New Repertory Theatre to Stage The Snow Queen

New Repertory Theatre announces THE SNOW QUEEN, November 28- December 20, 2015 in the Charles Mosesian Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA. The press opening will be Monday, November 30 at 7:30pm.

Tickets are $30-$59 and may be purchased by calling the New Rep Box Office at 617-923-8487 or visiting newrep.org. Student, senior, and group discounts are available. Subscription packages that include THE SNOW QUEEN are also available.

"It has become a New Rep tradition during the holiday season to present a play that speaks to audiences of all ages and invites all to revel in this celebratory time of year," says Artistic Director, Jim Petosa. "Co-authors Kirsten Brandt, Haddon Kime, and former New Rep Artistic Director, Rick Lombardo, imaginatively capture the spirit of the season with their beautiful interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale. We look forward to sharing this enchanting and daring pop/rock musical with the entire New Rep community."

"In THE SNOW QUEEN, the audience is taken on a fun and fantastical journey, a quest as seen through the eyes and experiences of the play's young heroine, Gerda," says co-author and director, Rick Lombardo. "In presenting this show in prior productions we've discovered that it

does, in fact, appeal powerfully to all generations. Audiences have shown us that children to seniors identify with the universal themes of Gerda and Kai's journey in the play, and respond powerfully to the exhilarating and visceral feel of the rock score."

An exciting new pop/rock musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale, THE SNOW QUEEN is a coming-of-age adventure that follows a young woman on a journey of self- discovery in a magical, wintry landscape. When her best friend Kai is put under a magic spell, Gerda must follow him to the palace of the Snow Queen. Along the way, she battles witches, encounters fantastical characters, and flies through the frozen air on a steampunk odyssey. Co- written and directed by former New Rep Artistic Director, Rick Lombardo, THE SNOW QUEEN is sure to enchant the entire family this holiday season.

New Repertory Theatre is the award-winning, professional theatre company in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA. For over 30 years, New Rep has been a leader of self-produced theatre in greater Boston, producing contemporary and classic dramas, comedies, and musicals in both the 340-seat Charles Mosesian Theater and the 90- seat Black Box Theater. Annually, New Rep serves over 40,000 patrons, including 2,000 season subscribers. In addition to its mainstage productions, New Rep produces Next Voices, a program dedicated to developing new plays with four playwrights through three staged readings and one world premiere production. Under its Lifelong Enrichment Arts Programs (LEAP), New Rep also produces its Classic Repertory Company, Page To Stage, Insider Experiences, and Spotlight Symposium Series.

New Repertory Theatre produces plays that speak powerfully to the essential ideas of our time. Through the passion and electricity of live theater performed to the highest standards of excellence, New Rep expands and challenges the human spirit of both artists and audience. New Rep presents world premieres, contemporary and classic works in several intimate settings. We are committed to education and outreach, including special dedication to the creation of innovative in-school programming and providing access to underserved audiences. New Rep is an active advocate for the arts and a major voice in the national dialogue defining the role of theater in our culture.

Artistic Bios

VICTORIA BRITT* (Gerda) makes her New Repertory Theatre debut. Area credits include Carnival (Gloucester Stage); Sweeney Todd (Metro Stage Company); and The Fantasticks (Company Theater). Off-Broadway/NYC credits include Sea Legs (American Theater for Actors); All for Joe (Duke Theater); and Save the Date (Fringe). Other regional credits include Amazing Grace (Goodspeed); Company (Playhouse on Park); Any Dream Will Do: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (Wanderlust/El Salvador). She has been in eight mainstage musicals with Disney Cruise Lines. Ms. Britt is an alumna of The Hartt School. Originally from Massachusetts, she currently resides in New York City. victoriabritt.com

AIMEE DOHERTY* (THE SNOW QUEEN) returns to New Repertory Theatre after performing in Marry Me A Little, RENT, Speed the Plow, The Last Five Years, tick, tick ...BOOM!, Cabaret, Hot Mikado, Wild Party, Ragtime, and Into The Woods. Recent area credits include A Little Night Music (Huntington Theatre Company); Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play andThe Little Foxes (New Century Theater); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Stoneham Theatre); and Big Fish (SpeakEasy Stage Company). She was the recipient of the 2012 IRNE Award for her work in Nine (SpeakEasy Stage Company) and the Elliot Norton Awards in 2013 and 2014 for her work in Hairspray (Wheelock Family Theatre), On The Town and Into The Woods (Lyric Stage Company), and Far From Heaven (SpeakEasy Stage Company). Ms. Doherty will next appear in Sondheim on Sondheim and Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play (Lyric Stage Company).

DIN A. GRIFFIN* (The River, The Prince, Flower, Pigeon) makes his New Repertory Theatre debut. Recent credits include Choir Boy (Gables Stage); RENT (Ocean State Theatre); and Porgy and Bess (Mad Cow Theatre). Other work includes multiple shows for Disney, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, and Royal Caribbean. Mr. Griffin attended school at Georgia State University and currently resides in Providence.

MAUREEN KEILLER* (The Witch, Lady Crow, Robber Mother, Woman of the North) returns to New Repertory Theatre after performing in A Streetcar Named Desire. Recent credits include Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre Company); Into The Woods, 33 Variations, Big River, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and Speech and Debate (Lyric Stage Company); The Whale, Nine, Reckless, The Little Dog Laughed, Almost Maine, The Women, and The Wild Party (SpeakEasy Stage Company); and Car Talk, The Musical!!! (Central Square Theater). Film and television credits include Spotlight, My Best Friend's Girl, Fever Pitch, We Pedal Uphill, Olive Kitteridge (HBO), The Makeover (ABC Family), and Brotherhood (Showtime.) She is a two-time IRNE Award recipient for her work in The Wild Party/Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Lyric West) and The Women (SpeakEasy Stage Company). Originally from Enfield, CT, she currently resides in Hull. Ms. Keiller will next appear in Oh God (Israeli Stage).

MAURICE EMMANUEL PARENT* (Troll, Flower, Crow, Reindeer) returns to New Repertory Theatre after performing in Camelot, RENT, Passing Strange, Cabaret, and Ragtime. Other Boston credits include Measure for Measure, Romeo & Juliet, Troilus & Cressida, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Coriolanus, and King John (Actors' Shakespeare Project, Resident Company Member); Far From Heaven, and The Motherf**cker with the Hat (SpeakEasy Stage Company); Into the Woods, On the Town, and Man of La Mancha (Lyric Stage Company); King Lear and Coriolanus (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); The Mountaintop (Underground Railway Theater); A Raisin in the Sun (Huntington Theatre Company); and Shrek the Musical (Wheelock Family Theatre). Film credits include Project Nephilim: From the Beginning (Paracelsus Films). He was the recipient of the 2015 IRNE Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in The Color Purple (SpeakEasy Stage Company) and the 2008 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actor for his work in Some Men (SpeakEasy Stage Company), Angels in America (Boston Theatre Works) and The Wild Party (New Repertory Theatre). Mr. Parent is a Boston Public School teacher and an adjunct faculty member at Boston University and Northeastern University. Originally from the Washington, DC area, he currently resides in

Roxbury. He will next appear in The Convert (Underground Railway Theatre); Bootycandy (SpeakEasy Stage Company); and Blue Front (The Poets' Theatre). mauriceparent.com

KIRSTEN SALPINI (Flower, Ensemble) makes her New Repertory Theatre debut. Recent credits include Romeo and Juliet (Arts After Hours); Retreat (Roxbury Repertory Theatre); and Triumph of Love (Red Branch Theatre). Ms. Salpini received her BFA from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA and was a finalist in the Howard County Council for the Arts Rising Star Competition in early 2015. Originally from Washington, DC, she currently resides in Brighton. She plans to begin recording her second album as a singer/songwriter this winter. kirstensalpini.com

NICK SULFARO* (Kai) returns to New Repertory Theatre after performing in The Little Prince, Camelot, and RENT. Other area credits include A Little Night Music and Home of the Brave (Huntington Theatre Company); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Something's Afoot, Dr. Jekyll and My. Hyde, and The Full Monty (Stoneham Theatre); Photograph 51 (The Nora Theatre Company); Anne of Green Gables (Wheelock Family Theatre); and Bat Boy: The Musical (IRNE nomination, Best Actor, Metro Stage Company). Mr. Sulfaro received his BFA from Emerson College. He is also an Acting for the Song coach for My College Audition. A life-long resident of Massachusetts, he currently resides in Boston. nicksulfaro.com

JACKIE THEOHARIS (Princess, Robber Girl, Ensemble) returns to New Repertory Theatre after performing in Camelot. Area credits include Language of Angels (Happy Medium Theatre); Me and My Girl and A Grand Night for Singing (Reagle Music Theatre); Hair (Seacoast Rep); Hairspray (Wheelock Family Theatre); Into the Woods (Lyric Stage Company); tick, tick...BOOM! (Brandeis University, MyTheatre nomination); Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Drowsy Chaperone (Turtle Lane Playhouse, IRNE Nomination); and Spring Awakening (FUDGE, MyTheatre nomination); and may also be seen every Saturday night in The Donkey Show (A.R.T./Club Oberon). Ms. Theoharis received her BA in Theater Arts and Education from Brandeis University. Aside from performing, she works in accounting at Bit9 and teaches arts classes year-round at various studios and theatres in Massachusetts. She currently resides in Waltham.

KIRSTEN BRANDT (Book and Lyrics) is an award-winning playwright, director and producer. She served for six seasons as Artistic Director of Sledgehammer Theatre where she directed over a dozen plays and wrote Berzerkerga?ng, The Frankenstein Project, and NU. She was the Associate Artistic Director of San Jose Repertory Theatre, where she directed Dr. Faustus, Next Fall, The Big Meal, Legacy of Light, and Groundswell, among others. As a director, Ms. Brandt's work has been seen at San Jose Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, TheatreWorks, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, North Coast Repertory, and Arizona Theatre Company. She is the co-adapter of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, which had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre. Her telematic, multi-site play The Thinning Veil was produced at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her other plays include The Mechanic's Daughter, The Waves, and an adaptation of Wuthering Heights. kirstenbrandt.com

EMILY INTERSIMONE (Musical Director) is a composer and songwriter from Santa Cruz, California. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Piano from the University of Southern California, and her Master of Music degree in Jazz Composition from New York University. She has studied with Grammy-winning and -nominated jazz musicians such as Russell Ferrante (The Yellow Jackets), Kenny Werner, and Gil Goldstein (Esperanza Spalding, Michael Brecker), and film composer Ira Newborn (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ferris Bueller's Day Off). emilyjazz.com

HADDON KIME (Music and Lyrics) is an Atlanta-based composer, songwriter, and sound designer. His original musical adaptations include Scapin, and A Christmas Carol. Off- Broadway credits include The Atheist, Haymarket, and The Blowin of Baile Gall. Regional credits include One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Managing Maxine (Alliance Theatre); As You Like it, The Death of the Novel, and Game On (San Jose Repertory Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire and The Pillowman (New Repertory Theatre); and Richard III (Georgia Shakespeare). Mr. Kime is the winner of the 2004 and 2007 IRNE Awards for Best Original Music/Sound Design, the 2009 TANNE Foundation Award for Artistic Excellence, the 2014 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Original Music, and most recently the 2015 Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab grant from the Alliance Theatre. haddonkime.com

RICK LOMBARDO (Director, Choreographer, Book, and Lyrics) is an award-winning American stage director, Artistic Director and adaptor. He was the Artistic Director of San Jose Repertory Theatre, the flagship professional theatre of Silicon Valley, for six seasons, and served as the Producing Artistic Director for 13 seasons at New Repertory Theatre. His work has been seen at every level of the American Theatre, including Broadway and major regional theatres. In 2009 he was awarded the Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence from the Boston Theatre Critics Association. His award-winning productions include Game On, THE SNOW QUEEN, As You Like It, Sweeney Todd, The Clean House, Ragtime, Waiting For Godot, A Streetcar Named Desire, and several works by Harold Pinter. His world premiere production of Bill W. and Dr. Bob enjoyed an extended run off-Broadway. As a writer, his successful adaptations for the stage include A Christmas Carol, along with the musicals Scapin and THE SNOW QUEEN. ricklombardo.net