PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: March 2, 2009

CONTACT:  Dan Berube, berube@merrimackrep.org        

PR CONTACT PHONE:  978.654.7595                           

BOX OFFICE:  978.654.4MRT (4678)

Shakespeare & Company’s Bad Dates

Comes to Merrimack Repertory Theatre

A Hilarious Comedy about Finding Love in the Big City

Performances Run March 19 – April 12

PRESS OPENING: SUNDAY, MARCH 22, 7PM

Lowell, MA – Fresh off a successful two month run at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts, Theresa Rebeck’s hit comedy Bad Dates is coming to Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Directed by Adrianne Krstansky, Bad Dates is a one-woman play featuring Elizabeth Aspenlieder, hailed by The Wall Street Journal as “a splendid stage comedienne.” Performances begin Thursday, March 19 at 8PM, with Opening Night on Sunday, March 22 at 7PM, running through April 12 at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 E. Merrimack St., Downtown Lowell. 

A hilarious and touching comedy, Bad Dates follows the story of Haley Walker, a single mother with a teenage daughter, a screamingly stressful job, and a collection of 600 pairs of shoes as she tries to find love in the big city. Audiences relive her rotten romances as Tibetan Buddhists and even the Romanian mob get in the way of her finding “Mr. Right.” Her story is a love and fashion odyssey that has had audiences across the country rolling in the aisles!

“…A poignant slice of urban life that also happens to be drop-dead funny.”

– The Wall Street Journal

Brandeis University theatre professor Adrianne Krstansky, director of Bad Dates, shares “Working with Elizabeth on this wonderful play by Theresa Rebeck has been a hilarious and, at the same time, quite poignant ride. I think anyone who knows what it is like to struggle to raise a child, succeed in a job, keep a roof over their head and dare to find a person with whom to share all the madness will find themselves in this story. Although the play is definitely about the joys and sometimes horror of dating, it is also about our real need for community and the courage it takes to stay put and ask for help from the people around us, rather than thinking yet another exit door will land us in an easier life.” 

Bad Dates author Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced contemporary playwright and television writer throughout the United States and abroad. Born in Kenwood, Ohio, she earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and M.A., M.F.A. and Ph.D. in Victorian Melodrama from Brandeis University. She is best known for her many off-Broadway plays including Mauritius (Manhattan Theater Club); The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knits, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels (all at Second Stage Theatre); Bad Dates and The Butterfly (both at Playwrights Horizon); and View of the Dome (New York Theatre Workshop). She has written for such popular TV shows as Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, and Third Watch, and was a writer/producer for Law and Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue. 

Rebeck has received many awards including the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, the Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody Award, all for her work on NYPD Blue. Her play The Family of Mann won the National Theatre Conference Award.  Mauritius received the 2007 Eliot Norton Award and 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play when it premiered at the Huntington Theatre in Boston. Rebeck has also taught at Brandeis University and Columbia University. 

The production’s creative staff includes Adrianne Krstansky (director), Susan Zeeman Rogers (scenic design), Deborah Newhall (costume design), David Wilson (sound design) and Matthew Miller (lighting design). Actress Elizabeth Aspenlieder stars as Haley Walker, and is making her MRT debut.

Bad Dates is sponsored in part by Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank.  Merrimack Repertory Theatre is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

CAST BIO:

Elizabeth Aspenlieder (Haley Walker): Merrimack Repertory Theatre: debut.  Regional: Angels in America (Angel/Nurse), Othello (Bianca), Boston Theatre Works; The Ladies Man (Suzanne), Othello (Bianca), Bad Dates (Haley), Rough Crossing (Natasha), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Ford), Ice Glen (Dulce), The Comedy of Errors (Adrianna), Much Ado About Nothing (Margaret), King Lear (Regan), Ethan Frome (Mattie), The Valley of Decision (Fulvia), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hermia), A Tanglewood Tale (Sophia), Twelfth Night (Antonia), Richard III (Anne), All's Well That Ends Well (Helena), Wit (Susie), The Winter's Tale (Perdita), Mercy (Annie), Much Ado About Nothing (Ursula), and Pericles (Thaisa/Diana), Shakespeare & Company (fourteen seasons); Ten Minutes in the Berkshires Play Festival(s), Mixed Company Theater.  International: Eccentricities of a Nightingale (Alma), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Nora), Fifth of July (Shirley), Canada.  Independent Films: Trigger Finger; Seriously Twisted.  Other: Elizabeth provides the voices for commercials and animated features.  She was recently featured on the BBC's award-winning radio drama, The Club, and is currently taping Searching for the Head of Phillip K. Dick also with the BBC.  She is the Director of Public Relations & Playbill Advertising with Shakespeare & Company.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:  Wednesday through Friday evenings at 8PM and Sundays at 7PM; Sunday matinees at 2PM; Wednesday matinee on March 25 at 2PM; and Saturday performances at 4:30PM and 8:30PM.  Pay What You Will & Director’s Dialogue post-show discussion, Thursday, March 19; Lowell Night, $10 tickets for Lowell residents, Saturday, March 21 at 8:30PM; Cookie Matinee, Wednesday, March 25 at 2PM; Wine Lover’s Wednesday, March 25 at 7PM; Post Show Forum, Thursday, March 26; Young Professionals Night, Thursday, April 2 at 7PM.

TICKETS:  Single Tickets $26-$56; Student/Senior/Group discounts are available. Tickets can be purchased at MRT’s Online Box Office at www.merrimackrep.org, or in person at 50 E. Merrimack St., Lowell, or by calling 978.654.4MRT (4678).  Groups of 6 or more save up to 30% off single ticket prices.

For more information, bios, interviews, or photos, please contact Dan Berube at 978.654.7595 or berube@merrimackrep.org.

For MRT show times, tickets, season information, directions, or to request a brochure, please visit www.merrimackrep.org or call the Box Office at 978.654.4MRT (4678).

Merrimack Repertory Theatre is located in beautiful historic downtown Lowell at Liberty Hall, the Company’s 308-seat theatre, 50 E. Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA 01852 (adjacent to Lowell Memorial Auditorium).  Each season, MRT presents an eclectic mix of contemporary productions, engaging the best available actors, designers and directors in the country.  Now celebrating its 30th Anniversary, MRT’s mission is “To advance the cause of human understanding by creating theatrical productions at the highest level of artistic excellence and making them affordable to the broadest possible community.”  MRT’s unique artistic vision is shaped by a passion for excellence and a profound commitment to its community.  MRT strives to enhance the community’s life while contributing to its economic strength, measuring success by the depth of the Company’s artistic and social contribution to the region.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre's 2008-2009 Season
The Fantasticks book & lyrics by Tom Jones Music by Harvey Schmidt, October 16-November 9; Skylight by David Hare, November 20-December 14; A View of the Harbor by Richard Dresser, January 8 - February 1; Tranced by Bob Clyman, February 12-March 8; Bad Dates by Theresa Rebeck, March 19-April 12; A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O'Neill, April 18 - May 17.

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