Mason, Zenk et al. Lead CAP21's Summer Stock Series; Launches 7/16

This summer, the great American tradition of summer stock theatre is being brought to New York City by CAP21: America's Musical Theatre Conservatory & Theatre Company. The inaugural season will celebrate the women of Broadway.

Summer Stock NYC, a new initiative of the CAP21 Theatre Company, debuts with "A Celebration of the Broadway Musical" on July 16. The 75-minute musical revue features hit songs and production numbers from classic Broadway musicals, starring awarding winning Broadway and cabaret artist Karen Mason ("Mamma Mia!"; "Sunset Boulevard") and "As the World Turns" Daytime Emmy nominated actress Colleen Zenk ("Bring Back Birdie"), and featuring Carrie Manolakos("Mamma Mia!"; National Tour of "Wicked"), Pearl Sun ("Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas"), Dana Steingold (Encores! "Anyone Can Whistle"; National Tour of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"), Kelly Felthous (National Tour of "Grease") and Kelsey Crouch-Pinter from "As the World Turns." The show celebrates the Broadway musical from Golden Age classics "On the Town," and "Anything Goes" to contemporary musicals such as "Spring Awakening," "Rent," and "Avenue Q."

Summer Stock NYC is the first collaborative partnering of CAP21 with The Fund for the City of New York, Pace University, Hunter College and Capital One, as a corporate sponsor. "A Celebration of the Broadway Musical" will play July 16 -18 at The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts (Pace University) and July 20-23 at The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse (Hunter College). Ticket prices range from $15 to $30.

Frank and Eliza Ventura, founders of CAP21, envision Summer Stock NYC as a way to make high quality musical productions accessible to local family audiences, and expand the training ground and performance opportunities for the city's vast talent pool of established and emerging actors, singers, dancers, directors, choreographers and designers.

"Summer stock is a wonderful way to share the joy of musical theatre with new audiences and a perfect example of theatre's collaborative process, where artists of different levels of experience can experiment, take risks and grow," said Frank Ventura, Executive Artistic Director of CAP21.

"We are excited by our new partnerships with the Fund for the City of New York, Pace University and Hunter College, and the introduction of this new urban summer theatre tradition. We look forward to students and recent grads joining the company of New York esteemed professionals in Summer Stock NYC's first production," said Eliza Ventura, Artistic Director of CAP21.

Pick up any Playbill, and you are likely to find CAP21 alumni inside. Since its founding in 1994, the conservatory has trained many of our country's most successful and talented performers, including the ubiquitous Lady Gaga, Hollywood star/Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway, "Glee" heartthrob/Tony nominee Matthew Morrison, "Veronica Mars" star Kristin Bell, and "General Hospital's" Emmy-nominated Bradford Anderson. Over the last sixteen years, 85 CAP21 alumni have been cast in 92 shows on Broadway. In addition, hundreds of alumni have starred in national and international tours, regional theatre productions, Off-Broadway, as well as in film and television.

In 2011, Summer Stock NYC will tour different boroughs with a full length production of a classic Broadway musical.

Visit http://www.cap21.org or http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=SUM10 for performance schedule information and to purchase tickets.

About CAP21
The CAP21 Theatre Company supports new works with in-house discussions with writers, round table readings and public stage readings. CAP21 also works annually in development with nearly 20 new musicals and new plays providing public and in-house readings along with a writer's co-op. Over 200 theatre artists at least are engaged each year to create and present new work. From these programs CAP21 selects new work to produce in its season. CAP21 features diverse offerings of new plays and new musicals for multi-generational audiences. Over 200 theatre artists at least are engaged each year to create and present new work. Three new works are produced each season. The CAP21 Conservatory provides an in-depth actor training program specializing in musical theatre performance. The renowned school, which began in 1994, is now an internationally recognized musical theatre conservatory. Through its various programs, the Conservatory annually trains over 400 emerging performers who come from all over the United States and the world.

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