San Diego REPertory Theatre Kicks Off The 2009-2010 Season With LONG STORY SHORT 10/3

SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE kicks off the 2009-2010 Season with the whirlwind musical LONG STORY SHORT. Written by Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda of the band GROOVELILY, this audacious musical takes audiences on a beautiful journey through one couple's 50 year relationship. Hope (Melody Butiu) is an Asian American girl from SoCal who falls in love with a Jewish guy from the East Coast named Charles (Robert Brewer). Based on David Schulner's play An Infinite Ache, San Diego REPertory Theatre's production of LONG STORY SHORT will be directed by Kent Nicholson with a set designed by VICTORIA PETROVICH. Featuring a live band under the musical direction of Mark Danisovszky, this musical love story begins with a blind date and goes all the way to old age in one exotic song-filled evening! Performances begin Saturday, October 3, with Opening Night on Friday, October 9 at 8pm and continue through November 1, 2009 at The Lyceum Theatre.

LONG STORY SHORT

When: October 3 - November 1, 2009

Opening Night/Press Night: Friday, October 9, 2009 at 8pm

The Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza

Previews Schedule: Sat 8pm, Sun 7pm, Tue 7pm, Wed 7pm and Thu 8pm, Regular Performance Schedule: Wednesday 7pm, Thursday 8pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm (on October 17 only), Saturday 8pm, Sunday 7pm (no evening performance on October 11 or November 1)

Tickets: $34-53 (Student Discount $18)

Lyceum Box Office (619) 570-1100

www.sdrep.org

Tickets on sale now!

LONG STORY SHORT follows the rollercoaster relationship between Hope, an Asian American native of Southern California, and Charles, a Jewish man from the East Coast. Time is relative in this wonder-world of storytelling - it stops on a dime and, without warning, flies by with a new phrase of delicious music. Unforgettable nights of joy, inexplicable days of pain and a deeply moving catharsis are all present in the couples journey as their love grows, fades, is tested and re-tested. A live band will ignite the theatre with seductive songs that range from the electric flush of first love ("It Happens in a Moment"), to a sexy duet ("Live Like This"), to the release of suppressed emotions ("Knock Down/Drag Out"), to a sassy ode to middle-aged dating ("Empowered"). Hope and Charles' love story encompasses two different cultures and two distinct mythologies-in play and at play. They literally pour their hearts into each other through a rush of decades that embraces erotic highs, childbirth, tragedy, hard times, recovery, marital doldrums, separation, reconciliation and a final elegant dance to the tune, "Letting Go."

 

Bios

Robert Brewer (Charles) is a resident of San Francisco, whose regional credits include Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at Marin Theatre Company, Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Hank) at Center Repertory, and Merrily We Roll Along (Charley - Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nomination) and Into the Woods (Jack) with TheatreWorks. Other recent credits include The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Duke) at San Jose Stage, Bat Boy: the Musical (Bat Boy) at Foothill Music Theater, Sex (Jimmy) at the Aurora Theatre Company, as well as multiple new musical workshops with TheatreWorks and Playwrights' Foundation in San Francisco.

Melody Butiu (Hope) was last seen at San Diego REP many moons ago during Celebration Of the Lizard. Her theatre credits includes: Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (South Coast Rep, Geffen Playhouse, and Actors Theatre of Louisville), The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (SCR and Actors Theatre of Phoenix), Hippolytos (Getty Villa), Long Season (Perseverance Theatre), 36 Views (GeVa Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Laguna Playhouse), A Perfect Wedding (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Hair (Reprise!), The Theory Of Everything (Singapore Rep/East West Players), Golden Child (EWP), Dogeaters and Boy (La Jolla Playhouse). TV credits includes: "Desperate Housewives," "Samantha Who," "Cold Case," "Without A Trace," "Rules of Engagement," "Scrubs" and "Strong Medicine." She received her MFA from UC San Diego.

Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda (Writers) are two-thirds of the band Groovelily. Together, they have written music and/or lyrics for Striking 12 (Off-Broadway, regional, and Theatreworks, dir. Ted Sperling), Sleeping Beauty Wakes (Center Theatre Group and Deaf West), Toy Story: The Musical (Disney), Long Story Short (Pittsburgh City Theatre, Theatreworks), Tina Landau's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Paper Mill Playhouse/McCarter Theatre), and Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (Theatreworks). In 2006 and 2008, they both received the Jonathan Larson Award. Brendan and Valerie are married and have a four year old son named Mose.

Kent Nicholson (Director) is the Director of Musical Theater for Playwrights Horizons in NYC.

His off-Broadway directing credits include Wet by Liz Duffy Adams for The Summer Play Festival and Five Flights by Adam Bock for Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. His San Francisco production of Five Flights was named one of the top ten cultural events of 2002 by the San Francisco Chronicle. He has directed world premiere productions by writers as diverse as Sheila Callaghan, Elaine Romero, and Trevor Allen. Recent credits include the West Coast Premiere of Small Tragedy by Craig Lucas and the first post-Broadway production of Grey Gardens.

Events Surrounding Long Story Short

Join us for a little relationship therapy! Admission to the following surround events is free with the purchase of tickets to select performances of Long Story Short.

What's the Secret?

Sunday, October 4 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)

Rev. Dr. Arvid Straube of the First Unitarian Universalist Church asks that very question. Three couples share their secret for long-lasting love: longtime REP supporters Trina and Ted Kaplan (married 63 years); Bill Doyle and Mark Stevens, theatre artists and teachers at San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (together over 30 years); and Dr. Kuang-Chung Chien, former president of Chinese Women's League in San Diego and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UCSD and her husband, Dr. Shu Chien, also a professor at UCSD who has made seminal contributions in bioengineering (married 52 years). Bring your mate and save: For this performance all couples can buy two tickets for the price of one! (Use promo code CPLS when ordering tickets).

Live Music and Love Songs with B & V

Tuesday, October 6 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)

Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda, the composer/authors of Long Story Short, sing and play their original music. They are also life-long partners in love, and have much to share about their partnership that has produced an acclaimed body of pop music for CD, stage and film. Join them for a mini concert, hear Val sing and play the instrument she calls The Viper while Brendan dazzles on piano. Your host is one of San Diego's most in-the-know music pros-George Varga, pop music critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune and Creators News Syndicate.

Talkin' Theatre with Todd

Thursday, October 8 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)

An intimate conversation about the making of Long Story Short. REP Associate Artistic Director Todd Salovey hosts two talented theatre artists, Long Story Short director Kent Nicholson and set designer Victoria Petrovich. Kent is one of the West Coast's foremost developers of new musicals, and Victoria, a member of the design faculty at UCSD, has brought her rich visual artistry to many REP designs. Both artists will share secrets of how the REP's musical came to theatrical life.

Second Time Around

Saturday, October 10 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)

What would you do if you had a second chance to make your former relationship work? Meet a couple who have done just that! Mike and JoAnneh Nagler were first married in 1988. Later divorced, they married for a second time in June 2009. Mike and JoAnneh will share the amazing story that led them to tie the knot for the second time. Hear the inside scoop on rekindling the spark from a specialist in couples therapy, psychologist Dr. Kristin Zeising, the Love Doctor from "AJ's Playhouse" on radio station KHTS 93.3. They have lots to say about the wild ride of getting back together with your ex!

I Do, I Do-Now What?

Sunday, October 11 (after the 2pm matinee)

It has often been said that "Falling in love is easy. Relationships are hard," especially when lovers from different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds tie the knot. Therapists Dr. Linna Wang and Dr. Marianne Miller from Alliant International University's Marital and Family Therapy Program share their experience at helping the hopeful couples of San Diego navigate the unpredictable waters of partnership across boundaries of creed, color and religion. Hosted by Dr. Bernardo Ferdman of the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management at Alliant International University.

Stick It Out? Or Stick It to the Spouse?

Wednesday, October 14 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)

A prominent divorce lawyer and a successful marriage counselor discuss the question: Is it always better for a marriage to stay together? Craig Candelore is the founding attorney of the Men's Legal Center. In July 2008, the National Coalition of Free Men voted Craig the annual award for excellence in the Advancement of Men's Issues. Cherie Verber, of Affirmative Counseling and Therapy, is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist who has provided tools, resources, and support to hundreds of couples and families as they move through life's transitions.

Sam's Salon: Mysticism and Marriage in Asian and Jewish Cultures

Thursday, October 15 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)

Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse hosts a provocative conversation about marriage across cultural and religious boundaries. What special myths, traditions and even superstitions must couples like Hope and Charles in Long Story Short face and embrace as they try to make their marriage work? Sam's guests are Dr. Lilly Cheng, an ethnographer and author who has conducted research in multiculturalism with a focus on Chinese, the Chinese diaspora and Chinese Americans. She is the managing director of the Confucius Institute and Director of Chinese Studies at SDSU; and Rabi Dr. Wayne Dosick, spiritual guide of The Elijah Minyan, director of the Soul Center for Spiritual Healing, former adjunct professor at USD and author of The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition and Practice. Discover how two very different cultural traditions make the love story of Hope and Charles both unique and universal.

mingle@theREP

Friday, October 16 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)

Join photographers from the Lyceum Gallery exhibit, The Art of Photography Show, for a preshow happy hour for mingling and music. Tickets are $25 and include one free drink. Use promo code MING when ordering tickets.

Marriage and Loss

Sunday, October 18 (after the 7pm show)

When loss enters a marriage it can often create guilt, tension and distance that break a coupleapart. In some cases, however, it can serve as a basis to bring couples closer together. This intimate conversation about loss in marriage features the founder of the JennaDruck Foundation (JDF), Ken Druck, Ph.D., whose motivational program Your Best Year Ever has twice filled the Sports Arena, and Dr. Lori Raport, a licensed clinical psychologist, the developer of the Growing Up Great! Parenting Program and a consultant to JDF.

Happily Ever After: Two Fables About Marriage

Wednesday, October 21 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)

Yale Strom, a well-known Klezmer musician and author of The Book of Klezmer: The History,

The Music, the Folklore (2002) and The Absolutely Complete Klezmer Songbook (2006) will read his book, The Wedding That Saved A Town, which is based upon a true klezmer story and was chosen "Best

Children's Illustrated Book" by the San Diego Book Association in 2009. Gingerlily Lowe of the Asian Story Theatre will read a well-loved Chinese fable entitled The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid.

How a Hit Play Becomes a Hit Musical

Sunday, October 25 @ 1pm (prior to the 2pm matinee)

Join playwright, television writer and producer David Schulner, whose play An Infinite Ache became the inspiration for the musical Long Story Short. Schulner, part of the team of writers on "Desperate Housewives," will share how he conceived and developed the play, and how it feels to have it reach wide audiences in a new musical form.

"Do You Like Me, Yes or No?"

Wednesday, October 28 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)

Teenagers sing about relationships. Gifted student performers from local high schools have selected songs that best describe how they think about relationships.

Why Do Jewish People Love Chinese Food?

Thursday, October 29 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)

Is it the exotic taste? Or is it that many Chinese restaurants stay open on Christian holidays?

Kosher caterer Charles Rubin and Jewish historian Dr. Joellyn Zollman will share tasty spicy food and conversation. Dr. Zollman is a frequent lecturer in the History Department at SDSU who specializes in Jewish art and Jewish history. Her favorite Chinese restaurant is Chef Chang's House in Brookline, MA. Mr. Rubin has provided kosher catering in South Africa and throughout San Diego for many years.

Coming up next at the REP ~ Celebrate the holidays with the Devil November 14 - December 13, 2009, during THE SEAFARER, a comic drama about four friends who spend an evening with the Prince of Darkness himself. From January 9 - 31, 2010, San Diego will be blown away by boom, a cataclysmic comedy about a young marine biologist and his preparation for the world's end. Next, America's premier Latino comedy troupe Culture Clash returns to the Lyceum Theatre February 18- March 7, 2010, with its astonishing portrait of America in all its 21st century diversity during Culture Clash IN AMERICCA. From March 21 - April 11, 2010, the REP will present the workshop production of A WEEKEND WITH PABLO PICASSO, Herbert Siguenza's new one-man show which pays homage to one of the greatest and most controversial artists of the 20th century.

The REP's box office is open Tuesday through Sunday from 12pm - 6pm on non-performance days and 12pm - curtain on performance days. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets at a discounted rate. For more information, please see our website at www.sdrep.org.

Subscriptions run $68-$282. The REP offers subscribers an extensive package of benefits, including the lowest prices available; free ticket exchange privileges; discounts on individual tickets; and the opportunity to upgrade to a Premier Patron Package which features seating in the best 75 seats in each theatre venue. Premier Patron seating also offers an additional voucher for a friend and free drink coupons for the season.

San Diego Repertory Theatre produces intimate, exotic, provocative theatre. We promote a more inclusive community through vivid works that nourish progressive political and social values and celebrate the multiple voices of our region. San Diego Repertory Theatre feeds the curious soul. To learn more about the San Diego Repertory Theatre, visit www.sdrep.org.