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The Key West Summer Stage Company 2011

PRESS RELEASE
For further information, call: Bob Bowersox, 302-540-6102

SUMMER THEATRE SEASON PLANNED FOR THE RED BARN THEATRE
“Key West Summer Stage” Fills a Theatrical Void
This summer will not be like its predecessors. Theater-wise anyway.  Because this year, Key West’s Red Barn Theatre, in association with new Key West theater company, TheatreXP, and Minerva Productions, will be presenting its first summer season, filling a mid-year void lovers of the stage have long wished filled.
Dubbed “Key West Summer Stage”, the three-week season will open on July 12th and run through July 30th, presenting a total of six plays in three fast-paced weeks, featuring a great mix of Key West’s most  recognizable actors and new faces. Each specific production will run for five performances only, Tuesday through Saturday, with all curtain times at 8 pm. Tickets will obviously be limited for each run.
Productions will include Sam Shepard’s iconic masterpiece, TRUE WEST, running July 12-16; ONE-ACTS WITH TEETH, an evening of strong drama and darkly comedic single-act plays, including Edward Albee’s THE ZOO STORY, A.R. Gurney’s THE PROBLEM, Rebecca Craft’s SHE LIVED, HE SAID, and David Ives’ THE PHILADELPHIA, running July 19-23; and Richard Nelson’s “MADAME MELVILLE, which has been called one of the most sensual and exquisitely-painted plays ever written, running July 26-30.
All plays will be produced by TheatreXP, a new Key West theater company founded by Key West actor/writer/director Bob Bowersox late last year, in association with Fantasy Fest Queen Anne O’Shea’s Minerva Productions. The concept for Bowersox’s company is similar to one that he was familiar with in Philadelphia.
“It’s about putting unused assets together for the benefit of all,” Bowersox said. “Not all good actors in our community get a chance to work in a season because the number of plays that are produced each year at the two great theaters we have in Key West are limited. There are just not enough roles. And there are periods of time within the season where the theaters – or other functional spaces – are dark for whatever reason. And there is a wealth of great plays out there that we would love to bring to the community. It’s just a matter of pulling all the pieces together.”

Bowersox, who has appeared in several plays at the Red Barn (“Rompers”, “Short Attention Span Theatre”), and at the Waterfront Playhouse (“12 Angry Men”), “and his producing partner at TheatreXP, actor Quincy Perkins (“12 Angry Men”, “Glengarry Glen Ross”, “Greetings”) began discussions with Red Barn Artistic Director Joy Hawkins and Managing Director Mimi MacDonald while Bowersox was stage managing the theater’s hit show “Becky’s New Car” this past spring. Hawkins and MacDonald were looking for ways to expand the Red Barn’s annual schedule, and the idea of a summer season was appealing to them.
“With the rise in summer tourism we think Key West has an audience for a summer theater season,” MacDonald said. “And we are thrilled that Theatre XP brings so much talent as well as enthusiasm for this summer season of plays.  The shows promise to be inventive, exciting and entertaining."
And both Hawkins and MacDonald liked the idea of having a professional, responsible theater organization working with them for the new endeavor.
“This group is very dedicated to bringing exciting theatre to hot summer nights and showcasing talents and shows that inspire them,” Hawkins said.  “We hope Key West jumps into those seats on this new theatrical ride.”
With an agreement in place, Bowersox, Perkins, and the third producing partner at TheatreXP, actor/director Hal Cosec, then set about selecting their season.
“We liked the idea of pushing the envelope a little,” Bowersox said, referring to the types of plays they wanted to work on. “We think there’s room for – and a desire in the audiences for– plays with a little more edge, a little more darkness in the comedy. And we think we’ve found just that.”
The Key West Summer Stage at the Red Barn opens Tuesday, July 12th with TRUE WEST, arguably playwright Sam Shepard’s finest work.  The play centers on two brothers – one a respectable family man and well-paid screenwriter, the other a renegade loner and burglar – and on the surface, seems to comically be skewering Hollywood deal-making and the cheap illusions bred by that industry. But on a deeper level, this voyeuristic view into the rivalries of two emotionally wounded men takes on the myth of the American frontier and its fantasies of escape from lives we may not have chosen. The play stars Quincy Perkins, Hal Cosec, Bob Bowersox, and Anne O’Shea. It will be directed by Bowersox.
The second week of Summer Stage opens Tuesday, July 19th with ONE-ACTS WITH TEETH, an evening of edgy drama and dark comedy provided by four powerful single-act plays. THE ZOO STORY stars Perkins and Cosec in Edward Albee’s brilliant look at a momentary skirmish in the ongoing confrontation between middle-class America and the outcasts of the society. A.R. Gurney’s THE PROBLEM is a delightful play that makes the audience delighted voyeurs to an upper-crust couple’s razor-sharp repartee about a problem between them that is definitely not what it seems. The play stars Bowersox and Rebecca Gleason (“Lend Me A Tenor”). Perhaps the edgiest drama of the evening is SHE LIVED, HE SAID, a powerhouse original piece written by Rebecca Craft – a friend of Bowersox’s – that focuses on the emotional fallout of abuse. It stars Bowersox and Jessica Miano Kruel (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”). The final play of the evening is the hilarious THE PHILADELPHIA, by David Ives, wherein Laurie Breakwell, Jessica Miano Kruel, and Hal Cosec find themselves passing through metaphysical realities none of them expected to find themselves in.
The final week’s play is Richard Nelson’s MADAME MELVILLE, which opens July 26th and stars Breakwell, Perkins, Tammy Shanley, and Bowersox, directed by Cosec. Called “one of the most sensual and exquisitely-painted plays ever written,” the play is set in Paris in 1966 and presents the story of a young American student and his beautiful teacher. In the course of one night and one day, the boy discovers an unimagined world where beauty, loneliness, sex, and art are one.
There will be an Opening Night Party following each play’s Tuesday night opening, and anyone with a ticket to that night’s performance is invited to stay and enjoy food and bar provided by The Grand Café, one of the Summer Stage sponsors, and mingle with the cast and crew of the Summer Stage season, all of whom will be in attendance.
Tickets are available by calling TheatreXP at 302-540-6102 or going to either www.keywestsummerstage.com or www.theatrexp.org . Single show tickets are $28.00, general seating. Sponsors of the Key West Summer Stage at the Red Barn Theatre are Conch Color, The Grand Café, and Royal Furniture.
For further information, visit www.theatrexp.org. Information can also be found at www.redbarntheatre.com.

• The Key West Summer Stage Company 2011
• Red Barn Theatre
• 319 Duval Street
• Key West, FL 33040
• 302-540-6102
• 302-540-6102