Contact:
Kathleen Covington, Public Relations Manager, Alliance Theatre
Phonr: 404.733.4601
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Alliance Theatre continues to showcase the best of emerging American playwrights with its world premiere The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ)
Performances begin Friday, February 3, 2012; Opening Night: Wednesday, February 8, 2012
ATLANTA, January 12, 2011 — The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ), the eighth winner of the nationally recognized Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, will premiere on the Hertz Stage February 3-29, 2012. This darkly funny story of self discovery combines the rapidly changing setting of Moscow, 2005, and the world of traditional Russian fairytales. The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ) is written by Meg Miroshnik and will be directed by Eric Rosen.
Moscow seems like a fairytale to twenty year old Annie, a Jewish-Russian-American in search of her roots. But when the lines between Russian fairytales and Annie’s reality start to blur – and then vanish – things get seriously dicey. The girl across the hall, Masha, claims that her boyfriend has turned into a bear. And her new friend, Katya, has a sugar daddy she calls the tsar; sounds like a Cinderella situation except for the fact that he’s married to a wicked witch. To secure her Russian happily ever after, Annie must take action soon. Or is it already too late?A recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Miroshnik was inspired by the time she lived in Russia as she experienced the country through American eyes. As the 2012 winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ) also received additional developmental workshops at the Kennedy Center and at the Lark Play Development Center. It has been chosen as a finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger Award and received a workshop production at the Moscow Playwright and Director Center in a Russian translation by Maria Kroupnik (directed by Ilya Shagalov).
The all female cast for The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ) includes Kate Goehrings, Alexandra Henrikson, Judy Leavell (Alliance’s Managing Maxine), Bree Dawn Shannon, Diany Rodriguez (Alliance’s August: Osage County and Into the Woods), and Sarah Elizabeth Wallis as Annie.
The Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition is a one-of-a-kind national competition that transitions student playwrights to the world of professional theatre. The grand prize for the winner of the competition is a professional production of his/her work at the Alliance Theatre. A one-of-a-kind opportunity for emerging playwrights, the Competition is open to all final year playwriting students at invited MFA programs throughout the country.
An in-house panel of readers at the Alliance Theatre reads and evaluates the scripts, and selects a slate of finalists to be advanced in the competition. Those scripts are sent to a national panel of three theater artists for judging. In conjunction with Alliance Theatre leadership, the judges select the winner. The Alliance Theatre produces the winning play on the 200-seat Hertz Stage. Readings of the finalists’ plays are produced in New York and Atlanta each year. The judges who chose The Fairy Tale Lives of Russian Girls were Polly Carl, currently Arena Stage; Michael Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and Tarell McCraney, Playwright and Kendeda Graduate Playwright Competition Winner, 2008.
The program is led by Celise Kalke, Director of New Projects, chosen by American Theatre as one of 25 American Theatre leaders of the future.
Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 pm, Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2:30 pm and 8 pm, and Sundays at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm, Feb. 3-29, 2012 on Hertz Stage.
Tickets start at $25 and are available at The Woodruff Arts Center Box Office, by calling 404.733.5000 or visiting online at www.alliancetheatre.org/fairytalelives.
Discount rates for groups of 10 or more are available by calling 404.733.4690. Discount rates are also available for members of the military, seniors and students. The Alliance Theatre is located at The Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street, at the corner of Peachtree and 15th Street, in Midtown Atlanta. Recommended for 9th grade and up; adult language and thematic elements.
{plgSEOLinksH0} Additional Sponsors: The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ) is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines – Official Airline of the Alliance Theatre; Marriott Residence Inn – Official Hotel of the Alliance Theatre; and The Home Depot – Set Construction Sponsor of the Alliance Theatre.
Production of The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ) is made possible with grants from the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, the Fulton County Arts Council, the Georgia Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
{plgSEOLinksH1} Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (or ДeByшκИ )
Alliance Theatre, Hertz Stage
February 3 – 29, 2012
The eighth winner of our nationally recognized Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition is set amongst the swirling domes of the church in Red Square. Moscow seems like a fairytale to twenty year old Annie, an American in search of her roots. But when the lines between Russian fairytales and Annie’s reality start to blur – and then vanish – things get seriously dicey. For tickets, visit alliancetheatre.org or call 404.733.5000.
Founded in 1968, the Alliance Theatre remains closely tied to the cultural identity of Atlanta, growing as the city has grown. The theatre has gained national recognition and prominence as we have become a leading international city. In 1977, the Alliance merged with the Atlanta Children’s Theatre (founded in 1929) in order to include Atlanta’s youngest audiences in fully produced theatrical experiences. In 1979, the Alliance created the Theatre School (now the Acting Program and Education Department) in order to strengthen the relationship with our community. In 2007, under the leadership of Susan Booth, Artistic Director, the Alliance received the Regional Theatre Tony Award®, in recognition for sustained excellence in programming, education and community engagement.
Realizing that our audience and the national field supports plays developed in Atlanta, the Alliance has created a large body of new work. The Alliance produces world premiere American musicals with a strong track record of Broadway, touring and subsequent regional productions. The theatre creates and nurtures the plays and careers of early career playwrights through the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, providing a premiere for the winner as part of our regular season and national networking opportunities for four finalists. Locally based artists create work on a nationally watched stage, launching and sustaining Atlanta’s artistic community. Finally we create and produce original plays for young audiences at every age level: from the Collision Project which creates opportunities for high school artists to collide with classic texts to the ground breaking Theatre for the Very Young, creating interactive work for infants and toddlers.
The Alliance takes great pride in our multi generational educational programming. Believing that the same excellence found on our stage must be found in our education programs, the Alliance created the Alliance Theatre Institute for Educators and Teaching Artists. A collaborative partnership between the Alliance and partner schools, institute programs equip teachers with theatrical techniques that link directly to school curriculum, align with the Georgia Performance Standards, and increase student learning. These innovative programs include GA Wolf Trap, a nationally recognized professional learning program that focuses on literacy skills for children in pre-K – 2nd grade, Dramaturgy K-12, a unique program that empowers student scholars to create research material that both informs Alliance productions and prepares their peer audiences; and Collision Plus, which takes the creativity and collaboration of the Collision Project into our high school classrooms. The Alliance also offers community education, including classes for all ages and abilities of theatre interest; and adult student productions of unproduced plays in development (working with local writers and playwrights from the National Graduate Playwriting Competition). Twice recognized by the Federal Department of Education as leaders in the field of arts education, these programs reflect the Alliance’s commitment to city wide arts access.
The Alliance Theatre strives to set the highest artistic standards and create the powerful experience of shared theatre for a diverse audience. Above all else, we value excellence, pursued with integrity and creativity, and achieved through collaboration.
The Alliance Theatre is a division of The Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, which also houses the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art and Young Audiences.
Contact:
Kathleen Covington, Public Relations Manager, Alliance Theatre
404.733.4601, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
404.733.4650 or www.alliancetheatre.org
