PTC Presents ONCE By Glen Hansard And Markéta Irglová

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Pioneer Theatre Company presents the romantic, Tony Award-winning musical Once, with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová and book by Enda Walsh. Based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney, the Sundance film-turned-Broadway-hit won eight Tonys, including Best Musical. The touching love ballad, "Falling Slowly," also won the Oscar for Best Song. It runs February 15 through March 2, 2019.

Set in Dublin, Ireland, the play follows two aspiring musicians as they encourage and discover each other's talent and love. Displaying the quadruple talents of the actors, the performers will not only sing, dance and act in the show, but will play the musical instruments as well.

Roderick Lawrence and Hillary Porter play Guy and Girl, respectively, in their debuts at PTC. Lawrence's credits include Comedy Central's "Broad City" and a National Tour of The Lion King (Simba u/s). Porter was in the original Broadway Production of A Bronx Tale: The Musical and performed with Sutton Foster and Gavin Creel in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Scott Anthony plays Eamon. He has performed at the South Coast Repertory's Once, and Actors Theatre of Louisville, Mark Taper Forum and Alley Theatre productions of The Christians. This is his first production at PTC.

MAYA BHAGWAT BASSUK is a New York-based actor and musician debuting at Pioneer Theatre Company, performing as Ex-Girlfriend. She has performed in meg jo beth amy & louisa (Tier 5 Theatre Project) and Immigrant Son (NY Summerfest) in New York.

Chris Blisset debuts at Pioneer Theatre as Billy. On television he was in Oxygens' "Killer Couples" and has been on two National Tours of Stand by Your Man, as well as in Off-Broadway productions of RockShow and Bloodsong of Love. Cody Craven joins PTC as Andrej. He has performed in Les Misérables (Marius) at Utah Shakespeare Festival, and has appeared in three different productions of Once across the country in two different roles.

Mary Fanning Driggs returns to PTC as Baruska. She has been seen in over 20 PTC productions, including most recently Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Mamma Mia! (Rosie), The Last Ship (Regional Premiere), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, White Christmas, Les Misérables (Regional Premiere) and Smokey Joe's Café. RILEY FRENCH debuts at PTC as the Emcee. A Weber State University student, French has written the play Deluge and has performed in Smokey Joe's Café at Weber State.

Zander Meisner returns to Salt Lake City, where he was last seen at Kingsbury Hall performing in the Broadway National Tour of Once. He will be performing as Svec at PTC, but he has played four different roles in the Once Broadway National Tour for almost three years and has worked on CBS's "Blue Bloods."

Chris Mixon performs as Da, returning to PTC after being in An American Daughter, Little Shop of Horrors, Crazy for You, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet and Noises Off. He has toured with Broadway's How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Ralph Macchio, and appeared opposite Angela Bassett in "The Rosa Parks Story" for CBS. K

RISTOPHER SAINT-LOUIS joins PTC as Bank Manager. He is completing a degree at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and has been seen in Hair and Once Upon a Rhyme in New York.

EJ Zimmerman plays Réza, debuting at PTC. On Broadway she performed in Les Misérables (Eponine u/s, Ensemble) and has completed a National Tour of Avenue Q.

HAILEY BURNHAM and BRITTON GARDNER complete the ensemble.

Pirronne Yousefzadeh directs the musical. She serves as the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Engagement at Geva Theatre Center. She has directed and developed new work at The Public/Joe's Pub, New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theater Company, Ars Nova, Soho Rep, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, Huntington Theatre Company, Cleveland Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, InterAct Theatre Company and Hangar Theatre, among others. This is her first PTC production.

Tom Griffin returns to PTC as the guest musical director after Newsies last season. Other recent PTC productions include Oliver!, It Happened One Christmas, Peter and the Starcatcher, Elf-The Musical and A Christmas Carol: The Musical. He also musically directed the west coast and Los Angeles premieres of The Last Five Years, Sweet Charity, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and The Music Man; the west coast premiere of Spitfire Grill; Annie; West Side Story; The Scarlet Pimpernel and Bye Bye Birdie.

Lainie Sakakura is an award-winning Choreographer, receiving the Joe A. Callaway Award for Outstanding Choreography for Red Eye of Love and a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Choreography for Damn Yankees. She has performed in the original casts of six Broadway shows, including the Tony Award-winning revival of The King and I.

YOON BAE debuts at PTC as Scenic Designer. She is an award-winning designer working internationally, including London's West End, Norway, Korea, Japan and in the USA. She has designed in London's West End for productions of Gone with the Wind, Birdsong, Skellig, Equus and Three Thousand Troubled Threads (Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh International Festival).

Kirk Bookman returns to PTC as the Lighting Designer after recent productions of Twelfth Night, Newsies, Oliver! and The Glass Menagerie. His Broadway credits include the National Actors Theatre with The Sunshine Boys (starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall), The Gin Game (starring Julie Harris and Charles Durning) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Gregory Gale returns to PTC as the Costume Designer. He is a two-time Tony Award-nominated designer for Rock of Ages and Cyrano de Bergerac, which can be seen on Amazon. This is his fifth production at PTC, having designed The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee, Cowgirls, The Last Ship and /i/. Gale's other Broadway productions include The Wedding Singer, Urinetown, Arcadia and Band in Berlin. SARAH SHIPPOBOTHAM is the dialect coach. Hair and Makeup Designer is AMANDA FRENCH and sound design is by PTC Resident Sound Designer ALLAN BRANSON.

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