Village Theatre to Present BEAUTY AND THE BEAST in Everett and Issaquah This Winter

Village Theatre will produce a brand-new production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the first professional production of this show in the region. With  direction and choreography by Village Theatre's artistic director Steve Tomkins (AIDA, The King and I), this production boasts a creative team including Alex Berry, scenic and lighting designer and DeAnne Middleton, costume designer.

"The opportunity to direct a project of this scope is thrilling! Beauty and the Beast provides quite a few exciting challenges. It's scary to work on a piece that so many people adore and have there own visions for. I am eager to work with the material and our cast to create a production that is unique to Village Theatre," Tomkins comments.

A lifelong resident of Issaquah, Berry has been part of the Village Theatre family from its very first year. Beauty and the Beast marks his 80th show with the theatre, and audiences will find his scenic and lighting designs to be intricate and reminiscent of the Disney feature film. Berry comments, "I have been a fan of Disney animation, background art since I was a teenager. I designed my first show at Village Theatre when I was 14, KIDSTAGE's very first production, Pinocchio, and the style I used for that is very similar to Belle's village in this production."

Deanne Middleton, costume designer, and former Village Theatre Costume Shop manager, put her years of experience in building show costumes to good use while working with the existing costumes provided by Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Village Theatre put their own finishing touches on the array of colorful costuming, most prominently in the look of The Beast. "We've found so many Beast ideas, and we've been working very closely to come up with a makeup design that is believable, realistic, and will allow the actor at least some expressive facial movement," Middleton comments.

Based in Issaquah, WA, with operations in Everett, Village Theatre is a leading producer of musical theatre in the Pacific Northwest. Producing entertaining quality productions for the entire family since 1979, Village Theatre has grown into one of the region's best-attended Equity theatres, with over 18,000 subscribers and 170,000 projected total attendance each season. Through its Village Originals program, Village Theatre is nationally recognized for its contribution to the development of new musicals, having launched over 80 new works to date. Village Theatre also takes pride in nurturing tomorrow's audiences through its youth education programs, Pied Piper and KIDSTAGE, serving over 54,000 young people, families, and schools annually.

Village Theatre season sponsors are The Boeing Company, Continental Airlines, Microsoft, and Lombardi's. 

Village Theatre is also funded in part by 4Culture, ABODA, ArtsFund, ArtsUnited, Cascade Bank, City of Everett, City of Issaquah /Issaquah Arts Commission, Encore Arts Program, Frontier Bank, The Herald (Everett), Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter, National Endowment for the Arts, Overlake Hospital and Medical Center, PONCHO, Port Blakely Communities/Issaquah Highlands, Standing Ovation, WARM 106.9 FM, and Washington State Arts Commission. Village Theatre is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre and Theatre Puget Sound.

Beauty and the Beast will run in Issaquah from November 12, 2008–January 4, 2009, Wednesdays through Saturdays: 8:00 PM, Sundays and selected Saturdays: 2:00 PM, Selected Tuesdays: 7:30 PM, and Selected Sundays: 7:00 PM. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the box Office (425) 392-2202 or (866) 688-8049.

The show will run in Everett from January 9th through Feb 1, 2009. Tickets will go on sale December 3rd, 2008 and can be purchased by calling 425-257-8600 or 88-257-3722.

For more information please visit www.villagetheatre.org

 

 

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