Performance Network Theatre announces casting for its season opener, The Blonde, the Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead. Michigan actor/director Suzi Regan will take on all seven roles in Robert Hewett's The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, the one-woman tour de force that will kick off Performance Network's 2009/2010 season.
Regan will bring to life seven men and women who all have something to say about the day a very desperate housewife committed a crime of passion in the shopping mall. The truth depends on who is telling the story in this funny, poignant production that looks at love, betrayal, revenge and redemption. Premiered in Hewett's native Australia, The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead went on to become a runaway hit at Canada's Stratford Festival.
"I'm happy to make my Performance Network Theatre acting debut in The Blonde, the Brunette & the Vengeful Redhead having directed a few plays years ago in the Washington space" Regan said.
Artistic Director David Wolber adds: "We think it is exciting to have Suzi open our 10th season in the downtown space, since she's an actress of exceptional caliber who hasn't worked with our company since almost exactly 10 years ago when she directed The Ride Down Mt. Morgan at the old space."
Regan has been an actor and director in the Metro Detroit area for nearly 20 years. Among Ms. Regan's accomplishments are her appearance in the Signature Theatre's New York Premiere of Lanford Wilson's RAIN DANCE in 2003, of which New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley wrote "Ms. Regan's Irene consistently summons that violent, tender mixture of rage and compassion that have animated Mr. Wilson's best work, seamlessly melding the cosmic and the personal. As written and portrayed, Irene guarantees that the Signature Company's season-long celebration of Mr. Wilson ends not with a whimper but with an urgent, frightened whisper that stays in your head."
Most recently she directed Panache, the award winning Maidens, Mothers, and Crones and Music From a Sparkling Planet at the Williamston Theatre. Her credits at Performance Network include Ride Down Mt. Morgan and The Waiting Room. She will also direct and create with writer Annie Martin the final installment of the Williamston Theatre Project: Voices of the Midwest with next season's Home. She remains a Resident Artist at the Purple Rose Theatre Company, having worked there for many years as an actor: Vino Veritas, Sea of Fools, Rain Dance, Book of Days, the original production of Apartment 3A, Julie Johnson, Criminal Genius, Stanton's Garage, Only Me and You, Keely and Du; and director: Beast on the Moon, Labor Day, and Born Yesterday. Other credits include Norma and Wanda (Gem Theatre), Rain Dance (Signature Theatre, New York), Book of Days (Hartford Stage, CT/St. Louis Rep, MO). Suzi loves sound design, sings, writes, plays guitar, and does commercial and film work in the area.
The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead will run from Sept. 10 through Oct. 11, 2009 at Performance Network Theatre.
Single tickets go on sale Aug. 1, 2009.
Pay-What-You-Can (preview Thursday 8pm and 1st Saturday 3pm): Suggested donation $10/$15
Preview Friday 8pm, Sunday 2pm and Thursday 8pm: $22
Preview Saturday 8pm: $30
Opening Night and Saturday 8pm: $39
Thursday 8pm: $27
Saturday 3pm: $25
Friday 8pm and Sunday 2pm: $32
*Premium seats are $2 additional per seat
Tickets can be ordered at the Performance Network Box Office at 734.663.0681, online at www.performancenetwork.org or by coming to the Performance Network Theatre (120 East Huron St., Ann Arbor) Monday-Saturday 11-6 or one hour before a performance.
