Asolo Rep to Present KALEIDOSCOPE: HEART AND SOUL, 5/18

Asolo Rep's Education & Outreach department presents Kaleidoscope: Heart and Soul on Monday, May 18, 2015 at 6pm in the Mertz Theatre. This season's culminating performance of the award-winning Kaleidoscope program for people with disabilities will perform on the set of Asolo Rep's world premiere of Luck Be a Lady: The Iconic Music of Frank Loesser, which opens May 1, and runs through May 24.

Asolo Rep's acclaimed award-winning Kaleidoscope program, founded by Broadway veteran Ann Morrison, works with individuals with disabilities from community organizations and schools in the area to discover creative and personal expression through theatre. This year's Kaleidoscope participants come from four partner organizations and schools: Bayshore High School, Community Haven for Adults and Children, Easter Seals Southwest Florida, and Oak Park School.

Throughout the three months of each residency, participants explore storytelling through acting, movement, music and visual arts with the guidance of Ann Morrison and Asolo Rep's Education and Outreach Specialist Ria Cooper.

"Kaleidoscope gives our clients a chance to think outside the box and accomplish things that might be out of their comfort zone," said Community Haven's Vice President of Operations Brad Jones. "After completing the Kaleidoscope program our clients show so much more confidence in their social skills. It has been amazing to see the collaboration grow over the years and the performances just get better and better. Community Haven is thrilled to be a part of it."

"Our students have begun to care more about each other as individuals," said Oak Park School teacher Mary Alice Hratko, who works with middle school students, the youngest participants in this year's Kaleidoscope. "The exercises focus on respecting each student's creativity and making sure each student is heard from and has an opportunity to participate. We are getting to know each other in a new and exciting way."

"We are so proud to be able to provide a first performance opportunity for many of the Kaleidoscope participants, as well as a sustained creative outlet for veteran Kaleidoscope artists who now look forward to the return of the program each year," said Asolo Rep Education & Outreach Director Kathryn Moroney. "While the culminating showcase cannot possibly express all of the creative discovery and growth we've seen from months of collaborative work, May 18 will be a truly special and inspiring evening to gather and celebrate these unique artists' accomplishments."

Tickets are free, and seating is general admission, but reservations are recommended. To reserve tickets, please call the box office at 941.351.8000 or 800.361.8388 or visit www.asolorep.org.

Kaleidoscope is sponsored by the Virginia White Clark Fund of the Bank of America Client Foundation, Bernard and Mildred Doyle Charitable Trust, Jerome and Mildred Paddock Foundation, Fine Arts Society of Sarasota, Eluned and Edward Russell Foundation, and Carol and Mort Siegler. About the Founder
Ann Morrison (Kaleidoscope Founder and Teaching Artist) AEA-AFTRA-SAG. Broadway: Lovemusik; Children and Art; Merrily We Roll Along (1982 Theatre World Award). London West End: Peg. Off Broadway: Goblin Market (Drama Desk Nomination), Forbidden Broadway. Ann has done extensive regional theater including Free Fall Theatre: Into The Woods, Bernarda Alba, American Stage: On The Verge, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labour's Lost, Driving Miss Daisy, New Century, Asolo Rep: Murderers, Banyan Theater Company: A Clean House; and world premieres, television, recordings, cabarets and concerts throughout the U.S. and England. Writer/performer: The Awen Triology, Annie's Celtic Kitchen, Word Painting: Soliloquies Around an Easel, Trevor's Fire, and Linda Lovely Goes to Broadway (Best Actress Award from the United Solo Festival). Co-founder: Kaleidoscope Theater and Gotta Van Productions; celebrating solo performances and new small cast plays that illuminate the human condition especially that of those who are perceived as "other than."

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