Contact:
Brittany Griffith
Director of Programming and Sales
(434) 515-2039
For Immediate Release:
06/1/2020
ACADEMY ANNOUNCES UPCOMING COMMUNITY THROUGH THEATRE PRODUCTION
(Lynchburg, VA) The Academy Center of the Arts has just announced Community Through Theatre’s upcoming production, Cole Porter’s Tony Award-winning musical comedy Kiss Me, Kate, set to perform in the Historic Academy Theatre, 524 Main Street, March 19, 20, and 21, 2021.
Set in the late 1940’s, Kiss Me, Kate is the story of a musical theatre version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and the conflicts on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show’s director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The original production opened on Broadway on Dec. 30, 1948 and played for a total run of 1,077 performances. There were subsequent Broadway revival productions in 1952, 1999, and 2019.
Auditions for Kiss Me, Kate will be held in early January, with rehearsals immediately following on Sunday-Thursday evenings. Kiss Me, Kate allows for a cast of 25-30 performers ranging in age from 16 – 90 years old.
Kiss Me, Kate will be directed by Jim Ackley, long-time Director of the internationally-acclaimed EC Glass Theatre Department. Sumner Jenkins, Organist & Choirmaster for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Lynchburg will serve as the Music Director and Orchestra Conductor. Ronnie Brady, whose Academy choreography credits include past Academy Youth Theatre performances of Tarzan, West Side Story, Beauty and the Beast Jr., Newsies, and A Wrinkle in Time, will serve as the Choreographer for the show.
For more information and audition updates, please visit academycenter.org/event/kiss-me-kate/.
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The Academy Center of the Arts, anchored by the historic Academy of Music Theatre, is greater Lynchburg’s multi-facility center for arts, culture, and community building, occupying 1.25 blocks on Main Street in downtown Lynchburg. The Academy Center of the Arts, previously known as the Academy of Fine Arts, was formed in 2003 from the merger of the Lynchburg Fine Arts Center and the Academy of Music Theatre, Inc. Built in 1905 and closed in 1958, the Theatre is one of the few surviving Beaux-Arts style theatres in Virginia. For more information, visit www.AcademyCenter.org.
