Press Release: Mary's Wedding

September 16, 2008…Burbank…The Colony Theatre Company presents the third production of its 2008 – 2009 season, the Los Angeles premiere of MARY’S WEDDING, written by Stephen Massicotte and directed by David Rose. MARY’S WEDDING will preview on Wednesday, October 22; Thursday, October 23 and Friday, October 24 at 8:00pm and will open on Saturday, October 25 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, November 23 at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center.

This award-winning play follows Mary and Charlie from their unexpected meeting in a barn during a thunderstorm across the prairies of Canada and the battlefields of Europe. Up and coming playwright Stephen Massicotte spins a breathtaking saga about young lovers who must surrender their fate to the uncertainties of their tumultuous times. A testament to the power of memory and hope that lingers like a remembered dream.
                                                                                                   
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

STEPHEN MASSICOTTE (Playwright) grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and still lives in Canada. Stephen's newest play, The Oxford Roof Climber's Rebellion, won the 2007 Canadian Author's Association Award for Best English-Language Play For Adults, and it enjoyed an acclaimed Off-Broadway production later that same year. In 2002, his play Mary’s Wedding premiered at Alberta Theatre Projects’ annual playRites Festival and was the winner of the 2000 Alberta Playwriting Competition, the 2002 Betty Mitchell Award for Best New Play and the 2003 Alberta Book Award for Drama. His other plays include A Farewell to Kings, Pervert, The Emperor of Atlantis and the popular Star Wars-inspired Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook series, and they have played for audiences throughout Canada. His film writing credits include the screenplays for the feature films Ginger Snaps Back:The Beginning and The Dark. Stephen has a BFA in Drama from the University of Calgary.
 
DAVID ROSE (Director) has staged over 25 productions since he became a company member in 1990, including this season’s The Voice of the Prairie and last season’s Almost, Maine and Master Harold ... and the boys (NAACP Theatre Award nomination). Other Colony productions include ...Young Lady From Rwanda, Billy Bishop Goes to War, Sherlock’s Last Case, the L.A. Premiere of The Drawer Boy, Fuddy Meers, The Nerd, The Man Who Came to Dinner, the World Premiere of Bea[u]tiful in the Extreme, Our Country’s Good (six L.A. Ovation award nominations, Drama-Logue award), the L.A. Premiere of The Living, The Front Page (L.A. Weekly award – Revival Production of the Year), You Can’t Take it With You (Drama-Logue award), June Moon, and the West Coast Premiere of Peccadillo. He also directed Second Stage productions of True West, Baby With the Bathwater, and I Can Fit My Fist in My Mouth. As an actor, David has appeared at the Colony in Bedroom Farce (Drama-Logue award), Mornings at Seven, The Clearing, Incident at Vichy, Einstein and the Polar Bear, and Pastoral.  Elsewhere in Los Angeles, he has directed productions of Geniuses (Drama-Logue award), Justin Tanner’s Big Bear, and the nine month run of the smash hit Road to Nirvana (Drama-Logue award) – all at Burbank’s Third Stage – as well as The Dining Room at Theatre 40, Inspecting Carol at the Ivy Substation (Drama-Logue award), and Chased From Paradise and The Blues are Running at the Lost Studio. He is the former Artistic Director of The New York Comedy Repertory Ensemble and a founding member of Washington, D.C.’s acclaimed Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

ABOUT THE CAST AND DESIGN TEAM

ASHLEY BELL (Mary) returns to The Colony Theatre after earning raves for her performance in The Voice of the Prairie earlier this season. Other recent theatre credits include playing Abigail in The Crucible at The Matrix, and she recently finished performing in a student performance series at The Groundlings directed by Mindy Sterling. In New York, Ashley played the lead in Something More Pleasant in the Fringe Festival, as well as Wounds to the Face, The Martyrdom of Washington Booth, What She Found There, Terminating, I Licked a Slag’s Deodorant, Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, and Hermia in Midsummer Night’s Dream. In Cambridge, England, Ashley received the best actress award for playing Ophelia in Hamlet. She has also written and performed a one-woman show entitled Acting Served Cold.  Ashley just finished filming an independent feature called The Truth About Angels directed by Lichelli Lazar-Lea.

BRETT RYBACK (Charlie) appeared most recently in the world premiere musical Imagine at South Coast Rep. Other theatre credits include: The History Boys at the Ahmanson Theatre; Shear Madness, Master of the House, and Red Herring at the Laguna Playhouse; On Your Toes at Reprise! Broadway’s Best; Over the Tavern, and Inspecting Carol at Milwaukee Rep; Henry V at Milwaukee Shakespeare; and Hello, Dolly! and Pelleas and Melisande at The Skylight. He has appeared on television on Cupid (ABC) and House (FOX), and is currently starring in The Resistance, a spin-off of the hit web-series Lonelygirl15. Brett is also an accomplished composer and an award-winning playwright. His plays Weïrd and A Roz, By Any Other Name won the 2007 Tennessee Williams and Henrico County one-act competitions respectively, and both received their premiere earlier this year to much acclaim.

MARY’S WEDDING has assembled an award-winning design team. The set design is by David Potts (The Voice of the Prairie, Almost, Maine, Master Harold ... and the Boys). The costume design is by A. Jeffrey Schoenberg (Side Show, A Shayna Maidel). The lighting design is by Jeremy Pivnick (The Voice of the Prairie, Almost, Maine, The Thousandth Night). The sound design is by Cricket S. Myers (Educating Rita, The Voice of the Prairie, Trying (Ovation nomination)). The property design is by MacAndME (Educating Rita; The Voice of the Prairie; The Immigrant; Almost, Maine).

MARY’S WEDDING will open on Saturday, October 25 and perform through Sunday, November 23, 2008. Performances for MARY’S WEDDING are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm and 7:00pm. There will be additional performances on Saturday, November 1 & Saturday, November 8 at 3pm and Thursday, October 30, Thursday, November 13, & Thursday, November 20 at 8pm. There will be no 7pm performance on Sunday October 26 (2pm show only), or Friday October 31 (Halloween).  Ticket prices range from $37.00 - $42.00 (student, senior and group discounts are available). Preview performances are Wednesday, October 22 at 8pm; Thursday, October 23 at 8pm and Friday, October 24 at 8:00pm. Preview Tickets are $20.00 - $25.00. Opening night performance with reception - all tickets $50.00. There are question-and-answer talkbacks after the performances on Thursday, October 30, and Thursday, November 13 and a Pay-What-You-Can performance on Sunday, November 2 at 7 pm (buy tickets in person from 5:00 to 6:00pm, cash only limit 2 tickets per person).  For tickets, call the Colony Theatre Box Office at 818/558-7000 ext. 15 or online at www.colonytheatre.org.  
                           
For more information, press interviews, photos or for press comps, please contact David Elzer/DEMAND PR at 818/508-1754 or at ELZERD@aol.com or visit www.demandpr.com.

The award-winning Colony Theatre Company is Burbank's premiere professional theatre. It was voted "Best Live Theatre in L.A." in The Daily News 2006 Readers' Choice poll, and has been named one of "25 Notable U.S. Theatre Companies" by Encyclopedia Britannica Almanac for 6 years in a row. 

The Colony Theatre Company is a 34-year old organization dedicated to bringing the finest-quality theatrical productions to Los Angeles. The theatre is located at 555 North Third Street, at the corner of Cypress, in the heart of Downtown Burbank. For further information, call (818) 558-7000. Fax: (818) 558-7110. E-mail: colonytheatre@colonytheatre.org. Or visit our website at www.colonytheatre.org