Guthrie Theater

GUTHRIE ANNOUNCES 2011-12 DOWLING STUDIO PRESENTATIONS

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) The Guthrie Theater today announced that it will present the work of Walking Shadow Theatre Company, Carlyle Brown & Company, Shapiro & Smith Danceand Sossy Mechanics in the Dowling Studio during the 2011-12 season.

"Our sixth season of presentations in the Dowling Studio again promises to showcase some of the most exciting artists in the Twin Cities," said Associate Director of Studio Programming Benjamin McGovern. "I'm thrilled that these four join the already impressive list of 23 other local companies who have brought their talents to the Studio since 2006. The work of these four, and how each creates its pieces, is quite eclectic, and will no doubt compliment the Guthrie's own work in the Studio this season."

Walking Shadow Theatre's production of Neil LaBute's reasons to be pretty (September 16 - October 2, 2011) centers on four young working-class friends and lovers who become increasingly dissatisfied with their dead-end lives and each other. Performed by an emerging local company, this commentary on America's obsession with physical beauty is the final ferocious cap on a trilogy of LaBute plays that began with The Shape of Things and Fat Pig.

Carlyle Brown & Company's Are You Now or Have You Ever Been... (May 4 - 20, 2012) is a fitting example of the acclaimed local playwright's work, whose plays frequently centers around politics and cultural identity. This revealing portrait of Langston Hughes, on the eve of his testimony before Senator Joseph McCarthy, transports audiences to the writer's 1953 Harlem apartment, where the nearing dawn brings a confession of an artist faced with his fears and regrets before the greatest ordeal of his life.

Family ties - whether they come from a real family or a family of choice - are at the heart of Anytown (June 21 - 24, 2012) , a unique collaboration pairing the choreography of Minneapolis-based Shapiro & Smith Dance with the music of rock' n' roll legend Bruce Springsteen, his wife Patti Scialfa, and Soozie Tyrell. With down-to-earth, poignant storytelling, gravity defying movements, grace and humor, the work follows the plight of three families whose lives are entangled in a web of desire and need, while struggling with loss and survival. Set in an imaginary time, the work addresses today's concerns of middle and working classes; and through the skillful juxtaposition of movement, metaphors and lyrics, creates vivid settings suggesting both real homes and places of hope and dream.

The energetic and charismatic forces of husband and wife duo Brian Sostek and Megan McClellan bring the Sossy Mechanics' acclaimed production of Trick Boxing (August 17 - September 2, 2012) to the Dowling Studio. Heralded at fringe festivals around the globe, these two performers play 14 characters in this 1930s-set physical comedy told through rapid-fire dialogue, high-energy dance numbers, ridiculous puppetry, true love and, of course, boxing!

These four presentations join the Guthrie's previously announced Studio productions, which include Adam Rapp's The Edge of Our Bodies, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (in association with The Acting Company) and Conor McPherson's The Birds.

Single tickets for Walking Shadow Theatre's reasons to be pretty, Carlyle Brown & Company's Are You Now or Have You Ever Been..., Shapiro & Smith Dance's Anytown and Sossy Mechanics' Trick Boxing start at $18, while single tickets for the Guthrie productions of The Edge of Our Bodies, Julius Caesar and The Birds start at $24. Single tickets for all 2011-12 Studio productions go on sale August 1 through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

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