Perseverance Announces 2016-2017 Anchorage Auditions

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Perseverance Theatre invites actors to open auditions in Anchorage at the Alaska Dance Theatre for the 2016-2017 season. Fifteen-minute audition slots are available from 12-5pm, Sunday, April 10. Audition sides will be available. If you would like to audition for a specific show, you can request audition sides to be sent to you in advance. To be considered for Peter and the Starcatcher, bring 16 bars of a musical theatre song to be sung without accompaniment. Please also bring an artistic resume and a headshot or recent photo.

To sign-up for a 15-minute audition slot or to request specific audition sides, contact Lizzie Buchanan: elizabeth@ptalaska.org or (907) 364-2421, ext. 221.

PRESS RELEASE – Perseverance Theatre Bring Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, or the vibrator play to Anchorage

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:            Joshua Lowman, Perseverance Theatre
(907) 364-2421 x237          joshua@ptalaska.org
Art Rotch, Perseverance Theatre
(907) 364-2421 x229          art@ptalaska.org
Perseverance Theatre presents In the Next Room, or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl in Anchorage at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.

March 25, 2016 – Perseverance Theatre presents In the Next Room or the vibrator play, by Sarah Ruhl. The play takes place at the dawn of the age of electricity and with that a groundbreaking piece of technology.  The perfect gentleman and inventor, Dr. Givings has created a device to treat “hysteria” in his patients by inducing “paroxysms” that attract the attention of his wife, who hears the sounds of success through the walls of his operating theatre.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Givings struggles with a new baby and her own urgent desires.  This modern comedy of manners is full of exploration and fulfillment.

Production Schedule and Tickets
The production runs from Apr. 15-24, 2016 in the Sydney Laurence Theatre at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts located at 621 w 6th in Anchorage, Alaska. Tickets are available now at the Centertix box office, online at Centertix.net or by calling 907-263-ARTS (2787). There is a Pay-As-You-Can Preview on April 14, 2016 at 7:30pm.

Cast and Crew
Perseverance Theatre has put together a wonderful team of mostly Alaskan artists to bring a play that, we think, audiences will find truly electrifying.
Sarah Ruhl is one of the most produced American playwrights of the last two decades.  Her plays have appeared all over the United States and internationally, Perseverance Theatre last produced a Sarah Ruhl play in 2010 with Eurydice.  Sarah Ruhl’s plays include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Tony Award nominee for best new play), The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize Finalist, 2005; The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play, a cycle (Pen American award, The Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from The Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes award); Melancholy Play; Eurydice; Orlando, Demeter in the City (NAACP nomination), Late: a cowboy song, Three Sisters, and most recently, Stage Kiss and Dear Elizabeth.
Carolyn Howarth returns to Perseverance Theatre, she last directed Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.  She makes her home in Grass Valley, CA.  Her directing credits include productions at The Colorado, Lake Tahoe, and Sierra Shakespeare Festivals, Capital Stage, and 15 seasons with the Foothill Theatre Company.  Previous directing credits at Perseverance Theatre include The Importance of Being Earnest.  As an actor she has performed in over 50 productions with FTC, ranging from classics to new works.  Other credits include appearance with the Jewish Theatre of San Francisco, the B Street, Sacramento Theatre Company, the Lake Tahoe and Sierra Shakespeare Festivals, and the Maxim Gorky Drama Theatre in Vladivostok, Russia.  Carolyn is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
The cast includes four Juneau actors; Christina Apathy will play Mrs. Givings and Katie Jensen will play Anne the nurse. Enrique Bravo and James Sullivan, the actors in Residence at Perseverance Theatre will play Leo Irving and Mr. Daldry.  Margeaux Ljungberg, who last performed at Perseverance in Oklahoma, is back from Skagway to play Mrs. Daldry.  Tiffany Cooper joins us from Anchorage to play Elizabeth.  It is her first show at Perseverance.  These 6 Alaskan actors are joined by Torsten Hillhouse from New York.  Torsten has worked all over the country at regional theatres including American Repertory Theatre and New York Classical Theatre.  This is his first performance at Perseverance but he recently worked in Sitka at the Sitka Arts Camp in 2011.
The creative team includes: Art Rotch as scenic and lighting designer, Clare Henkel as costume designer, and Lucy Peckham as sound designer

In the Next Room, or the vibrator play Fact Sheet

WHAT: Perseverance Theatre presents In the Next Room, or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Carol Howarth.

WHEN:  April 15-24, 2016 (Opening Night: 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 15).  Performance times: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. Thursday, April 14  there will be three pay-as-you-can preview at 7:30pm.

CAST AND CREW
Dr. Givings – Torsten Hillhouse*
Catherine Givings – Christina Apathy*
Sabrina Daldry – Margeaux Ljungberg
Mr. Daldry- James Sullivan
Annie – Katie Jensen
Elizabeth – Tiffany Cooper*
Leo Irving – Enrique Bravo*
Scenic Design— Art Rotch
Costume Design— Clare Henkel
Lighting Design— Lauren Miller
Sound Design— Lucy Peckham
Stage Manager – BJ Brooks
* Actors Equity member

WHERE: Sydney Laurence Theatre at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, 621 W 6th Ave Anchorage, AK 99501.

TICKETS: Tickets to In the Next Room, or the vibrator play are now on sale and range from $15-$49.25 and are available at the Centertix box office, online at centertix.net, or by calling 907-263-ARTS (2787). Discounts are available for Military, Seniors, and Students. $15 RUSH Tickets are available for all performances starting 30 minutes before show time only at the Centertix box office.

PR: Josh Lowman, Perseverance Theatre 907-364-2421 ext. 237 or joshua@ptalaska.org. (This phone number and email are not for publication.)

PHOTOS: Email joshua@ptalaska.org for photo availability or to schedule a photo shoot.

Perseverance Theatre 2015-2016 Season Sponsors are: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Atwood Foundation, Benito and Frances C. Gaguine Foundation, Charlotte Martin Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Shubert Foundation, Alaska State Council on the Arts, The City & Borough of Juneau, The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council, Alaska Airlines, Juneau Empire, 800 KINY – 630 KJNO – MIX 106 – TAKU 105 – 1330 KXJ, KTOO-KXLL-KRNN, Anchorage Dispatch News, Alaska Experience Theatre, Alaska Public Media, and Anchorage Press.
Sponsors for In the Next Room or the vibrator play are Alaskan Brewing Co., Altman, Rogers, and Co., Haight and associates, Heidi Reifenstein Design, The Prospector Hotel.
Founded in 1979, Perseverance has grown to produce a season of classical, contemporary and new plays, including over 70 world-premiere productions, for audiences in Juneau and Anchorage, reaching 24,000 attendees annually, employing over 400 artists from across Alaska, and engaging 200 volunteers. Perseverance Theatre believes theatre going creates community by fostering empathy, relationships and communication skills, thereby creating more vital and cohesive communities. Perseverance Theatre’s mission is to create professional theatre by and for Alaskans. For more information on Perseverance Theatre visit www.ptalaska.org, or follow Perseverance Theatre on Facebook.com/PerseveranceTheatre.

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Actor Tiffany Cooper Makes a Case for Theatre in Alaska

joshuaFundraisers, Season 15-16

Tiffany Cooper. Photo courtesy Vo Photograpy.

Tiffany Cooper. Photo courtesy Vo Photograpy.

Earlier this week, actor Tiffany Cooper who plays Elizabeth in the current PT production of Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, (running through Saturday, April 2), visited the KTOO studios with our actor-in-residence James Sullivan to talk about the play and the ways that theatre supports the community, and our community in turn supports Perseverance Theatre. Tiffany is an accomplished Broadway and television actress, she is a resident of Anchorage, and also a donor to Perseverance. We thought she spoke so eloquently on Juneau Afternoon, that we asked her to jot down her thoughts for us for the blog. Here’s what Tiffany has to say:

I support Perseverance Theatre because it brings Alaskans together to share an experience that may be beautiful, funny, moving, thought-provoking, or hopefully at least diverting. And in an age when most of our communication happens in front of a screen, I think that this gathering function of theatre is, in and of itself, something that matters.

 

One of the things I love about Perseverance is that theatre contributes to education and literacy. Watching characters talk back and forth in the theatre is tricky; it requires sharp attention, quick mental shifts, and nimble language skills. It teaches us about human motivation and psychology.

 

For me, the bottom line is that Perseverance supports and hires artists throughout the state. It’s not just a small town theatre company. It’s an organization that brings artists together from across Alaska to present theatre statewide.

Thank you, Tiffany! See Tiffany and the rest of the cast of In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, through Sunday April 2nd in Juneau. The play opens April 15 in Anchorage at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.

Creating the sounds in the next room, part 2.

joshuaCurrent Projects, Productions, Season 15-16

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Recently, we’ve been in conversation with sound designer Lucy Peckham about her work on In the Next Room, or the vibrator play. You can read our first post where she discusses her original compositions.

Today, Lucy tells us about the research she did for In the Next Room.

As soon as I knew I’d been given the opportunity to design for the show, before I’d even read the script, I put “antique vibrator” in a search engine, and low and behold! There’s a museum dedicated to the history of this niche instrument.
The Antique Vibrator Museum is located in San Francisco, CA. I emailed to ask if they would allow me to visit after hours to record the sounds of the vibrators for use in the play. My email was forwarded to Dr. Carol Queen, an educator with the Center for Sex and Culture, and a docent at the museum. She said she’d be glad to help, but they have never tried to plug in or turn on any of their museum pieces, so she couldn’t guarantee that they worked, especially not the older ones. I decided it was worth the risk, and in October, I flew to San Francisco to visit the museum with my recording gear. There I met Carolyn Howarth, our director, and before the museum opened for the day, we met Dr. Queen, and started recording vibrators.
The first vibrator was designed for direct current but not labeled that way, and blew the outlet when we tried it. Ooooops! Fortunately, the rest of the Vibrators were clearly labeled for alternating current, and we were able to record them with little difficulty. There was one small problem–The Eskimo Vibrator, circa 1920, gave our brave guide, Dr. Queen a couple clearly audible shocks as it ran, so she quickly shut it down… Fortunately, she was not harmed, and her sacrifice is put to good use in the sound design. In the scene where the vibrator on stage malfunctions, I was able to use the sounds of the shocks she received as part of the cue.
Carolyn and I had a wonderful visit with Dr. Queen, hearing, seeing, and learning about the real vibrators of the time. What you will hear in the theatre is REAL, which is always my goal as a sound designer.

Here’s a clip of one of Lucy’s recordings that made it into the play.

Get Tickets in Juneau  or    Get Tickets in Anchorage

New Class Starting at The Drama School at Perseverance Theatre

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Improvisation

Monday Night Series: March 21, March 28, and April 4, 2016

$200                        Adult and High School                       6-9pm

This fun, high-energy class will help both beginning and intermediate actors. Improvisational games, exercises, and long-form improv help the actor think quickly and creatively. Learn how to integrate improv into scene work, build teamwork skills, and make courageous choices onstage. Instructor James Sullivan performed long-form improvisation for 5 years at Chicago’s ImprovOlympic and is currently a Perseverance Theatre Actor-in-Residence.

For more information or to register, please contact Shona Osterhout at (907) 364-2421 ext. 232 or shona@ptalaska.org

Creating the sounds in the next room, Part 1

joshuaCurrent Projects, Featured, Productions, Season 15-16

Actors in rehearsal. Torston Hillhouse, Christina Apathy, and director Carolyn Howarth during rehearsal.

The play in rehearsal. Actors Torston Hillhouse and Christina Apathy in conversation with director Carolyn Howarth.

Theatre is an amazing collaboration among artists–not just playwrights, directors, and actors. Here’s a note from our sound designer, Lucy Peckham about the music she composed for In the Next Room, or the vibrator play.

“As a composer, each show presents a unique challenge. For In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, the three pieces of music heard within the play express the emotional evolution of a character receiving treatments for her hysteria. The first is child-like, the second, heartfelt, and the third, bittersweet. The playwright indicates that the music is “made up” by the character. I wrote all three pieces for piano, and they are played for the show by Mischa Shimek and Rob Cohen on piano, Michael Sakarias on Hammer Dulcimer, and by me on my computer on pipe organ and synth harp. The music of the preshow, intermission and post show walkout are solo piano works from the great composers of the late 19th and very early 20th Century.”

 

Here is an excerpt of the second piece in the play, “A Sad Little Tune #2” composed by Lucy Peckham, and performed by Rob Cohen.

Get Tickets in Juneau  or    Get Tickets in Anchorage

3RD Alaska One-Minute Play Festival

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The One-Minute Play Festival (#1MPF) and Perseverance Theatre present

THE THIRD ALASKA ONE-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL

TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY: MONDAY APRIL 18, & TUESDAY APRIL 19 AT 7:30pm

AT:

THE SYDNEY LAURENCE THEATRE
AT THE ALASKA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
621 West 6th Ave
Anchorage, AK 99501

Tickets are $22.25 ($16 + $3.25 Ticket Fee and $3 MOA fee) and available at

The Centertix Box Office, Centertix.net or by calling 907-263-ARTS (2787)

GET TICKETS

Featuring Brand New One-Minute Plays by:

 Carey Seward, Andréa Onstad, Richard Perry, Linda Billington, Joshua Lowman, Vera Starbard, Holly Stanton, Allen Bailey, Gregory Aldrich, Toby T Widdicomb, Tom Moran, Lucas Rowley, Matt Jardin, Mark Muro, Joshua Maxwell, John Parsi, Jason Hodges, Maia Nolan-Partnow, Caleb Wyatt Bourgeois, Geoff Kirsch, Colby Bleicher, Peter Porco, Jerry McDonnell, Dawson Moore, Amy O’Neill Houck, Marleah LaBelle, Diane Benson, David Crowson, Ron Holmstrom, Shelly Wozniak, Daniels Calvin, Kyra Meyer, Mollie Ramos, Jill Bess, Rebecca Bastien, Joshua Branstetter, Matt Collins, Mara Crossett, Andrea Staats,  Nathan Hall, & more!

 Directed by:

 Teresa K Pond, Dawson Moore, Jill Bess, John Parsi, Joshua Lowman, Richard Perry, Sara Athans, & more!

 Curated by 1MPF’s Dominic D’Andrea

***

The One-­Minute Play Festival (#1MPF) is America’s largest and longest running grass roots theatre company, founded by Producing Artistic Director, Dominic D’Andrea. #1MPF is social barometer project, which investigates the zeitgeist of different communities through dialogue, consensus building, and a performance of 50-100 short moments generated by each community. #1MPF works in partnership with theatres and/or social organizations sharing playwright, educational, or community-specific missions across the country. The aim is to create locally sourced playwright-focused community events, with the goal of promoting the spirit of radical inclusion. #1MPF represents playwrights of different age, gender, race, cultures, and points of career. The work attempts to reflect the theatrical landscape of local artistic communities by creating a dialogue between the collective conscious and the individual voice.

 In each city, #1MPF works with partnering organizations to identify programs or initiatives in each community to support with the proceeds from ticket sales. The goal is to find ways give directly back to the artists in each community. Supported programs have ranged from educational programming, youth poetry projects, theatre program in prisons, playwright residencies and memberships, playwrights salaried commissions, community access projects, arts workshops, and other social and artistic initiatives.

Annual partnerships have been created with theaters in over 20 cities including: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Trenton, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Boston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Seattle, Dallas, Austin, Indianapolis, Anchorage, Honolulu, St. Louis, and more, with partnering institutions like Primary Stages, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Second Stage Uptown, New Georges at New York City Center, Z-Space, A.C.T., Trinity Rep, Victory Gardens Theatre, Cornerstone Theatre Company, The Playwrights Foundation, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Actor’s Express, InterAct Theatre, Mixed Blood, Walking Shadow Theatre, Passage Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theatre, Salvage Vanguard & ScriptWorks,  ACT Seattle, Perseverance Theatre, Round House Theatre, Honolulu Theatre For Youth, and others.

Notable #1MPF contributors have included: David Henry Hwang, Lynn Nottage, Neil LaBute, Tina Howe, Donald Margulies, Nilaja Sun, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Robert Schenkkan, Lydia Diamond, Phillip Kan Gotanda, Kristoffer Diaz, Rajiv Joseph, Sam Hunter, Karen Hartman, Robert Askins, Colman Domingo, José Rivera, Craig Lucas, Mike Daisey, Greg Kotis, Michael John Garcés, & over to 1400 celebrated, emerging, and midcareer playwrights.  For more information visit: www.oneminuteplayfestival.com

PERSEVERANCE THEATRE, founded by Molly Smith in 1979 in Juneau. Thirty eight years later, Perseverance has grown into a leading professional theatre in Alaska, recognized both statewide and nationally for its programming, training and development that’s reflective of the Alaskan community, including over 70 world premieres of plays by Alaskan and national playwrights. Perseverance Theatre’s mission is to create professional theatre by and for Alaskans. We value community engagement, cross-cultural collaboration, professional rigor, and regional voice. In 2012, Perseverance launched the initiative to begin performing a season of plays in Anchorage as a resident company in the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. Find more information on Perseverance Theatre at www.ptalaska.org. You can also follow Perseverance Theatre at facebook.com/PerseveranceTheatre and Twitter.com/PTalaska

2016-2017 Season Announced

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The 38th season marks a first for Perseverance, with a seven show season in Juneau and a six show season in Anchorage

February 17, 2016 – Overview: Perseverance Theatre announces its 38th season producing professional theatre by and for Alaskans. Perseverance season includes performances in both Juneau and Anchorage, continuing the theatre’s work to make theatre available to more Alaskan audiences. Anchorage programming again includes five subscription plays and our annual Holiday classic, A Christmas Carol.  In Juneau, the schedule will expand to six subscription offerings and the holiday classic, This Wonderful Life, based on the famous holiday film. Five of the subscription plays will play in both Juneau and Anchorage, beginning with the five time Tony Award-Winning family friendly adventure tale, Peter and the Starcatcher, by Rick Elice. Next is the world premiere of Not Medea, by Alison Gregory, a story about a tired mother who escapes to the theatre, manipulates the night’s performance, and reveals the secret of her past. Hold These Truths, by Jeanne Sakata, is the true story of Japanese American Gordon Hirabayashi’s fight against the United States Government order to forcibly remove and mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. In the New Year, enjoy a World Premiere by an Alaskan Native playwright, Frank Henry Kaash Kataase. His play, They Don’t Talk Back, is a story of two Tlingit cousins from different backgrounds looking to find harmony between heritage and contemporary life.  In April, To Kill A Mockingbird, adapted by Christopher Sergel from the novel by Harper Lee, is the classic and timely tale of a young lawyer learning his limits and the unwritten law of his time. Playing in Juneau only is the season finale of Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling, about longtime friends in Truvy’s salon and who support each other with love, laughter and beauty products.
New this year is the expanded calendar for Juneau audiences.  As always, subscribers who place their order early will receive the best pricing, Perseverance’s ‘Early Bird’ rate. Prices rise June 1, 2016.  Subscriber benefits include unlimited free exchanges if your plans change, and options are available that maximize schedule flexibility and value, with options to pick the whole season or pick a pack of 3, 4, or 5 shows. Additional benefits include invitations to meet the artists, discounts on special events, and a coupon to bring a friend for half price.

Hi-lights: Crowd-pleasing productions of Peter and the Starcatcher, To Kill a Mockingbird and Steel Magnolias combine with new plays Hold These Truths and two rolling world premieres to make a varied season with something for everyone. Perseverance’s world premieres involve national partners and attention. Not Medea by Allison Gregory is a National New Play Network (NNPN) rolling world premiere in association with NNPN members B Street Theatre in Sacramento and A Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepardstown, West Virginia. Alaska Native playwright Frank Henry Kaash Katasse’s (Tlingit) play They Don’t Talk Back is an engaging story about young Tlingit men coming of age, and will be co-produced with Perseverance Theatre, Native Voices at the Autry in Los Angeles, and La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla California.  Altogether, the season continues Perseverance’s commitment to produce an equal number of plays written by women as men, support Alaska Native writers, and produce more young writers and writers of color.

The Plays:  The season kick-off is a play the whole family will enjoy, Peter and the Starcather, by Rick Elice. Adventure with 13-year old Molly Aster, a company of pirates, a giant crocodile, and lots of angry Mollusks as she and three orphan boys attempt to return a trunk of precious starstuff to her father. Pursued by a mustached pirate captain and his sidekick Smee, Molly learns what it means to grow-up and find her father while orphans take up residence on the island where dreams are born, and time is whatever you wish it to be. With music, adventure, and jokes for both the young and the not so young, this five time Tony Award-Winning play is not to be missed. Making her directing debut at Perseverance is Alaskan director Teresa K Pond, who Anchorage audiences will recognize as the incoming Producing Artistic Director at Cyrano’s Theatre Company. Peter and the Starcatcher opens in Juneau August 19, and closes in Anchorage October 16, 2016.
New play lovers will have two productions that are rolling world premieres, Not Medea and They Don’t Talk Back. Not Medea’s, in association with Contemporary American Theater Festival and B street Theatre is a National New Play Network rolling world premiere. Perseverance became a core member of the NNPN in 2015. Written by Allison Gregory, Not Medea is the story of a single, working mother who comes to see a show on a much needed night off, but instead of watching, she becomes the subject of the performance and reveals the secret of her past. She is not Medea, but a contemporary riff using the Greek classic as a framework to ask big questions about parenting, adoption, and how our actions impact our children. Alaska Native writer Frank Henry Kaash Katasse (Tlingit) gives us his play about coming of age as a young Tlingit man in the 1990s, They Don’t Talk Back. Two teenage cousins, one from the city, and one the village, struggle with what it means to be a family when the city cousin comes to Alaska for a summer to live with his grandfather. In a small village, the boys work on the fishing boat with their grandfather, and find their own balance between work, family and heritage. This new play is a world premiere developed and produced in association with Native Voices at the Autry and La Jolla Playhouse. They Don’t Talk Back is directed by Native Voices Artistic Director Randy Reinholz, a veteran of many new works by Native American writers and a good friend to Perseverance.

A true story in the form of a one-man-show, Hold These Truths is based on the life of an American citizen of Japanese ancestry who resisted the U.S. government’s order to report to internment camps early in World War Two. Gordon Hirabayashi always knew he was different. When he was a young man in 1943, and Japanese-Americans were being forced into camps, Gordon chose to fight US Government action rather than obey an order he felt was unlawful. His experiences in the courts and camps of the time sparked a passion for the U.S. constitution, and how it is our duty to uphold it. Hold These Truths is his true story.
The holiday spirit is alive and well in 2016, with a special holiday show for both Juneau and Anchorage! In Juneau, audiences will see This Wonderful Life, featuring local favorite James Sullivan as he plays every character from the beloved holiday classic film, It’s a Wonderful Life. Patrons in Anchorage will be able to see A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Michael Evan Haney and Alaskan playwright Arlitia Jones. Special pricing and a new ‘add-on’ option give you the flexibility to purchase as many tickets to these holiday shows as you like for your family, and come to any performance you please, for the best prices available.

The classic To Kill A Mockingbird is on stage in the spring, playing in March in Juneau, and April in Anchorage. Atticus Finch finds the limits of his influence when he defends a black man accused of a racially charged crime. Can justice ever be served in such cases? Can Finch advocate for change without sacrificing the very influence and power that gives him hope to make a difference? Will his family pay an unacceptable price if he tries? See Harper Lee’s tale of a young lawyer learning his limits and the unwritten law of his time. This iconic American story could not be more relevant today, decades after the book was first published. Artistic Director Art Rotch (Of Mice and Men, Annapurna) directs.

The Anchorage schedule concludes in early May with To Kill a Mockingbird, but Juneau audiences will have one more production to look forward to laughing with, the well known comedy Steel Magnolias. Longtime friends in a small Southern town fill Truvy’s hair salon with laughter, gossip, and tears. As hair is dried, colored, and styled, the women’s lives unfold and show the meaning of true friendship. Steel Magnolias is a classic comedy filled with unforgettable characters and real-life moments that everyone can relate too.

Growing subscription numbers in Juneau and Anchorage have helped Perseverance invest more in Alaskan theatre artists through wages, education programs, and production values, and have put our Alaskan theatre on a path towards long term sustainability. Many subscribers also donate with their subscription order, which helps the theatre as ticket sales cover only half the costs of the theatre we produce. Contributed income also makes possible longer term investments in new plays for future years, including one that we are delighted to announce will be coming in the 2017-18 season: Into the Wild, with a book by Janet Allard and lyrics and music by Niko Tsakalakos will premiere sometime in the next season, with the production directed by Lila Neugebauer. This new look at the famous story of Christopher McCandless is based on the book by Jon Krakauer as well as McCandless’s own writing and photography. Thanks to Alaskans’ continued patronage and support, Perseverance will be making professional theatre by and for Alaskans well into the future.

Official Press Release – Perseverance Theatre 2016-2017 Season PDF

Get Your Season 38 Subscription

Wrestling Jerusalem

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Set in America, Israel and Palestine,  WRESTLING JERUSALEM follows one man’s journey to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Davidman’s solo performance is a personal story that grapples with the complexities of identity, history and social justice. Giving voice to over a dozen different characters, the play sheds light on one of the most entrenched conflicts of our time.

Find out more about the Wrestling Jerusalem