TheatreWorks to Enchant During the Holidays with TUCK EVERLASTING

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley brings an enchanted bestseller to life for the holidays with the regional premiere of Tuck Everlasting. Set in the 1890s, free-spirited Winnie Foster searches for adventure, finding the Tucks, a close-knit family that has discovered the secret to everlasting life. Winnie faces the choice of a lifetime: return to everyday life, or join the Tucks on their infinite, irreversible voyage through time. Directed by TheatreWorks Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, Tuck Everlasting will be presented November 28 - December 30 (press opening: October 6) at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

Featuring a rousing score with music by Chris Miller and lyrics by Nathan Tysen and a wealth of warm-hearted humor in Claudia Shear and Tim Federle's charming book, this whimsical Broadway musical offers families a magical holiday treat. This production also marks something of a homecoming for Miller and Tysen, who created songs for Tuck Everlasting while in residence at the 2010 TheatreWorks' Writers' Retreat, and developed and presented their earlier musical The Burnt Part Boys at TheatreWorks' 2006 New Works Festival.

Based on the bestselling novel by Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting has been adapted into a 2002 Disney film and a 1981 One Pass media film. The musical adaptation of Tuck Everlasting made its World Premiere at Atlanta's ALLIANCE THEATRE in 2015, where it won the Suzi Bass Award for "Outstanding Musical Production." Its 2016 Broadway debut was nominated for a Tony Award, as well as the Outer Critics Circle Award for "Outstanding Musical" and Drama League Award for "Outstanding Production of a Musical." The New York Times called it "Rapturous, warm-spirited and touching," while Associated Press declared, "The music is magical. Long may it live." Variety said, "This is an intimate family story of love, loss and the purpose and power of storytelling in the American folk tradition of Twain and Wilder."

TheatreWorks has assembled a stellar cast for this production, featuring Natalie Schroeder and Katie Maupin who make their TheatreWorks debuts sharing the part of Winnie Foster. One of 12 performers to be selected to sing the national anthem for the U.S. Open, Schroeder has also performed at Lincoln Center in the Broadway Dreams NYC Showcase and at Berkeley Playhouse. Maupin has starred in productions at 42nd Street Moon and Hillbarn Theatre.

Eddie Grey makes his TheatreWorks debut as Jesse Tuck, an immortal teenager who befriends Winnie when they meet at a stream in the woods near his family's home. Grey has appeared in the original Australian casts of The Book of Mormon, Legally Blonde, and Spring Awakening. His performance through Asia and Australia as Boq in Wicked won him the Broadwayworld.com Philippines People's Choice Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Jonathan Rhys Williams plays Angus Tuck, Jesse's father. Returning to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, where he was nominated for SF Bay Area Critics Circle Awards in Triumph of Love and Violet and seen in Charley's Aunt (as Charley), Floyd Collins, and Under Milkwood, Rhys Williams has also performed at San Jose Stage Company and won the SF Bay Area Critics Circle Award for his performance in The Homecoming at Aurora Theatre Company. Travis Leland plays Miles Tuck, Jesse's brother. Returning to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley where he was seen as Frank Churchill in Emma, Leland has performed at The Geffen Playhouse and the Wallis Annenberg, as well as originating the role of Kristoff in Frozen at the Hyperion at Disney's California Adventure, directed by Liesl Tommy.

Gene Sullivan, who has performed with TheatreWorks many times over the past 20 years, will return to portray The Man in the Yellow Suit, a carnival worker in pursuit of the Tuck family. Seen as Detective Fix in last season's Around the World in 80 Days, Sullivan has also been seen at TheatreWorks in Cyrano, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Hound of the Baskervilles, 33 Variations, Violet, and Once on This Island. Sullivan is also a resident playwright for the San Francisco Mime Troupe and has performed with the Denver Center Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theater, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, among others. Marissa Rudd plays another carnival worker in The Man in the Yellow Suit's troupe. Seen in TheatreWorks's New Works Festival, Rudd makes her TheatreWorks debut. She has also performed at Berkeley Playhouse and in the Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Colin Thompson returns to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley as Constable Joe, the policeman sent to find Winnie by her parents. Seen in TheatreWorks's The Light in the Piazza and All My Sons, Thompson has also performed at American Conservatory Theater, Portland Center Stage, San Jose Stage Company, 42nd Street Moon and in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Ground Floor. He can be seen in Sony Pictures's Blue Jasmine (directed by Woody Allen) and in NBC Universal's Trauma (directed by Jeffrey Reiner). Returning to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley after playing Aaron in the world premiere of Stephen Schwartz's The Prince of Egypt and performing in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's New Works Festival, David Crane plays Hugo, Constable Joe's son. Crane has also performed regionally at Mountain Play of Marin and Sacramento Theatre Company, and in several Buzzfeed Motion Pictures videos. Lucinda Hitchcock Sullivan plays Nana, Winnie's grandmother. Returning to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley where she was seen in Outside Mullingar, Ragtime and Cabaret, Cone has also performed at American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Hartford Stage, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Portland Stage Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and others.

Chris Miller (music) and Nathan Tysen's (lyrics) off-Broadway work includes The Burnt Part Boys (Lucille Lortel Nomination, Best Musical) and Fugitive Songs (Drama Desk Award Nomination, Outstanding Revue). They have also written two circuses for Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey, contributed to the revue Stars of David, collaborated with the Broadway Inspiration Voices, and penned an adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Boston Globe Top Ten Pick of 2008). Television work includes songs for Sesame Street (2012 Daytime Emmy Award), Elmo's World, and The Electric Company. Current joint projects include commissions from Lincoln Center Theater and Playwrights Horizons/TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Miller also co-composed the first New York revival of Angels in America with Michael Friedman, directed by Michael Greif at the Signature Theatre, and is a contributing composer to Mark Campbell's song cycle Songs From an Unmade Bed produced at the New York Theatre Workshop. He is currently working on an original musical as part of the American Musical Voices Project: The Next Generation at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, as well as a song cycle for soprano and orchestra based on the poetry of Willa Cather, called Prairie Songs. Winner of the 2016 Kleban award for most promising lyricist, Tysen was a co-lyricist for the Broadway musical adaptation of Amélie and is librettist and co-composer of the rock theatre piece Stillwater. Together they are proud recipients of awards and grants from Fred Ebb, Jonathan Larson, Richard Rodgers, Samuel French, Daryl Roth, Kitty Carlisle Hart, ASCAP, and the NEA. They began their collaboration at NYU where they received their MFAs in musical theatre writing. They are proud members of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild.

Claudia Shear (book) is an award-winning actress and playwright. Shear won an Obie and received a Drama Desk nomination for her solo show Blown Sideways Through Life, followed by Dirty Blonde, for which she received Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Play and Best Actress, and won the Theatre World Award. Her play Restoration, commissioned by and premiered at La Jolla Playhouse, ran Off-Broadway in 2010.

Tim Federle (book) is a novelist, screenwriter and librettist. He co-wrote the screenplay for the Humanitas Award-winning, and 2018 Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated film Ferdinand, starring John Cena and Kate McKinnon. His award-winning young adult fiction novels include the New York Times Notable Book and Amazon Best Book Better Nate Than Ever and the Amazon Best Book and LAMBDA Award-winning book Five, Six, Seven, Nate!, and is the author of the hit series of cocktail recipe books Tequila Mockingbird. A former Broadway actor, Federle (Gypsy, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Little Mermaid) marked his theatrical debut as a lyricist with Tuck Everlasting. Federle is currently executive producing an animated musical feature for 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky, with songs by Pasek & Paul, and writing and executive producing the new High School Musical television series for Disney's upcoming streaming service.

Robert Kelley (Director) is TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's Founder and Artistic Director and has served as artistic head of the company since its inception in 1970. He has directed more than 175 TheatreWorks productions, including many world and regional premieres. In 2003 he was honored with the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC) Paine Knickerbocker Award for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2016 was awarded the Jerry Friedman Lifetime Achievement Award from the SFBATCC. He received SFBATCC Awards for Outstanding Direction for his productions of Into the Woods, Pacific Overtures, Rags, Sweeney Todd, Another Midsummer Night, Sunday in the Park with George, Jane Eyre, and Caroline, or Change.

Photo credit: Kevin Berne

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