QUARTET to Sing at Bristol Riverside Theatre This Fall

Learning to age gracefully is the theme of Bristol Riverside Theatre's next Mainstage production, Quartet by Ron Harwood running October 31-November 19. Directed by Susan D. Atkinson, the ensemble cast features Keith Baker, Joy Franz, Laural Merlington, and Nick Ullett.

Previews begin Tuesday, October 31 with opening night on Thursday, November 2. Performances run Tuesday through Sunday until November 19. Tickets start at $33, with discounts for students, groups and military personnel. Tickets are available by visiting brtstage.org or calling the BRT Box Office at 215-785-0100. Bristol Riverside Theatre is located at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, PA.

Cecily, Reggie and Wilf live in a home for retired opera singers, where they take part in an annual concert to celebrate Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi's birthday. When opera great Jean Horton arrives just in time to sing at the concert, she's asked to perform for the first time in over 20 years, but will the show actually go on? Two friends and her ex-husband will do anything to make sure Jean takes the stage. This funny and poignant play is a sweet ode to the art of growing old gracefully, culminating in a rousing, glorious finale.

Susan D. Atkinson (Director) theatrical career spans 40 years of directing and producing on both the east and west coasts. She has directed well over 150 plays and musicals in her career, including world and area premieres from such playwrights and composers as Doug Katsoras, Mark St. Germain, Jon Marans, Alan Knee and Larry Gatlin. For BRT, Atkinson directed last season's productions of Witness for the Prosecution and A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline, as well as the smash hit Always...Patsy Cline, Bus Stop, Mountain, Enemy of the People, Tuesdays with Morrie, Little Shop of Horrors, What A Glorious Feeling and Inherit The Wind, The Good Earth, Wintertime, Irma La Douce, Alive and Well, The Price, 110 in the Shade, A Sunbeam, Inspecting Carol, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Arsenic and Old Lace, A Little Night Music, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Holiday, Talley's Folly, Proof, Little Women, A Raw Space and Steel Magnolias. In 1998, Atkinson directed Larry Gatlin's Texas Flyer both here at BRT and at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, Texas.

Keith Baker (Wilfred Bond) has steered BRT's artistic vision for over twenty-five years, helping position the company's vital role in the regional cultural landscape. His acting credits include numerous productions at BRT including Witness for the Prosecution, Mountain, Inherit the Wind, Deathtrap, A Raw Space, Barrymore, Defiance, Proof, Hamlet, A Little Night Music, Arsenic and Old Lace, A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Old Wicked Songs, for which he won a Broadway World Award. He started his career as Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway and later appeared as Jeeves in the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn musical By Jeeves at the Goodspeed Opera House, and has sung leading roles with Houston Grand Opera, Western Opera Theatre, and Kentucky Opera Association. He has directed more than 40 productions for BRT including Working: A Musical and Jesus Christ Superstar last season, Man of La Mancha (nominated for three Barrymore Awards) and Rumors, Lost in Yonkers, Ragtime (nominated for nine Barrymore Awards), Gypsy starring Tovah Feldshuh, Chicago (nominated for six Barrymore Awards), The Balkan Women (winner of a Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play), The Dresser (nominated for a Barrymore Award for Best Director of a Play) and Dear World (nominated for three Barrymore Awards). On television he appeared in two episodes of Stella for Comedy Central. Baker has been nominated eleven times for the prestigious Carbonell Awards, for which he was twice the recipient for Best Actor.

Joy Franz (Jean Horton) returns to BRT where she has been seen as Grandma in Lost in Yonkers and as Desiree in A Little Night Music. On Broadway, she has appeared in the original cast and the revival of Into The Woods as well as the original Broadway productions of A Little Night Music, Pippin, Company, and Sweet Charity. Off-Broadway she has performed at Lion Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Westside Arts and Village Gate. She has been a frequent guest at Paper Mill Playhouse, Barrington Stage and New Harmony.

Laurel Merlington (Cecily Robson) appeared Off-Broadway as Melanie Sangsue in The Chinese Viewing Pavilion. Regionally she has performed at George Street Playhouse in Hedda Gabler, Delaware Theatre Company in City of Conversation and in numerous productions at The Boarshead Theatre, including Murderers, King Lear, Steel Magnolias, Uncle Vanya, Our Town, and Under Milk Wood.

Nick Ullett (Reginald Paget) created the role of Gerald in the musical Me and My Girl on Broadway and appeared in the New York premiere of Tooth and Claw at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Regional theatre credits includes Bakersfield Mist at the Fountain, These Paper Bullets at the Geffen Playhouse, Enter Laughing at the Wallis Annenberg Center, School for Scandal at the Mark Taper Forum, Many Happy Returns at Laguna Playhouse, Zhivago, The Musical at La Jolla Playhouse and The Importance of Being Earnest at the Gulfshore Playhouse. He has been seen on television in The Big Bang Theory, The Practice, Home Improvement, and Golden Girls among others.

Quartet brings together the creative team of BRT veterans designers - Costume Designer Linda Bee Stockton and Sound Designer Elizabeth Atkinson - and introduces Set Designer Court Watson and Lighting Designer Karen Spahn.

BRT's Mainstage season continues with Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies on January 23-February 11, the Tony Award-winning blockbuster musical The Producers on March 6-April 1 and the farcical period-piece musical Triumph of Love on May 1-20.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

Friday Festival on Friday, November 3 at 7 PM. Enjoy beer courtesy of Cold Spring Beverages and appetizers courtesy of The Borough Pub, then hear a guest speaker discuss the show

Wine Down Wednesday on November 8 at 6:30 PM. A great way to wind down midweek with crudites, dessert, and wine, compliments of Got Wine?.

Thirsty Thursday on November 16 at 6:30 PM. Enjoy beer courtesy of Broken Goblet Brewing Co. with snacks courtesy of Dog & Bull Brew & Music House and Philly Style Soft Pretzel.

Since 1986, BRT has continued to bring critically acclaimed professional theatre to Bucks County. The theatre is the recipient of over 68 Barrymore Award nominations for Excellence in Theatre, given annually by Theatre Philadelphia. Under the direction of Artistic Director Keith Baker, Founding Director Susan D. Atkinson, and Managing Director Anne S. Kohn, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community. In addition to its Mainstage productions, BRT offers four concerts including the holiday tradition An American Christmas Songbook, the new play development series America Rising, and the summer theater arts camp ArtRageous. For information, visit www.brtstage.org.