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to view the program as a PDF
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MTC
MainStage presents
It’s a Wonderful
Life: A Live Radio Play
Adapted for the Stage by Joe Landry
Directed by MTC MainStage Artistic Director Kevin Connors
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| Performance Dates: |
December
14-23, 2007 |
| Performance Times: |
Fridays
at 8pm,
Saturdays at 5pm and 8pm,
Sundays at 3pm. |
| Location: |
MTC
MainStage Studio Theatre
246 Post Road East
in Colonial Green (lower level)
Westport, CT 06880 |
| Tickets: |
$35
$75 for Opening Night (Sat., Dec. 15 at 8pm,
including post-performance reception)
A limited number of senior single tickets for $25 may be available
for certain performances, subject to availability.
Reservations suggested. |
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Cast & Production
Team
Cast
Kathy Calahan* (Lana Sherwood)
Larry Daggett* (Freddie Filmore)
Amy Russ* (Sally Applewhite)
Jim Schilling* (Harry “Jazzbo” Heywood)
D. Matt Worley* (Jake Laurents)
Production Team
Kevin Connors (Original Music & Direction)
Joe Landry (Playwright)
Anna Becker* (Stage Manager)
James Burns (Scenic Design & Technical Direction)
Diane Vanderkroef (Costume Design)
Graham Kindred (Lighting Design)
Click here for bios
* The Actors and Stage Managers employed for MTC MainStage productions
are members of Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional
actors and stage managers in the United States. |
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Dec
9
2007
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Dec
14
8pm |
15
5pm SOLD OUT
8pm
Opening Night |
16
3pm SOLD OUT |
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21
8pm |
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5pm & 8pm |
23
3pm SOLD OUT |
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For Immediate Release: November 26, 2007
MTC MainStage 07/08 Season
Opens with the Nostalgic Holiday Treat It’s a Wonderful
Life: A Live Radio Play
MTC MainStage, Music Theatre of Connecticut’s Professional
Equity Acting Company, opens their 07/08 season with It’s
a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Adapted for the stage
by Joe Landry and directed by MTC MainStage Artistic Director
Kevin Connors, this beloved American holiday classic comes to
captivating life as a live 1940s radio broadcast. Performances
are December 14-23 and take place at the MTC MainStage Studio
Theatre in Westport, CT.
Turn back the clock to the 1940s and set the dial for a double
dose of holiday nostalgia. Joe Landry’s fast-paced and faithful
spin on the Frank Capra holiday classic hearkens back to the golden
age of radio when families gathered together for inspirational
broadcasts and wholesome entertainment. Savvy studio actors recreate
the much-loved celebration of simple goodwill, community and cheer
in the face of hardship. Perfect for the whole family!
The cast includes Kathy Calahan (Some Like It Hot: The Musical
National Tour with Tony Curtis), Larry Daggett (Ragtime
Original Broadway Cast), Amy Russ (HBO’s The Sopranos),
Jim Schilling (Tim Robbin’s Dead Man Walking) and
D. Matt Worley (Robert DeNiro’s The Good Shepard.)
Secnic design by James Burns, lighting design by Graham Kindred,
costume design by Diane Vanderkroef, stage management by Anna
Becker and pianist Jonathan Lakeland.
Director Kevin Connors is co-founder of Music Theatre of Connecticut,
and has previous directed It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live
Radio Play at Stamford Center for the Arts and the Edgerton
Center for the Performing Arts. He and Mr. Landry have previously
collaborated on the original musical Mothers and Sons,
which was workshopped and presented at Roundabout Theatre Company
and Stamford Center for the Arts.
The MTC MainStage 2007/08 Season is made possible by the generous
support of Shoff Darby Companies, Inc. with additional support
from The Daphne Seybolt Culpeper Memorial Foundation.
Performances take place December 14-23, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays
at 5pm and 8pm, Sundays at 3pm at MTC MainStage Studio Theatre,
246 Post Road East in Colonial Green (lower level) in Westport,
CT. Tickets are $35. On opening night, Saturday, Dcember 15 at
8pm, tickets are $75 and include admission to the post-performance
reception. A limited number of senior single tickets for $25 may
be available for certain performances, subject to availability.
Reservations suggested. For reservations or more information,
call MTCMainStage at 203.454.3883 or visit www.MTCMainStage.org
For additional press resources, click
here.
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KATHY CALAHAN* (Lana
Sherwood) is thrilled to be returning to MTC MainStage where
she performed in The Fantasticks (The Mute) and Babes
In Toyland (Alice/Barbie). Her performing credits include Ragtime
(national tour), Some Like It Hot (national tour with Tony
Curtis) and White Christmas (The Orpheum Theatre). Some of
her favorite regional roles are Sara Carter in Keep On The Sunny
Side (Mountain Playhouse), Polly in Crazy For You (Beef
and Boards Dinner Theatre), Josie Cohan in George M! (Ogunquit
Playhouse), Minnie Fay in Hello, Dolly! (West Virginia Public),
Gloria in Damn Yankees (Arkansas Rep. Theatre) and Sister
Leo in Nunsense (Theatre at the Center). When Kathy’s
not performing, she’s teaching voice lessons and tap classes
in NYC. Her choreography was recently performed (by the “Glamazons”)
in the finals of NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Kathy
dedicates her performance in loving memory of her grandmother whose
voice sings through her always, and whose favorite movie was It’s
a Wonderful Life ... and that it is!
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LARRY DAGGETT* (Freddie
Filmore) is thrilled to make his first appearance at MTC. Credits
include the original Broadway cast of Ragtime (Henry Ford),
Candide (Heresy Agent; New York City Opera), A Midsummer
Night’s Dream (Quince), Damn Yankees (Applegate),
My Fair Lady (Doolittle), Annie (Rooster), The
Full Monty (Harold), Seussical (Cat in the Hat), H.M.S.
Pinafore (Captain Corcoran), Man of La Mancha (Carrasco),
Oliver! (Fagin), 1776 (R. H. Lee) Levant By Levant
(Oscar Levant), Hayfever (David), Showboat (Frank)
at theatres that include the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arkansas
Repertory, Asolo Theatre, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Cleveland
Play House, Fulton Opera, Goodspeed Opera, New Harmony Theatre,
North Shore Music Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Shenandoah
Music Theatre, Sierra Repertory, Virginia Musical Theatre and more.
Larry is a graduate of the Asolo Theatre (MFA), the Grove School
of Music (Piano/Composition major) and the Lehman Engel Workshop
for the development of new musicals.
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AMY RUSS* (Sally Applewhite)
recently starred with Will Lyman in the rolling World Premiere of
David Rambo’s The Ice-Breaker at Boston’s New Rep
Theatre. She also created the roles of Patricia in Richard Pearson
Thomas’ Parallel Lives, directed by Evan Pappas, Mary
Alderson in Charles & Diana: The Musical and Mary Carney
in the Off-Broadway comedy Kerouac. Her other New York theatre
credits include Elizabeth Lavenza in the New York premiere of Frankenstein…
do you dream, part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival,
Nina in a workshop of The Seagull, directed by Obie Award-winner
Gene Frankel, Cynthia in Baby With The Bathwater; Mary Hanson
in Win/Lose/Draw and Jesus Christ in the US premiere of Adan
Black’s Hedged. Amy’s regional theatre credits
include It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Mary
Bailey), Bus Stop (Cherie), Nine (Carla), Nunsense
(Sister Mary Amnesia), The Fantasticks (Luisa) and Where’s
Charley? (Amy). She was featured in Oliver! with The
Monkees’ Davy Jones and Hair with Roger Bart. On screen,
Amy was seen in Universal Pictures’ The Guru and Miramax
Films’ The Yards. She starred in the independent feature
film Till Proven Innocent, which recently screened at Loews
Sony Theater Lincoln Square. Amy just wrapped production on two
short films: Parameters, currently in postproduction and the award-winning
The Mingling Room for the 48 Hour Film Project. On TV, Amy
can be seen on the very last episode of The Sopranos. She
played the recurring role of Pam on Another World and appeared
on Law & Order: SVU and One Life to Live. Amy
is also the founder of ActorWebs.com™, a full service web development
company specializing in affordable websites for actors and others
in the arts community.
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JIM SCHILLING* (Harry
“Jazzbo” Heywood/MTC MainStage Managing Director) co-founded
MTC in 1987 and over the years has served as teaching artist, director,
general manager, actor, producer and currently as Director of the
School of Performing Arts. Regional credits include Upper Broadway
starring Nanette Fabray (Westport Country Playhouse), Hamlet
(starring Tony Roberts), The Fantasticks (Rich Forum), It’s
A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Rich Forum) and on MTC’s
Mainstage in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well..., Three Guys Naked
from the Waist Down and Yours, Anne. Film credits include
Bullets Over Broadway, Cadillac Man, Soapdish and as Sean
Penn’s double in Dead Man Walking. He has directed a
number of MTC Equity Mainstage productions including Something’s
Afoot, First Act Texas, Second Act New York; Some Enchanted Evening
and I Do, I Do. Jim holds a BFA degree in theatre from Otterbein
College, with an emphasis on childrens' theatre and was also trained
at the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville and Playwright’s
Horizons in New York City. Jim is a Blue Ribbon Panelist for the
Daytime Emmy Awards and a member of “Who’s Who in the
American Theatre” since 1991.
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D. MATT WORLEY* (Jake
Laurents) has been acting professionally for over five years.
He is a MFA graduate of the American Conservatory Theater in San
Francisco, where he performed in several productions including
Twelfth Night, Christmas Carol and Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
He also starred at other theaters in Pippin, Waiting for Godot
and Godspell, among others. He has performed in theaters,
short film, TV, voiceover and commercial work out of New York City
for the last four years. Matt recently finished a successful run
of his One-Man Cabaret entitled Dating Blind and is currently
working on the sequel.
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KEVIN CONNORS (Director/Original
Music/MTC MainStage Executive Artistic Director) Off-Broadway
composer/director credits include Prime Time Prophet, Jukebox
Saturday Night, The Abandoned Loves of Frederick R. (by playwright
Randy Buck at the Westbeth) and composer of the musical score for
Life Anonymous by award-winning playwright N. Richard Nash.
Other produced works include Lover, Babes Off Broadway (finalist
for the Michael Stewart Production Award), Saloon, Suzy Q
and the title song for the film Missing the Moon. Other NY
credits include “The Songbook Series for Musical Theatre Composers”
at the Donnell Library and the York Theatre. Connecticut credits
include last season’s The Fantasticks and It’s
A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (director - Rich Forum/Edgerton
Center for the Performing Arts), Babes in Toyland (director,
book, new music and lyrics, four seasons at the Rich Forum), Bah
Humbug (writer/director, two seasons at the Rich Forum),
Six Feet Under the Big Top (composer/lyricist, University of
Bridgeport), Just Like a Woman (composer/lyricist, Music
Theatre of Connecticut, directed by Morton DaCosta), Baby (director
- Polka Dot Playhouse), Christopher Columbus and Operetta
in Red,White and Blue (director - New England Lyric Operetta).
In October 2003, he directed the Gala Re-Opening of Stamford’s
Palace Theatre starring the Stamford Symphony, Skitch Henderson,
Louise Pitre, James Naughton and Joan Rivers. Mr. Connors began
his career as a performer touring his own act with Bob Hope, Henny
Youngman and Johnny Mathis; aboard the ships of Cunard Cruises and
in top NYC cabarets. He co-founded Music Theatre of Connecticut
in 1987, and since then, has directed or musically directed most
of the Equity Mainstage productions including Cole, Something’s
Afoot, Yours, Anne (Connecticut Critics Circle award nominee) and
A Little Night Music, as well as writing original music and lyrics
for more than 10 childrens’ musicals. He has served as Adjunct
Professor of Musical Theatre at The Hartt School of Music/University
of Hartford and the University of Bridgeport. Mr. Connors’
debut CD, The Things We Never Say, was released in October,
2000 through Original Cast Records. His most recent work, Mothers
and Sons, was developed at the Roundabout Theatre and was featured
on the Monday Night Musicals Series at the Rich Forum. He is currently
working on the new musical Love on Ice with playwright Bill Nabel
(B’way’s Beauty and the Beast). Mr. Connors is
a proud member of Actors’ Equity, ASCAP and The Dramatists
Guild.
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JOE LANDRY (Playwright/MTC
MainStage Marketing & PR Director) Joe’s plays have
been produced across the country and include Eve & Co., Beautiful,
Hollywood Babylon, Flavor of the Month and Numb. His
other adaptations include Reefer Madness and Death in
Venice. He has collaborated on the musical Mothers and Sons
with Kevin Connors. His produced screenplays include Who Would
Jesus Date? Joe has done marketing for Roundabout Theatre Company,
Westport Country Playhouse, Downtown Cabaret Theatre, Stamford Center
for the Arts, Fairfield Theatre Company, Playhouse on the Green
and others. Joe is founder and artistic director of Second Guess
Stage/Screen and a member of the Dramatists’ Guild. He’s
currently working on a new radio play called Vintage Hitchcock,
which is comprised of adaptations of a trio of Alfred Hitchcock’s
early British films. www.joelandry.com
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ANNA BECKER* (Stage
Manager) recently graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Music
Theatre from the University of Miami. Anna appeared in The Penguin
Tango at the Lion Theater as part of the Fringe2006 Encore Series
on Theatre Row. Other credits include Catherine in The Me Nobody
Knows at the John Houseman Theater. Pre-Broadway Workshops include
The Kid Who Played the Palace; regionally she appeared as
Star-to-be in Annie at Theatre West Virginia. Anna also serves
on the faculty at MTC and at UM taught Improv at the Summer Theater
Academy.
JAMES BURNS (Scenic Design & Technical Direction)
recently is a recent graduate of Fairfield University where he worked
backstage with Theatre Fairfield as a designer and technician. In
addition to designing the sets for The Real Inspector Hound
and Festival 2007 at Fairfield and Titus Andronicus at the Harrisburg
Shakespeare Festival, James has designed lights for Pienocchi Productions’
The One Stoplight in Hollis: An Experiment in Film and Theatre
and for Shakespeare Ventures’ Macbeth. When not at MTC
he can be found backstage at the Quick Center for the Performing
Arts.
GRAHAM KINDRED (Lighting Design) is pleased
to be working with Kevin Connors again, they last collaborated on
the MTC MainStage co-production of The Fantasticks at Stamford
Center for the Arts. Off-Broadway credits include The Rise of
Dorothy Hale (St. Luke’s), Darrow (45th Street Theater),
Motherload (Sage Theater), Wasps In Bed (Beckett Theater),
Retzach (59E59), Trolls (Actors’ Playhouse),
Picon Pie (Lambs Theater), Uncle Jacque’s Symphony
(SoHo Playhouse), Roman Nights (DR-2). Regional includes
Stones In His Pockets (Florida Rep), I Got Merman (Majestic
Theater, Dallas), Suddenly Hope (Denver Civic Center), Two
Small Bodies, Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage and Expectations
(Stamford Center for the Arts’ Rich Forum). He holds an MFA
from Temple University.
DIANE VANDERKROEF (Costume Design) has previously
designed costumes for the MTC MainStage production of Kevin Connor’s
Babes in Toyland at Stamford Center for the Arts. She has
been desiging for Connecticut Grand Opera for the past twenty years,
including Elixer of Love, Don Giovanni and Don Pasquale.
She has also been designer for Downtown CabaretTheatre’s MainStage
and Children’s Company, as well as various musicals for New
England Lyrical Operetta. Diane is currently on the staff as designer
for the Music Theater of Connecticut School of Performing Arts.
When not designing, Diane is a flight attendant, previously for
Pam Am and, presently, for Delta Airlines.
* The Actors and Stage Managers employed for
MTC MainStage productions are members of Actors' Equity Association,
the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United
States. |
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(l to r:) Amy Russ and
D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) D. Matt Worley, Amy Russ,
Kathy Calahan, Larry Daggett and Jim Schilling
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, Jim Schilling, Kathy Calahan and D.
Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Jim Schilling, Amy Russ,
Kathy Calahan and D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, Amy Russ and
D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, D. Matt Worley and Amy Russ
Photo by Kerry Long |
D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, Jim Schilling, Amy Russ, Kathy Calahan
and
D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) D. Matt Worley and Larry Daggett
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) D. Matt Worley and Amy Russ
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Jim Schilling, Amy Russ, Kathy Calahan and D. Matt
Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) D. Matt Worley and Jim Schilling
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, Jim Schilling, Amy Russ, Kathy Calahan
and
D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Amy Russ, Jim Schilling
and D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Amy Russ and
D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) D. Matt Worley, Kathy Calahan, Amy Russ and Jim Schilling
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) D. Matt Worley and
Kathy Calahan
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, Jim Schilling,
Amy Russ, Kathy Calahan and
D. Matt Worley
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, D. Matt Worley
and Jim Schilling
Photo by Kerry Long |
(l to r:) Amy Russ and
D. Matt Worley |
(l to r:) Jim Schilling, Amy Russ,
Kathy Calahan and D. Matt Worley |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, Jim Schilling, Amy Russ, Kathy Calahan
and
D. Matt Worley |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett, Jim Schilling
and D. Matt Worley |
(l to r:) D. Matt Worley
and Kathy Calahan |
(l to r:) D. Matt Worley, Amy Russ, Larry Daggett, Kathy Calahan
and
Jim Schilling |
D. Matt Worley |
(l to r:) Larry Daggett and
Jim Schilling |
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(l to r:) Ann Brannigan, Jim Schilling, Bob Brannigan, Kevin
Connors, Paul and Cheryl Pizzo
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(l to r:) Kevin Connors, Kathy Calahan, Sue Messervey, Jim Schilling,
Dan Aron, Larry Daggett and D. Matt Worley (front row) Amy Russ
and Maureen Aron
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(l to r:) Kevin Connors, Ben and Mary Lou Benedetto, Jim Schilling
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(r to l:) Kevin Connors, Jim Schilling, Dale Lamberty and guest
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(l to r:) Cheryl and Paul Pizzo, Amy Russ, Larry Daggett, D.
Matt Worley, Bob and Ann Brannigan
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Anna Becker (center) and parents
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Kathy Calahan and her father
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(l to r:) Joe Landry and Amy Russ
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(l to r:) Anna Becker and Larry Daggett
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(l to r:) Joe Landry and Larry Daggett
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(l to r:) Joe Landry and Anna Becker |
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