Color Purple) brings Erdrich's novel to the stage under the direction of Francesca Zambello, who has been developing this production for the Guthrie since helming the 2008 world premiere musical of Little House on the Prairie in Minneapolis.

Bookended by the two World Wars, the moving story of tradition, family, love and loss follows the life of Fidelis and his family, as well as Delphine and her partner Cyprian, as they adjust in their separate lives in the small town of Argus, North Dakota. As Fidelis and Delphine's lives intertwine, the play chronicles ordinary small-town citizens as they encounter the extraordinary events - both in their insular world and in the larger world - that come to define their lives.

Though best known as a Native American novelist, Erdrich explores German American cultural tradition, which is part of her personal heritage, in The Master Butchers Singing Club. She is the author of 13 novels, as well as volumes of poetry, short stories, children's books and a memoir of early motherhood. Her novel Love Medicine won the National Book Critics Circle Award. The Last Report on The Miracles at Little No Horse was a finalist for the National Book Award. More recently, her 2009 novel The Plague of Doves won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Minnesota and is the owner of Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore.

The artistic team includes David Korins (Scenic Design), Jess Goldstein (Costume Design), Mark McCullough (Lighting Design), Kevin Stites (Music Supervision and Incidental Music), Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (Sound Design), Marcela Lorca (Movement), Jo Holcomb (Dramaturg), Lucinda Holshue (Speech and Dialect Coach), Peter Moore (Fight Director), Russell W. Johnson (Production Stage Manager), Jason Clusman (Assistant Stage Manager), Michele Harms (Assistant Stage Manager) and Jason Snow (Associate Director).

The Master Butchers Singing Club is the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays award.

The GUTHRIE THEATER (Joe Dowling, Director) was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963 and is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Tony Award-winning Guthrie Theater is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. With annual attendance of nearly 500,000 people, the Guthrie Theater presents a mix of classic plays and contemporary work on its three stages. Under the artistic leadership of Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie continues to set a national standard for excellence in theatrical production and performance. In 2006, the Guthrie opened its new home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the Guthrie Theater houses three state-of-the-art stages, production facilities, classrooms and dramatic public lobbies. www.guthrietheater.org.

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