Private Lives
January 22 – February 1, 2004 • Ohio Theatre
By Noel Coward • Directed by Victoria Bussert

Press Release

January 7, 2004

Great Lakes Theater Festival Kicks Off the New Year in Style with Noel Coward’s Classic Comedy
Director Victoria Bussert and Cleveland Actors Andrew May and Laura Perrotta Headline GLTF’s Final Ohio Theatre Offering of the Season

The Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center, is poised to erupt with laughter and brim overflow with romance as Great Lakes Theater Festival presents Noel Coward’s classic comedy Private Lives, running January 22nd through February 1st, 2004. Long-time Festival collaborator Victoria Bussert will direct the production, which features veteran Cleveland-based actors Andrew May and Laura Perrotta in the leading roles of Elyot and Amanda. GLTF is proud to partner with Management Planning Incorporated to present the production.

“I am very excited to present Noel Coward’s classic comedy, Private Lives. Part of what’s so exciting about this production is that the cast and production team is comprised of artists that have had extraordinarily meaningful and long-standing relationships with Great Lakes Theater Festival and with the Cleveland theater community. This team is proof that there is a wealth of talent right here in Cleveland,” remarked Charles Fee, the Festival’s Producing Artistic Director. “Private Lives marks the fourth time that Vicky has directed Noel Coward’s work for the Festival (Noel and Gertie, 1994; Blithe Spirit, 1996; Fallen Angels, 1998), and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have her at the helm of this masterful play. Her dynamic gifts as a director, coupled with this remarkable design team and talented cast – all artists of tremendous skill and craft – promise to provide laughter in abundance.”

“One of the things that I have always loved about Noel Coward is that, particularly in the early 1960s, he was constantly attacked for the fact that he wasn’t writing ‘serious theater.’ And I remember reading that his response to this constant criticism was, ‘when exactly did entertainment become unfashionable?’ I absolutely love that he is not afraid to entertain. Private Lives is a play where he does precisely that,” said director Victoria Bussert during the first rehearsal. “Aside from its immense comic potential, Private Lives is at heart a romance. It is sensual. It is sexual. From its scenic design, to its costumes, to the choices made by our cast members, I want this to be a very romantic production. At the same time, I think it should be a lot of fun and very, very elegant.”

Four of the five cast members performing in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of Private Lives are Cleveland-based actors. “Something that I am truly elated about is the outstanding cast that we have been able to assemble for this production, most of you living right here in Cleveland,” said Bussert to her GLTF company during the initial rehearsal for the production. “We simply couldn’t have asked for a better collection of talent. Adina Bloom, Andrew May, Laura Perrotta, Scott Plate and, our newest addition to this Cleveland family – through February 1st at least, anyway – Kelly Sullivan: you are really quite a group. I have had the honor of working with all of you as actors before, so there is no question in my mind of what you are capable. That’s all out of the way. With this production we will be able to enjoy that very rare freedom of truly exploring a play and to enjoy ourselves while we do it.”

Cleveland actors Andrew May and Laura Perrotta assume the leading roles of Elyot and Amanda in GLTF’s production. A Cleveland Heights native, Mr. May was most recently a member of GLTF’s fifteenth anniversary A Christmas Carol company, portraying Bob Cratchit. He made his debut with GLTF as Bottom in last season’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and helped kick off the Festival’s 42nd season, which featured the company’s return to rotating repertory, by playing Orgon in Tartuffe and The Ghost of Hamlet’s Father (among other roles) in Hamlet. He has performed at various theatres across the country, including The Cleveland Play House (where he was seen in over 23 productions) and the Milwaukee Repertory Company (where he performed in over 22 productions). A winner of Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Award for acting, Mr. May was also artistic director of Chicago’s Free Shakespeare Company. A season company member as well and another Cleveland Heights native, Laura Perrotta will share the spotlight with May in Private Lives. Ms. Perrotta’s 2003-2004 Great Lakes Theater Festival credits include Gertrude in Hamlet, Dorine in Tartuffe and Mother Cleaveland in A Christmas Carol. Ms. Perrotta has also performed in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s productions of Arms and the Man, Romeo and Juliet, The Wild Duck, Macbeth, and Gypsy. She has been seen on stage at various theaters throughout the country, ranging from The Cleveland Play House to The Acting Company in New York.

Familiar Great Lakes Theater Festival actors Scott Plate and Kelly Sullivan will play the roles of Victor and Sybil in the GLTF production. Private Lives director Victoria Bussert complimented her supporting cast for the production during the play’s first read-through. “I think Noel Coward has a wonderful take on the supporting roles in Private Lives. He’s the first one to say that Victor and Sybil are not well-written characters. Therefore, he said that he always got the best actors he possibly could to play them. This is what I feel like we’ve done. I could not be more ecstatic to have the two of you do this.”

Scott Plate most recently played the role of the Ghost of Christmas Present in GLTF’s fifteenth anniversary production of A Christmas Carol. His contributions to the Festival’s fall repertory productions included Horatio in Hamlet and an Officer in Tartuffe. At Great Lakes Theater Festival, Mr. Plate has also appeared in Travels with My Aunt, Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra. Kelly Sullivan returns to GLTF after playing Hope Harcourt in last season’s Anything Goes. She has appeared on Broadway in Bells are Ringing, and the Tony Award winning show Contact. Her other regional credits include Showboat, Smile, The Fantasticks, Beauty and the Beast and In the Beginning. She has also made appearances on ABC’s One Life To Live. Kelly graduated with honors from Arizona State University.

Actress Adina Bloom, who makes her Festival debut, will round out the Private Lives cast portraying the comical maid Louise. Ms. Bloom has performed in summer stock companies and dinner theaters across the country. Locally, she has appeared at the Halle Theater, Ensemble Theater, Cain Park, Cleveland Opera, Cesar’s Forum and Bratenahl Playhouse. In addition to her stage work, Adina is a big band singer, a voiceover talent and an author.

The artistic team for the Great Lakes Theater Festival production of Private Lives is comprised of John Ezell, Mary Jo Doinlinger, Stan Kozak and Charlotte Yetman. “I cannot even begin to explain how fortunate we are to have this design team in place for Private Lives,” said Victoria Bussert of her artistic collaborators for the production. “This is the best of the best. Mary Jo Dondlinger will be in to do lights. Stan Kozak will supply our soundscape. One of my oldest and dearest collaborators, John Ezell, will create Noel Coward’s scenic world for the stage. And Charlotte Yetman, who knows more about taste and style than any costume designer I know, will design the costumes for this production.”

Several of the artistic team members made presentations of their designs at the initial rehearsal for the production. “Our production is not art deco,” said scenic designer John Ezell in articulating the concept for his Private Lives set. “ It does not look like Anything Goes, the musicals of RKO or the movies of the early 1930s. We wanted to capture another quality, a more sensual quality with the scenic design...especially for Amanda’s flat….a sense of luxury and lushness for the interior. Perhaps with some oriental features and style. We wanted to make it a little bit eccentric. We are using a lot of red and a lot of oriental patterns. Vicky has asked for some things that have certainly made this a lot of fun for me as a designer. We have also cut down the playing space considerably. You will be really quite surprised when you finally see all of this in the Ohio Theatre. We wanted to concentrate the energy of the play in a much more contained space.” Costume designer Charlotte Yetman elaborated on her design choices as well. “When Vicky and I talked, we talked a lot about sensual and sexual qualities in the design. Clingy, elegant and very, very tasteful. These were very elegant, well-to-do people. A lot of my research has revolved around movie stars.”

In Private Lives, passion, laughter, romance, anger and love set the stage for a classic battle of the sexes. Divorcees Elyot and Amanda unwittingly book adjoining rooms while honeymooning with their new spouses – Sybil and Victor. Realizing a pair of mistaken marriages, Elyot and Amada attempt to escape their mismatched partners together. With haste and under the cover of darkness, they flee their honeymoon accommodations and unsuspecting spouses in search of respite within Amanda’s secluded Paris flat, only to be discovered several days later by their jilted lovers while in the midst of the most compromising of situations.

At its core, Private Lives is a play that comes from the heart of a passionate playwright. “One of the things that I find so moving about Private Lives is that Noel Coward wrote the piece for his longtime friend, Gertrude Lawrence, who he met early in his childhood,” recounted director Victoria Bussert. “They met when she was fourteen. He had promised her a piece that he was going to write for her. They had an extraordinary and intimate friendship that he said, ‘was everything but sex.’ And she kept waiting for this play to be written for her. She just kept waiting and waiting. He wasn’t writing anything. But once it came to him…in one night…literally it came to him at 7 p.m.…and…at 4 a.m. he knew what he wanted the structure to be…and he wrote it in four days. He wrote this play about his best friend in life. The result is a play about real human friendship. And that, I think, is what I love most about the piece, and why I can’t wait to share it with an audience.”

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of Private Lives opens on January 24th and runs through February 1st, 2004 at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center with two previews scheduled for January 22nd and 23rd. Opening Night will take place on Saturday, January 24th with a 7:30 p.m. evening performance. The performance schedule for Private Lives includes Thursday through Saturday evening performances with curtains at 7:30 p.m. The Saturday matinee is slated for January 31st at 1:30 p.m. Sunday matinees occur on January 25th and February 1st at 3:00 p.m.

A sign-interpreted performance is scheduled for Sunday, January 25th at 3:00 p.m. An audio-described performance is scheduled for Sunday, February 1st at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets for Private Lives range from $16 to $45. For tickets: call (216) 241-6000; order online; or visit the Playhouse Square Center Box Office. Tickets are also available at tickets.com outlets located at all Tops Friendly Markets.

Special rates are available to students and educators at the cost of $11 for any performance. For student or educator tickets: call (216) 241-6000; order online; or visit the Playhouse Square Center Box Office. Tickets are also available at tickets.com outlets located at all Tops Friendly Markets.

Groups of ten or more save up to 45%. Group rates and reservation information is available by calling the Playhouse Square Center Group Sales Office at (216) 771-4444.

Since 1962, Great Lakes Theater Festival has brought the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in Northern Ohio.

Photos: Private Lives

Andrew May and Kelly Sullivan are Elyot and Sybil in Great Lakes Theater Festival's production of Private Lives running at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center through February 1st. Photo by Roger Mastroianni		Cleveland favorites Andrew May and Laura Perrotta star in the Great Lakes Theater Festival production of Private Lives running at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center through February 1st. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
Cleveland favorites Andrew May and Laura Perrotta star in Great Lakes Theater Festival's production of Private Lives running at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center through February 1st. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
Sparks fly as Andrew May and Laura Perrotta star in Great Lakes Theater Festival's production of Private Lives running at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center through February 1st. Photo by Roger Mastroianni		Actors Kelly Sullivan and Scott Plate play Sybil and Victor in Great Lakes Theater Festival's production of Private Lives running at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center through February 1st. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
In a classic battle of the sexes, Andrew May and Laura Perrotta star in Great Lakes Theater Festival's production of Private Lives running at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center through February 1st. Photo by Roger Mastroianni