The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training to Present THE DRUNKEN CITY

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training continues its 2016-17 season with contemporary playwright Adam Bock's THE DRUNKEN CITY. A high-energy comedy about life and love, the production is directed by returning guest artist Jesse Jou, whose work was last seen on the FSU/Asolo Conservatory stage in 2014 with How I Learned to Drive.

THE DRUNKEN CITY previews in the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for Performing Arts on Tuesday, February 21 at 7:30pm with a special "Pay What You Can Performance," offering tickets at whatever price patrons can afford when purchased the day of the performance, at a minimum of $3 per seat. The show officially opens on Wednesday, February 22 at 7:30pm, and runs through Sunday, March 12.

A trio of best friends sets out into the city for a bachelorette party, but when the drunk bride-to-be runs off with an equally inebriated stranger, chaos ensues. The evening of drinks and dancing turns into an ongoing comedic chase sequence. Relationships are sparked, friendships are tested, and decisions are made that will alter the course of a young bride's life forever.

"THE DRUNKEN CITY is a dangerously whimsical comedy not only about the highs and lows of falling in love, but also about discovering yourself and what you want in life," said director Jesse Jou. "I'm thrilled to be back in Sarasota sharing this delightful story with the talented actors at FSU/Asolo Conservatory."

A comedy praised by the New York Sun as "tart, smart, and intoxicating," THE DRUNKEN CITY was nominated in 2008 for an Outer Critics Circle Award and has been produced by theaters across the country including Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre and Off-Broadway's Playwright Horizons.

"The energy of this wonderful new playwright aligns perfectly with our second year company of actors," said Greg Leaming, Director of the Conservatory. "It's a challenging, funny, and often very moving play with a great contemporary sensibility that gives our students the chance to bring their own lives to the stage. This will be a terrific addition to our 2016-17 season at the Conservatory."

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CAST
(in order of appearance)

Melissa............................................................................Kedren Spencer

Marnie......................................................................Mary Ellen Everett

Linda.............................................................................Colleen Lafeber

Eddie..........................................................................Christopher Carlson

Frank...............................................................Nolan Fitzgerald Hennelly

Bob.........................................................................Anthony J. Hamilton

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Tickets for THE DRUNKEN CITY are on sale now at $28 for matinee performances and $29 for evening performances. To purchase tickets, call 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388, visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office, located at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. Box Office hours are Monday 10am-5pm, Tuesday-Thursday 10am-7:30pm, Friday-Saturday 10am-8pm, and Sunday 10am-2pm. The box office closes at 5pm when there are no evening performances, and phone lines close one hour prior to the start of any performance.

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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Adam Bock (Playwright) Bock's plays include A Life (Playwrights Horizons), Phaedra (Shotgun Players), A Small Fire (Playwrights Horizons, Drama Desk nomination), book for We Have Always Lived in the Castle, with music by Todd Almond (Yale Rep), The Flowers (About Face Theatre), The Receptionist (MTC, 2008 Outer Critics nomination, The Evidence Room with Megan Mullally), The Drunken City (Playwrights Horizons, 2008 Outer Critics nomination), The Thugs (Soho Rep, 2007 OBIE Award for Playwriting), The Shaker Chair (2005 Humana Festival), Swimming In The Shallows (Shotgun Players, Second Stage Uptown, 2000 BATCC Award, Clauder Prize), Five Flights (Encore Theatre and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 2002 Glickman Award, ACTA nomination, Osborn nomination), Marcy Comes Home, and The Typographer's Dream (Encore Theatre/Shotgun Players). Bock is the resident playwright at Encore Theatre, and a Shotgun Players Artistic Associate. He is a NEA grantee, a three-time resident at Yaddo, a former member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, a NYTW Usual Suspect, and a TDF Open Doors mentor. Bock's plays are published by Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service and Playscripts, Inc. He is a 2012 Guggenheim grantee, a NEA grantee, a Guernsey Award-winner, a three-time resident at Yaddo, a former member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, a NYTW Usual Suspect, and a TDF Open Doors mentor. He is a proud member of New Dramatists.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

JESSE JOU (Director) Originally from Houston, TX, Jesse Jou spent several years as a freelance theater director based in New York City. He works primarily on new and contemporary plays. Some of his favorite projects include Say You Heard My Echo with spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (HERE Arts Center), The Betrothed by Dipika Guha and Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Cape Cod, MA), The Netflix Plays (Ars Nova), Zen Ties by Y York (The Rose Theatre, Omaha, NE), and How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel (FSU/Asolo Conservatory, Sarasota, FL). He has developed new work at the Lark Play Development Center, the New York International Fringe Festival, The Kitchen Theatre Co. (Ithaca, NY), and the Yale Cabaret. He was the Artistic Director of the 2010 Yale Summer Cabaret and served as the Staff Repertory Director of The Acting Company. He is an alumnus of the Cherry Lane Mentor Project, where he conceived and directed a four-person adaptation of King Lear, the Drama League's Directors Project, the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, and The Civilians R&D Group. Jesse received his MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama. He is currently on faculty at the School of Theatre & Dance, Texas Tech University.

ABOUT THE CONSERVATORY

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training is a celebrated three-year graduate program culminating in a master of fine arts degree. For more than 35 years, tens of thousands of actors from across the continent have auditioned for admission. A maximum of 12 students are admitted each year. In their second year, the students perform in the Cook Theatre, a 161-seat space designed to create an intimate experience for the audience and actors. Third-year students are seen on the Mertz Stage working with the Asolo Rep's professional actors in exciting and significant roles.

For more information, visit www.asolorep.org/conservatory/welcome.

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