PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE:  February 2, 2010
CONTACT:  Dan Berube, berube@merrimackrep.org     
PR CONTACT PHONE:  978.654.7595                            
BOX OFFICE:  978.654.4MRT (4678)

VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL

BUY 1 GET 1 FREE TICKETS TO OPENING NIGHT OF

BLACK PEARL SINGS!, PLUS DOWNTOWN DINING DEALS

FEBRUARY 14 AT 7PM

Lowell, MA – Merrimack Repertory Theatre is helping to create the perfect Valentine’s Day date.  MRT is offering Buy 1 Get 1 Free tickets for the 7pm Opening Night performance of Black Pearl Sings! on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2010. As part of the Opening Night celebration, the audience will enjoy a free champagne toast and meet-and-greet with the actors and creative team following the performance. This special ticket offer is available online at www.MerrimackRep.org or by calling 978.654.4MRT.  The promotion will be applied automatically when two tickets are ordered. 

In addition, four of MRT’s restaurant partners are offering special Valentine’s Day promotions for ticket holders on February 14. Centro Restaurant and Bar is offering 10% off dinner with a Black Pearl Sings! ticket stub.  Blue Taleh, featuring Thai and Japanese cuisine, will have a live jazz trio performing all day.  Cobblestones of Lowell and Moonstones of Chelmsford are each offering two seatings during the day and featuring special Valentine’s menus and promotions.  Reservations for each restaurant are highly encouraged.  Contact information for each restaurant is available on the “Area Dining” page of Merrimack Rep’s website under “Visit Us.”

In Black Pearl Sings!, a search for lost African-American folk music leads Susannah, an ambitious “song collector” for the Library of Congress, to Pearl, a woman with a soulful voice, a steely spirit and an incredible history. After meeting Pearl in a Texas jail, Susannah is convinced Pearl may know a song rare enough to earn her a teaching job at Harvard, a post denied to her thus far because of her gender. Pearl has dreams of her own, and hopes her songs will be her ticket out of jail for a reunion with her long-lost daughter.  Featuring many beloved American folk songs and spirituals – like “This Little Light of Mine,” “Troubles So Hard,” “Kum Ba Yah” and “Pay Me My Money Down” – the legacy of the past clashes with their hopes for the future, as they journey to find their way out of the shadows and into the spotlight.  The all-Equity cast of Black Pearl Sings! features Cherene Snow (Pearl) and Valerie Leonard (Susannah), both in their Merrimack Rep debuts, directed by Benny Sato Ambush.

For more information about the Merrimack Repertory Theatre or Black Pearl Sings!, 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 a carefully assorted mix of seven contemporary productions, while engaging the best available actors, designers, and directors in the country to make it happen. Successfully functioning for over 30 years, 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, creative staff, and a profound commitment to its community. MRT strives to enhance the community of Lowell 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 2009-2010 Season

Flings & Eros, by the Flying Karamazov Brothers, September 10 – October 4; Seafarer by Conor McPherson, October 15 – November 8; Heroes by Gerald Sibleyras, adapted by Tom Stoppard, November 19- December 13; Fabuloso, a play by John Kolvenbach, January 7- 31; Black Pearl Sings! by Frank Higgins, February 11- March 7; The Last Days of Mickey & Jean by Richard Dresser, March 18- April 11; The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead by Robert Hewett, April 22- May 16.

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