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July 6, 2006 -- Heritage Repertory Theatre continues
its 31st season with a production of Matthew Barber’s
Tony Award-nominated adaptation of the famed novel Enchanted
April. The production opens on July 7 at the Culbreth Theatre,
and will be directed by Douglas Sprigg.
The play tells the story of four wildly-mismatched British
women who head to an idyllic Northern Italian villa in
an attempt to escape their dreary lives. During the course
of their trip, those lives are changed forever when setting
and circumstances come together to provide them with answers
they didn’t even know they were seeking and illuminating
glimpses of their true selves.
Enchanted April was adapted from the 1921 novel by Elizabeth
Von Arnim and is known to many from its acclaimed 1992
film adaptation, which starred Dame Joan Plowright and
Miranda Richarson.
“This is a delightful night at the theatre,” said
Robert Chapel, Producing Artistic Director at Heritage
Rep. “Audiences will find that the show offers a
little bit of everything, from great comedy to wonderful
characters and a timeless message about the value of stepping
outside of our lives to discover the people we truly are.”
Enchanted April Director Douglas Sprigg is well known to
local audiences thanks to a long list of recent HRT credits.
He directed a pair of popular productions last season,
including Arthur Miller’s The Price and Richard Dresser’s
Rounding Third. Other HRT productions he has directed include
The Syringa Tree, Proof, Art, Same Time, Next Year, Picnic,
Harvey, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Miracle Worker. He
directed Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya for the U.Va. Department
of Drama in 2000. Sprigg has directed more than 80 productions
over the course of his career, including shows in Los Angeles,
New York and the Potomac Theatre Project in Washington,
D.C. He is also a highly respected educator, serving for
twenty of his thirty years at Vermont’s Middlebury
College as the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance;
earlier this year, Sprigg was named Mettler Professor of
Theatre. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Michigan.
Enchanted April also features actress Ann Talman, a Charlottesville
native who has compiled an impressive array of high-profile
credits during the course of a career that has seen her
go from Charlottestville to Broadway and back home again.
Most recently, Talman appeared in Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros’ The
Airport Play as part of the Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon
in New York. Her Broadway credits include The Women (Roundabout
Theatre); Some Americans Abroad and House of Blue Leaves
(Lincoln Center); and The Little Foxes with Elizabeth Taylor.
Off-Broadway, Talman has appeared at Soho Rep, The New
Group, Second Stage, Primary Stages and Vineyard Theatre.
She has also compiled a long list of regional theatre credits,
including the Huntington Theatre Company, Center Stage,
Goodspeed Opera House, Williamstown Theatre Festival and
others. Film and television audiences know her from appearances
in Serendipity, Wall Street, Bob Roberts, Law & Order,
SVU, Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, Ellen, Kate & Allie, The
Street and more.
Enchanted April will run July 7 and 8 and 11-15.
To order tickets, visit the box office at Culbreth Theatre
or call (434) 924-3376.
For more information on HRT and its 31st season, visit
www.uvahrt.org.
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