THEATER LATTÉ DA TO RECEIVE $20,000 ART WORKS GRANT FROMTHE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2020

Contact: Elissa Adams
elissa@latteda.org
612-454-4794 office

THEATER LATTÉ DA TO RECEIVE $20,000 ART WORKS GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

[Minneapolis/St. Paul]—National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $84 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2020.  Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $20,000 to Theater Latté Da for the development of an English language adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’s comic opera, GIANNI SCHICCHI, by Twin Cities-based writer-performers Bradley Greenwald and Steven Epp, and support for the company’s 2021 NEXT Festival, of which GIANNI SCHICCHI is slated to be a part. Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grantmaking program. In this second round of grantmaking, the agency has awarded 1,105 grants in this category.

"These awards demonstrate the continued creativity and excellence of arts projects across America and the nimbleness of our nation’s arts organizations in the face of a national crisis that shuttered their doors for months," said Mary Anne Carter, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.”

“As we embark on NEXT Up, our season-long focus on developing new musicals and plays with music, it’s wonderful to have this support from the NEA.  It will help us continue to provide direct support to artists and it validates our decision to use this time to invest in work for the future,” said Elissa Adams, Associate Artistic Director at Theater Latté Da.

New work has always been a part of Theater Latté Da’s DNA. Since 2012, the company has further prioritized the support of new musicals and plays with music through the NEXT program including commissions, workshops, the NEXT Festival, and of course world premieres. Funding from the NEA will support the 2021 NEXT Festival, scheduled for July 2021.

Theater Latté Da recently began a new chapter of new works development with their recently launched initiative, NEXT Up. The intensive new works laboratory will invest in new musical theater through commissions and developmental workshops. GIANNI SCHICCHI is one of eight projects for development announced as part of Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Up initiative for the 2020-2021 Season.

GIANNI SCHICCHI is a one-act opera, the third and final part of Puccini’s Il Trittico, based on an incident mentioned in Dante’s DIVINE COMEDY. The original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano is a farce about greed and hypocrisy set in Florence in 1299. Twin Cities actor-writers Bradley Greenwald and Steven Epp will be working with Theater Latté Da’s Associate Artistic Director in resetting the opera in modern day Miami.

"I've wanted to create a new adaptation of Puccini's great comic opera for some time. I think Bradley and Steve are the perfect team to do so; they are both brilliant comedic actors and writers who have a long history of creating dynamic music-theater. I can't wait to see what they come up with,” shares Founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein.

Theater Latté Da presents an annual NEXT Festival, a new works festival showcasing three works that stretch the boundaries of musical storytelling. Each new work-in-development  in the Festival receives public performances providing audience members the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the creative process. Following each performance is an in-depth conversation with the playwrights, composers, and lyricists.

For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

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Dates Added! Donation Drive hosted at the Ritz Theater June 18 & 20 from 12-3PM

DONATION DRIVE HOSTED AT THE RITZ THEATER
This Thursday, June 18th and Saturday, June 20th from 12PM-3PM

The Ritz Theater and Theater Latté Da will continue hosting a donation drive this Thursday, June 18th and Saturday, June 20th from 12PM-3PM. The Ritz Theater lobby is acting as a storage and distribution space for area food shelters to support the community's current needs.

Please bring the following items of greatest need to the Ritz Theater where you'll be greeted by volunteers who can safely accept your donated items on the sidewalk. Additional dates may be announced, as needed. 

Items in greatest need:

Shampoo & Conditioner (Any variety, but especially for textured hair)
Dish soap  (Dawn, etc.)
Laundry detergent pods
Diapers (sizes 4-6)
Baby wipes
Baby formula
Hand soap
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Cleaning supplies (bathroom, kitchen, bleach, etc)
Rice
Pasta
Beans

Thank you for your support!
Theater Latté Da

At Home with Rodolfo Nieto

This weekend's AT HOME WITH... checks in on Rodolfo Nieto! You may have seen Rodolfo in such Latté Da productions as A Little Night Music, Candide, Assassins, and All is Calm among others. Read on to find out what Rodolfo has been watching, how he celebrated his birthday, and how he's finding ways to stay creative lately!

Q: Do you have a daily ritual that's keeping you grounded these days?

A: I begin our days by stepping out and walking around our backyard for a few minutes just to take in a little bit of nature. Every few days I’ll have a virtual workout through our local gym, Discover Strength. Then I’ll make breakfast for Clare (my wife) and myself so that we start our days by connecting over a good meal.



Q: What are you reading? 
A: Lots and lots of news, especially since the heinous murder of George Floyd has rocked our city and our nation. I’ve also been spending some time reading municipal documents to better understand some of the levers of our local government.

I also love audiobooks, and am currently listening to, and loving:
How to Be an Anti-Racist written and narrated by Ibram X. Kendi.
Born a Crime by and narrated by Trevor Noah. 
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates is in my queue.

By my bedside, I have:
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (I borrowed it from the library before we went into quarantine, so I’m taking my time with that one).

Scenes de la Vie de Boheme by Henri Murger, in the original French. I was reading this while we were in rehearsals for La Bohème and I still have a few more chapters left for that.

Cervantes’ Don Quixote in the original 17th century Spanish that I started a few years ago. I’m not actively reading that one, but I’m feeling the pull to get back to it.

Q: Which work of art—a book, poem, painting, piece of music—provides some solace for you?

A: Music overall has been the greatest balm. Everyday I will sit down at the piano, or pick up the guitar, and sing, play, and create music for myself. For a long time I’ve wanted to write my own music, and of late I’ve found many lyrics and melodies bubbling to the surface that reflect some of my angst and turmoil, as well as my amusement and whimsy.

Q: What's your go-to, binge-watching tv series?

A: Queer Eye on Netflix (we devoured that, though I could easily watch them all again), Sex Education, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Glow and The Good Place.

We’re trying to catch up on movies that we’ve been meaning to watch for a while, like Roma and Parasite, which were both fantastic!

Q: If you could throw a Fantasy Dinner Party (the only kind of dinner parties we can throw right now!) who would be on the guest list?  

A: The cast of Queer Eye—Jonathan Van Ness, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Karamo Brown, and Bobby Berk!  And Trevor Noah, on whom Clare has a crush. With the two of us that would make 8, which is a great dinner party number.  Also, I recognize that the list is all men, so, one of the topics I would love to discuss is masculinity and the various roles of men in a changing western culture. Plus the food, wine, and overall dining experience would be phenomenal.

Q: What are you doing to feel creative or productive during this time?

A: It’s been tough not being able to rush out and be with my community in solidarity during this tumultuous moment because of the pandemic. So instead, I’ve been writing and calling our elected officials to encourage reform, and spending lots of time researching and educating myself on the theme of anti-racist policy. Many friends and colleagues of mine, some of whom have been part of this “At Home With” series, have been very inspiring in that regard.

For my performance bug, I created a live, online concert for my birthday a few weeks ago via Facebook, which was a blast to put together. Clare and I had so much fun creating and performing it  that we’re hoping to present these shows more frequently. In the meantime, I am continuing to study French, Spanish, guitar, diction and elocution, and whatever else catches my interest while I’m at home.

Q: Is there a theater production you've seen that you wish you could stream right now?

A: To Let Go and Fall, Theater Latté Da, 2019. We loved that production, and the music was utterly gorgeous and a beautiful complement to the actors’ fantastic storytelling. Plus, being such a simple production, I think it would be easy to stream and enjoy at home.

Q: Are you cooking?  Do you have a favorite recipe to share?

A: I am cooking all the time, partly because I love doing it (and eating it!) and partly because I hate wasting food, so I will make sure to use all the food that is available to us. For day-to-day recipes I often refer to The Complete America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, which my mother gifted to me some years ago.

Q: Of the roles you've played at Theater Latté Da, which is your favorite?

A: That’s a tie between Leon Czolgosz in Assassins, and Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in A Little Night Music. I would do either again in heartbeat. The former was an amazing experience because of the show’s dark themes, carnival-like atmosphere, and our killer (pardon the pun) ensemble. The latter was a dream role for me, and every night I had so much fun coming on as a swaggering, arrogant blowhard and singing such wonderful music with our cast.

A Little Night Music, 2019, Photo by Dan Norman

Q: Would you share a quote that's especially meaningful to you?

A: This summer I was hoping to walk one of the pilgrimage paths of the Camino de Santiago, but unfortunately that is not possible this year, and being unable to travel is stifling a part of me that wants to go wander.

Recently listening to the audiobook of The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, for the second time, I encountered a quote that keeps this idea simmering inside:

“No man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection.”

Q: Since this is the At Home with....Series, do you have a favorite spot in your home?  Would you be willing to take a picture of it that we could share?

A: I love our backyard, and here’s a photo of me sitting on a bench I acquired from a previous production, playing the guitar, and singing while enjoying the full sunlight of our day.

Donation Drive hosted at the Ritz Theater

DONATION DRIVE HOSTED AT THE RITZ THEATER
This Saturday, June 13th 12PM-3PM

The Ritz Theater and Theater Latté Da are hosting a donation drive this Saturday, June 13th from 12PM-3PM. The Ritz Theater lobby is acting as a storage and distribution space for area food shelters to support the community's current needs.

Please bring the following items of greatest need to the Ritz Theater where you'll be greeted by volunteers who can safely accept your donated items on the sidewalk. Additional dates may be announced, as needed. 

Items in greatest need:

Shampoo & Conditioner (Any variety, but especially for textured hair)
Dish soap  (Dawn, etc.)
Laundry detergent pods
Diapers (sizes 4-6)
Baby wipes
Baby formula
Hand soap
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Cleaning supplies (bathroom, kitchen, bleach, etc)
Rice
Pasta
Beans

Thank you for your support!
Theater Latté Da

With Humility and In Solidarity

It is with humility that Theater Latté Da joins the chorus of those speaking out against the murder of George Floyd and the long history of racism, discrimination, and violence against our Black citizens, artists, and friends. We speak with humility because we recognize that we as a predominantly white organization benefit from that position of privilege and in turn contribute to the systemic racism bringing us here today. We speak with humility because we know how much more work we must do to become a more equitable and inclusive organization, and we are committed to doing that work.

In this spirit, we raise our voices loudly and stand tall in solidarity. We stand in solidarity with the Black community demanding justice for George Floyd. We stand in solidarity with the thousands of protesters who are demanding change NOW. We stand in solidarity with the passionate, brilliant Artists of Color in our community who have been doing the hard work for a long time.

We are including here a robust list of Black-led arts organizations in the Twin Cities. We need to hear their voices now more than ever. We honor their work and their wisdom. Please support them today and down the long road ahead.

With humility and in solidarity,
Theater Latté Da

A Message from Founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein

Dear Friends,

Tonight was to be the opening night of the world premier of our musical adaptation of Twelve Angry Men. It is a drama about the racial prejudices that plague this country, about toxic masculinity, and about the American judicial system that favors bias over justice. It is also about change, empathy and finding the courage to speak out when you know you are in the minority. As we navigate the deep anger and profound pain over the murder of George Floyd, I am more convinced than ever that the arts are a vital force towards a more compassionate world, and I am painfully aware of how much work we have ahead of us addressing the injustice in this place we proudly call home. 

Stay safe.

Peter Rothstein
Founding Artistic Director

Andre Shoals, Riley McNutt, Brian Kim, Sasha Andreev, Matt Riehle, and Jon-Michael Reese,
Twelve Angry Men NEXT Festival Presentation, 2019

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES NEXT UP; THE ADVENTUROUS MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY SHIFTING FOCUS TO NEW WORK DEVELOPMENT UNTIL AUDIENCES AND ARTISTS CAN SAFELY GATHER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                            
May 11, 2020

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org                                                                                                                                                          
612-767-5646 office
 DOWNLOAD PRESS PHOTOS                        

Thomasina Petrus, Ivory Doublette, & Lamar Jefferson (right) in FIVE POINTS, photo by Dan Norman;  Steven Epp and Suzanne Warmanen (right) from the Zach Theatre production of IMMORTAL LONGINGS, photo by Kirk Tuck

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES NEXT UP; THE ADVENTUROUS MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY SHIFTING FOCUS TO NEW WORK DEVELOPMENT UNTIL AUDIENCES AND ARTISTS CAN SAFELY GATHER

The NEXT UP laboratory will include Terrence McNally’s last play IMMORTAL LONGINGS and an exciting lineup of projects by playwright Harrison David Rivers, composer Ted Shen, musicians Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses of The Kilbanes, Jessie Austrian and Noah Brody of Fiasco Theater, Mexican playwright Joserra Zúñiga, scenic designer Kate Sutton-Johnson, local writer-performers Bradley Greenwald and Steven Epp, actress Sally Wingert, and hip hop theater artists The Q Brothers. 

(Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) In lieu of a season announcement, Theater Latté Da announces NEXT UP, an intensive laboratory investing in the future of new musical theater. New work has always been a part of the company’s DNA. Over the past eight years the company has further prioritized the support of new musicals and plays with music through its NEXT program: including commissions, workshops, the NEXT Festival, and of course world premieres. It will spend the coming months supporting playwrights, composers and lyricists. 

“Like my colleagues, I’ve been trying to determine a path forward until we can safely gather in theaters again,” says Artistic Director Peter Rothstein. “For most of my life, the theater is where I have found meaning, support, and personal growth. Not having it at this most challenging time is brutal. While we may not be able to bring audiences into our theaters, we can certainly support our playwrights, our composers and our lyricists. The current reality will drastically reshape our thinking, our behavior and our relationships with each other and the planet. It will also reshape the stories we tell. We need our creative voices to help navigate, articulate and find meaning inside this new world.”

Throughout its 23-year history, Theater Latté Da has produced 78 Mainstage productions, including 12 world premieres, and 13 area premieres. In 2015, the company launched NEXT 20/20, a commitment to develop 20 new musicals or plays with music over a five-year period culminating in 2020. Latté Da actually achieved that goal in 2019. The NEXT UP laboratory will be led by Artistic Director Peter Rothstein and Associate Artistic Director Elissa Adams. Rothstein’s history of developing new musicals includes STEERAGE SONG, C., and the Drama Desk Award-winning ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914. Producer of the NEXT Festival and Associate Artistic Director Elissa Adams has an impressive 25-year history in new play development, with her work at the Children’s Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Sundance and the Playwrights Center. 

“I have faith that we will all come together, not online, not via Facebook or Snapchat, but in the same room at the same time to experience the power of communal storytelling. But in the meantime, Theater Latté Da will build those stories.” Rothstein continues, "We believe we can safely implement processes to support the development of new work, in person when possible and virtually when not. We will be able to employ actors, musicians, stage managers, directors, music directors and choreographers in this process. The work of these artists came to a complete stop in mid-March, this will be a way to help support them and keep them practicing their craft. We will also look for every opportunity to safely include audiences in this process and find creative ways of sharing the bold creativity happening in this seemingly quiet time.”

Theater Latté Da had several musicals, operas and plays with music already in development, but will add a robust list of projects throughout this time. 

Terrence McNally’s last play was IMMORTAL LONGINGS about ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev and his love affair with dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Peter Rothstein had been collaborating with Mr. McNally on the play for a year and a half before his death, and will continue to develop the play under directives set forth by Mr. McNally. Rothstein states,  “It is a play about a passionate man confronting his mortality, about an artist grappling with legacy when his craft is temporal, about a gay man choosing love when the world was advising him against it.” Twin Cities-based choreographer Kelli Foster Warder has and will continue to create dance for the play. On March 24, 2020, Mr. McNally died of complications from COVID-19.

Twin Cities based playwright Harrison David Rivers is exploring a new piece about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 alongside the 1927 premiere of the Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein and Edna Ferber's musical, SHOWBOAT. SHOWBOAT is widely considered the first great American Musical, and featured the popular song “Old Man River”. The song was made famous by African American baritone, Paul Robeson, who initially declined to perform in the show. His refusal caused the show’s creators to rethink their representation of African American characters and led to significant rewrites.

Mexico City-based playwright Joserra Zúñiga, along with Peter Rothstein and Twin-Cities-based designer, Kate Sutton-Johnson, are collaborating on a musical and visual theatricalization of the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Due to a traffic accident as a teenager, Frida was permanently impaired and spent much of her life constrained to her family home and often restricted to her bed. Her art was in direct response to her distanced reality. This project marks the company’s first international collaboration. 

Twin Cities-based writer-performers Bradley Greenwald and Steven Epp are working on an English language adaptation of Giacomo Puccini's comic opera, GIANNI SCHICCHI. GIANNI SCHICCHI is a one-act opera, the third and final part of Puccini’s Il Trittico, based on an incident mentioned in Dante’s DIVINE COMEDY. The original Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano is a farce about greed and hypocrisy set in Florence in 1299. Greenwald and Epp are resetting the opera in modern day Miami. 

Peter Rothstein and actress Sally Wingert will be working on IN PAPER BOATS, a play about Frances Cabrini, Patron Saint of Immigrants. Born two months premature in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, in 1850, Cabrini tried to join a religious order at age 20, but was told she was too frail. She subsequently formed her own religious community and relocated to the United States in order to minister to the rapidly growing number of Italian immigrants. She crossed the Atlantic 23 times, and went on to found 67 hospitals, schools and orphanages.

Award-winning and internationally acclaimed theater artists, the Q Brothers generate original work fusing hip hop and theater, adapting classic stories to a wholly original, entertaining and fast-paced style of comedic performance that has been energizing audiences for over two decades. They will continue work on their latest project, ROME SWEET ROME, an ad “rap” tation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which examines a city under the rule of a capricious, narcissistic leader and the attempts of its citizens and other power brokers to bring about his fall. 

In BROADBEND, ARKANSAS, an African-American family grapples with decades of inequality, violence, and suppression in the South.  In musical solos, Benny, an orderly at a nursing home, struggles to care for his own family as the fight for equality grips the nation in the midst of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.  Thirty years later, his daughter, Ruby, struggles to understand an incident of police brutality against Ben, her 15-year-old son. This powerful musical by Ellen Fitzhugh, Harrison David Rivers and Ted Shen, spans nearly half a century and three generations. Rivers and Shen will create a third solo piece giving voice to Ben. 

Singer/songwriters Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses, who together form the musical duo, The Kilbanes, and actor/directors Jessie Austrian and Noah Brody, Co-artistic Directors of New York-based Fiasco Theater come together for the first time to create a new musical. The four artists are the recipients of Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Generation Commission, funded in part by the NEA.

Join Theater Latté Da on May 18th at 7:00PM for a live virtual launch event on Facebook and YouTube. Peter Rothstein and Elissa Adams will share further details about NEXT Up, in a live Q&A session. Visit Latteda.org for more details.

Peter Rothstein has directed 79 mainstage productions for Theater Latté Da, including 11 world premieres. Other collaborations include the Guthrie Theater, the Children’s Theatre Company, Minnesota Opera, Ten Thousand Things, Minnesota Orchestra, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater, the Zach Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, and Asolo Repertory Theatre. He is the creator of ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 which won the 2019 New York Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. Peter was named the 2015 Artist of the Year by the Star Tribune, Theater Artist of the Year by Lavender, and Best Director by City Pages. He has received nine Ivey Awards and has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the McKnight Foundation. He holds a B.A. in Music and Theater from St. John’s University and a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the University of Wisconsin.

Elissa Adams is Associate Artistic Director at Theater Latté Da, and the Producer of Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Festival.  Formerly, she was Director of New Play Development at Children’s Theatre Company, where she commissioned and premiered more than 45 new plays and musicals.  Prior positions include Lab Director at The Playwrights’ Center and Literary Manager/Dramaturg at La Jolla Playhouse. She is a frequent artistic advisor/dramaturg at the Sundance Theatre Lab and holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from UC San Diego.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

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THEATER LATTÉ DA CONTINUES NEW WORK DEVELOPMENT AND AWARDS $20,000 NEXT GENERATION COMMISSION TO SUPPORT NEW MUSICAL THEATRE BY WOMEN ARTISTS AND ARTISTS OF COLOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 6, 2020

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office

Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses (left), photo by Emily Sevin, Jessie Austrian and Noah Brody (right), photo by Walter McBride

THEATER LATTÉ DA CONTINUES NEW WORK DEVELOPMENT AND AWARDS $20,000 NEXT GENERATION COMMISSION TO SUPPORT NEW MUSICAL THEATRE BY WOMEN ARTISTS AND ARTISTS OF COLOR 

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Theater Latté Da today announces singer/songwriters Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses, who together form the musical duo, The Kilbanes, and actor/directors Jessie Austrian and Noah Brody as the recipients of the NEXT Generation Commission, a new opportunity for women artists and artists of color, funded in part by the NEA and designed to support the creation and development of new musical theatre projects. The creative team will share the $20,000 commission. The project will receive creative and developmental support over an 18-month period, including two developmental workshops and inclusion in Latté Da’s annual NEXT Festival. In addition to the NEXT Generation Commission, Theater Latté Da’s new works initiative is also supporting playwrights Steven Epp, Bradley Greenwald, Harrison David Rivers, Kate Sutton-Johnson and Joserra Zuniga to create new musicals.

Throughout its history, Theater Latté Da has found ways to bring artists together to create new work, resulting in some of its most memorable and beloved productions from All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 and A Christmas Carol Peterson to Five Points.  “Even in these uncertain times, we are investing in our future and the future of the art form by continuing to seed and support new work. At a time when so many artists have seen income and opportunities evaporate, it feels especially good to be putting money directly into the hands of artists.  We are grateful to the NEA and to Latté Da’s donors who have generously given to our new works initiatives. They make these commissions possible. We may not be able to gather in theatres today, but these artists will be working now to ensure there are new stories to be shared later when we can all gather again,” says Founding Artistic Director, Peter Rothstein.

“I’m delighted to begin our relationship with Kate Kilbane, Jessie Austrian and their creative partners Dan Moses and Noah Brody. We look forward to nurturing their unique theatrical talents at Theater Latté Da and providing opportunities for them to engage with our extraordinary community of artists in the Twin Cities,” says Associate Artistic Director, Elissa Adams, who oversees Theater Latté Da’s new work initiatives. “Looking at the roster of artists we are supporting to create new work, we are supporting women artists, artists of color and artists that are exploring new ways to connect story and music for our audiences. It’s on mission for Theater Latté Da and for what the field of musical theater needs as well.”

The NEXT Generation Commissioned-Artists

The Kilbanes began as a theatrical rock band led by married songwriting duo Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses. Their rock opera Weightless was featured at NYC’s Public Theater at Under the Radar in January 2019 and had runs at ACT in 2019 and Z Space in 2018. Their musical adaptation of As You Like It, commissioned by SF Shakespeare Festival, played throughout the Bay Area in the summer of 2019. Their intergalactic rock epic Eddie the Marvelous, Who Will Save the World, has been developed at the O’Neill National Music Conference, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor and Theatreworks’ New Works Festival. The Kilbanes' latest pop musical, The Code, was commissioned for ACT's Youth Conservatory and is slated for production in August 2020. They have also been commissioned by Theatreworks Silicon Valley to work with playwright Lynn Rosen and are collaborating on new works with Jonathan Spector, Lauren Gunderson and Jaime Casteneda.  

Jessie Austrian is a theater-maker, educator, activist and parent based in Brooklyn, NY. She is one of Fiasco Theater's Co-Artistic Directors and founders. Broadway: Lend Me a Tenor, The Importance of Being Earnest. Off Broadway: Fiasco’s Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, Measure for Measure, Cymbeline and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Roundabout, BST, TFANA, New Vic), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Roundabout). London: Fiasco’s Into the Woods (Menier Chocolate Factory). Regional: The Old Globe, McCarter, Folger Theatre, The Guthrie, Trinity Rep, ATL and Williamstown, among others. TV/Film: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Made in Jersey, Futurestates. As a director/co-director: Fiasco's The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Helen Hayes nominee for Best Direction) at The Folger Theater and Theatre For A New Audience, Fiasco's The Imaginary Invalid at The Old Globe, Ken Ludwig's Sherwood at Playmakers Rep. Adjunct faculty at NYU's Gallatin School. Proud graduate of Brown and the Brown/Trinity MFA Acting Program. Proudest roles: mom to Asher and Tabitha and wife to Noah.

Noah Brody is an actor, director, teacher and co-artistic director of Fiasco Theater. For Fiasco, he has directed Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout Theatre Company), during which he was privileged to collaborate with Stephen Sondheim and Alex Gemigniani. He co-directed and acted in Fiasco's productions of Into the Woods (McCarter Theatre Center, The Old Globe, Roundabout Theatre Company, Menier Chocolate Factory), The Imaginary Invalid (The Old Globe), Measure for Measure (The New Victory Theater, Long Wharf Theatre), Twelfth Night (Classic Stage Company) and Cymbeline (Theatre for a New Audience/Barrow Street Theatre). Some of these productions won awards. He has appeared in Fiasco’s production of Two Gentlemen of Verona (Folger Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience) and co-directed the national tour of Fiasco’s production of Into the Woods. Elsewhere, he has directed a reading of Sondheim’s Saturday Night for Second Stage Theater, appeared in As You Like It (Classic Stage Company, John Doyle, dir.), directed Lungs at the Wolfe Street Theatre and acted at theatres around the country and in Europe. He teaches acting and rehearsal technique through Fiasco and the New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study’s summer Shakespeare Intensive.

Other Artists and Projects Under Commission:

Twin-Cities-based writer/performers Bradley Greenwald and Steven Epp are working on a English language adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’s comic opera, Gianni Schicchi; Twin-Cities based playwright Harrison David Rivers is exploring a new piece about the history surrounding Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein’s and Edna Ferber’s musical, Showboat. Mexico City-based playwright Joserra Zuniga, along with Twin-Cities-based designer, Kate Sutton-Johnson, are collaborating on a musical and visual theatricalization of the life and work of Frida Kahlo.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

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THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES A TWO-WEEK SUSPENSION PERIOD FOR PERFORMANCES OF LA BOHÈME THROUGH APRIL 1st

Mar 13, 2020
Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES A TWO-WEEK SUSPENSION PERIOD FOR PERFORMANCES OF LA BOHÈME THROUGH APRIL 1st

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Theater Latté Da today announced a two-week suspension of performances of LA BOHÈME. The musical theatre company hopes to resume performances April 1st—pending the status of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak and future direction of state and local health department officials in the best interests of public health and safety.

In a statement from artistic director Peter Rothstein, he explains

“Theater Latté Da is deeply committed to our artists, technicians, staff and patrons during these unprecedented and challenging times. We recognize that suspending performances has a profound impact on our artistic community and the lives of those artists scheduled to perform; on our incredible crew, technicians, and staff; and many others who make live theater possible. Therefore, all individuals who were scheduled to perform and be a part of managing operations during the next two weeks, including all involved with the production of LA BOHÈME will continue to be compensated during this suspension of performances. We will monitor state and local health department officials’ announcements and take the necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of our community.”

Patrons who have already purchased tickets to LA BOHÈME should expect additional information via email and on www.latteda.org with details for exchanging tickets to a future performance date, information on donating the cost of tickets to help support the company’s artists, or refunds upon request.

While the Ritz Theater will be closed to the public during this period, Theater Latté Da’s administrative operations will remain functional during the suspension. Questions or concerns about future performance dates, exchanges, donations, or refunds should be sent via email to boxoffice@latteda.org or by calling the Box Office at 612-339-3003 Monday thru Friday 10AM-6PM and Saturday and Sunday 11AM-1PM.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater. www.latteda.org

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Theater Latté Da Announces Casting for their Re-imagined Staging of the Beloved Opera LA BOHÈME

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb 10, 2020

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office

Corissa Bussian, Darrius Morton, Siena Forest and Tony Potts star in LA BOHÈME

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES CASTING FOR THEIR RE-IMAGINED STAGING
OF THE BELOVED OPERA LA BOHÈME

Peter Rothstein’s award-winning production of Puccini’s beloved opera
comes to the intimate Ritz Theater.

LA BOHÈME stars Siena Forest and Corissa Bussian who will share the role of Mimi, Darrius Morton and James Plante share the role of Rodolfo, Bergen Baker and Katherine Henly share the role of Musetta, Tony Potts and Christian Thurston share the role of Marcello, with Bradley Greenwald as Benoît.

Performances begin March 11 and run thru April 26, 2020 at the Ritz Theater
Opening Night March 14, 2020

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Theater Latté Da today announced the cast of LA BOHÈME, the beloved Puccini opera re-imagined by Peter Rothstein and orchestrator Joseph Schlefke. The production brings together rising stars in the opera world along with favorite performers from the Twin Cities music scene. Among the top 5 operas performed around the globe, LA BOHÈME features music by Giacomo Puccini and libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The production is directed by Theater Latté Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein with Music Direction by Eric McEnaney and features a new orchestration by Joseph Schlefke.

LA BOHÈME will run March 11 – April 26, 2020 at the Ritz Theater. Preview performances are March 11-13. Single tickets start at $33. Group, student, and other discounts are available. Tickets are on sale now through the box office at 612.339.3003 or online at Latteda.org. Post-show discussions and access services (ASL/AD performances) are available on select dates and by request.

This passionate, timeless tale of love among young artists in Paris, can stake its claim as the world’s most popular opera, and inspired the long-running Broadway box office smash hit, RENT. Theater Latté Da brings Peter Rothstein’s innovative, award-winning staging to the intimate Ritz Theater for the first time. LA BOHÈME premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy, on February 1, 1896. A group of friends are living a bohemian life in Paris and trying to make their livings creating art. Despite a tragic ending, the story celebrates love in the face of adversity.

Initially set in Paris during the 1830s, Rothstein’s production moves the action roughly 100 years later during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Rothstein states, “When I began to think about re-imagining LA BOHÈME, I quickly decided that moving the story out of Paris would be sacrilege, but there is very little in the opera that is specific to time. Moving the action roughly a century later provided a specificity for me and my collaborators, making the story about a group of artists all the more tangible, emotional and powerful.”

First presented to Twin Cities audiences in 2005 with a celebrated run at the Loring Playhouse, the production featured a new orchestration by Joseph Schlefke, capturing the sound of a Paris café or street band. The instrumentation includes accordion, guitar, piano, violin, clarinet and flute. Audiences and critics praised the production as “moving” and “exquisite” resulting in an Ivey Award win, the first for Theater Latté Da in the award ceremony’s inaugural year. The production was remounted in 2007 with a sold-out run at the Southern Theater.

Peter Rothstein directs LA BOHÈME and shares, “I am thrilled to return to my favorite opera and the unique opportunity to tell this particular story in an intimate space such as the Ritz Theater.”

The cast of LA BOHÈME features Siena Forest and Corissa Bussian making their Latté Da debut in the role of Mimi, Darrius Morton and James Plante making their Latté Da debut in the role of Rodolfo, Bergan Baker and Katherine Henly make their Latté Da debut in the role of Musetta, Tony Potts and Christian Thurston make their Latté Da debut in the role of Marcello, Justin Spenner makes his Latté Da debut as Schaunard, Rodolfo Nieto (Latté Da: All is Calm, A Little Night Music, Assassins, Man of La Mancha) is Colline, Bradley Greenwald (Latté Da: Candide, A Little Night Music, C.) is Benoît. The ensemble also includes Amy Wolf, Anna Hashizume, Phillip Takemura, Noah Sharback and Morrow Piper, all make their Latté Da debuts.

The creative team for LA BOHÈME includes Peter Rothstein (director), Eric McEnaney (music director), Michael Hoover (scenic designer), Rich Hamson (costume designer), Paul Bigot (hair and makeup designer) Grant E. Merges (lighting designer), Abbee Warmboe (properties design), Elissa Adams (dramaturg), and Tiffany K. Orr (production stage manager).

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

FACT SHEET:

LA BOHÈME

Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Guiseppe Giacosa
New orchestration by Joseph Schlefke 

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Eric McEnaney

This passionate, timeless, and indelible story of love among young artists in Paris, can stake its claim as the world’s most popular opera. Theater Latté Da brings Peter Rothstein’s innovative, award-winning staging to the intimate Ritz Theater. Lyrical and touchingly beautiful, La Bohème is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and loss, and a celebration of art in the face of adversity.

Featuring Siena Forest and Corissa Bussian as Mimi, Darrius Morton and James Plante as Rodolfo, Bergen Baker and Katherine Henly as Musetta, Tony Potts and Christian Thurston as Marcello, along with Justin Spenner, Rodoflo Nieto, Bradley Greenwald, Amy Wolf, Anna Hashizume, Phillip Takemura, Noah Scharback, and Morrow Piper.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles projected above the stage.
Dates: Wednesday, March 11 – Sunday, April 26, 2020
Venue: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN 55413

Tickets start at $33 and are on sale now.
Group, student, and other discounts are available.

Rehearsals are underway for the area premiere of the engrossing musical theatre BERNARDA ALBA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec 18, 2019

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office

Photo credit Joseph Scheller

REHEARSALS ARE UNDERWAY FOR THE AREA PREMIERE OF THE ENGROSSING MUSICAL THEATRE DRAMA BERNARDA ALBA

Performances begin January 15 and run thru February 16, 2020 at the Ritz Theater
Opening Night January 18, 2020

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Rehearsals are underway for Theater Latté Da’s area premiere of the musical theatre drama BERNARDA ALBA. This masterwork by Michael John LaChiusa, creator of such critically acclaimed hits as THE WILD PARTY and MARIE CHRISTINE brings a musical voice to Federico Garcia Lorca's final 1936 masterpiece, The House of Bernarda Alba, through pulsing castanets, trilling Spanish guitars and resounding rhythmic stomps. BERNARDA ALBA is directed by Crystal Manich with Music Direction by Jason Hansen and choreography by Kelli Foster Warder.

BERNARDA ALBA will run January 15 – February 16, 2020 at the Ritz Theater. Preview performances are January 15-17. Single tickets start at $33. Group, student, and other discounts are available. Tickets are on sale now through the box office at 612.339.3003 or online at Latteda.org. Post-show discussions and access services (ASL/AD performances) are available on select dates and by request.

Bernarda Alba, a powerful matriarch, imposes a strict rule on her household following her second husband’s funeral. Bernarda’s five daughters, however, struggle with her cold regime. The girls’ dreams, desires, and the lure of the outside world begin to permeate their isolated existence. Theater Latté Da’s production features a cast of ten of the Twin Cities’ finest women actor-singers. 

“The play is an immediate and provocative musical that emphasizes the plight of women whose voices have been stifled by society,” shares director Crystal Manich. “As they weave in and out of dreams of another life, they release tension through visceral dance inspired by flamenco. I think that this is a rare opportunity for an audience to see Lorca’s psychological genius explored through exciting contemporary approaches in music and staging.”

Theater Latté Da has assembled a powerhouse cast of all women actor-singers for this production. “This play may be about women characters who are trapped by their circumstances, but the musical adaptation allows us a glimpse into their passions, intelligence, and insatiable curiosity,” shares artistic director Peter Rothstein. “The New York cast of BERNARDA ALBA featured legendary actors Phyllicia Rashad and Daphne Rubin-Vega. Our Minneapolis cast feel equally legendary, bringing our own powerhouses such as Regina Marie Williams, Britta Ollmann, Aimee Bryant, and Meghan Kreidler together onstage.”

“Even though this play is set in a Spanish village at the turn-of-the-century, we know that right now women all around the world, in countries like Iran, Nepal, Yemen and Turkey, women still lead lives severely restricted by the expectations of a patriarchal society, shares Manich. “I think BERNARDA ALBA, like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, really resonates today. We're at a moment when women in so many societies, including the United States, feel that their rights and freedoms are being restricted.”

The cast of BERNARDA ALBA features Regina Marie Williams (Latté Da: Chicago) as Bernarda Alba, Kate Beahen (Latté Da: Into the Woods, Gypsy) as Angustias, Stephanie Bertumen makes her Latté Da debut is Adela, Aimee Bryant (Latté Da: Oh, S#!%, I’m Turning Into My Mother) is Poncia, Haley Haupt makes her Latté Da debut as the Young Servant, Kim Kivens (Latté Da: C., Oliver, Company, Spelling Bee) is Maria Josepha, Meghan Kreidler (Latté Da: The Man of La Mancha, Aida) is Martirio, Nora Montañez makes her Latté Da debut as Magdelena, Sarah Ochs (Latté Da: Assassins, Man of La Mancha, Sweeney Todd) and Britta Ollmann (Latté Da: Chicago, A Little Night Music, Once, Ragtime).

The creative team for BERNARDA ALBA includes Crystal Manich (director), Jason Hansen (music director), Kelli Foster Warder (choreographer), Kate Sutton Johnson (scenic designer), Alice Fredrickson (costume designer), Paul Bigot (wig, hair and makeup designer) Mary Shabatura (lighting designer), Abbee Warmboe (properties design), Elissa Adams (dramaturg), and Tiffany K. Orr (production stage manager).

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org.

FACT SHEET:

BERNARDA ALBA
Words and music by Michael John LaChiusa
Based on the play The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca 

Directed by Crystal Manich
Music Direction by Jason Hansen
Choreography by Kelli Foster Warder

Starring Regina Marie Williams as Bernarda Alba, featuring Kate Beahen, Stephanie Bertumen, Aimee Bryant, Haley Haupt, Kim Kivens, Meghan Kreidler, Nora Montañez, Sara Ochs, and Britta Ollmann

Bernarda Alba is a powerful matriarch, who imposes a strict rule on her household following her second husband’s funeral. Bernarda’s five daughters, however, struggle with her cold regime. The girls’ dreams, desires, and the lure of the outside world begin to permeate their isolated existence. Theater Latté Da’s production features a cast of ten of the Twin Cities’ finest women actor-singers.

Dates: Wednesday, January 15 – Sunday, February 16, 2020

Venue: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN 55413

Tickets start at $33 and are on sale now.
Group, student, and other discounts are available.

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Theater Latté Da's award-winning docu-musical ALL IS CALM to be filmed for national broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

The cast of ALL IS CALM, 2018. Photo credit Dan Norman.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                 
Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office                                                                                           

THEATER LATTÉ DA‘S AWARD-WINNING DOCU-MUSICAL
ALL IS CALM TO BE FILMED FOR NATIONAL BROADCAST
BY PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE (PBS) 

New York Public Media, with grant funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will film Theater Latté Da’s original music-theatre piece for national broadcast in the 2020 holiday season.

(MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL) Theater Latté Da announces today ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914, the poignant music-theatre work about the World War I Christmas truce, will be filmed for national broadcast on PBS in the 2020 season. ALL IS CALM was identified as a compelling work for PBS broadcast during it’s highly lauded Off-Broadway run produced by Laura Little Theatricals in 2018 at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture. The production was awarded a New York Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience.  A grant awarded by the Corporation for Public Broadcast will fund the film production. Over a three-day period mid-December, New York Public Media (WNET) will send a film crew to the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis to film four performances of the company’s original docu-musical. The film production of ALL IS CALM will be available for all national public television affiliates for broadcast in 2020.

Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, attended the Off-Broadway run of ALL IS CALM last season and felt the work should be shared nationally through public television. "ALL IS CALM reminds us through words, music and beautifully choreographed storytelling that when all is chaotic and it appears “the center will not hold,”  it is still possible to find a connection to our shared humanity," shares Harrison. 

Created by Theater Latte Da's Founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, the production combines period songs and firsthand accounts of this remarkable event and has become an annual holiday classic. Since its premiere in 2007, the a capella production is brought to life by a cast of 10 actor/singers and beautifully blends iconic WWI patriotic tunes, trench songs, medieval ballads and Christmas carols from England, Wales, France, Belgium and Germany with musical arrangements and vocal arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach with texts written by more than 30 World War I figures. This moving ode to peace is directed by Rothstein with music direction by Lichte. The production will feature the talents of the Minneapolis-based cast, the majority of whom starred  in the highly-lauded Off-Broadway run. ALL IS CALM premiered in a live radio broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio on December 21, 2007.

ALL IS CALM recalls an astounding moment in history when Allied and German soldiers met in “No Man’s Land” and laid down their arms to celebrate the holiday together by trading carols, sharing food and drink, playing soccer and burying the dead. In some places the truce lasted only a night, in others it endured until New Year’s Day. Rothstein believes that music, an important part of life in the trenches, helped create a context that made the truce possible.

“Music was the common language, and as winter set in, the men began to hold impromptu concerts, singing to each other across the battle fields, creating trust and a camaraderie,” says Rothstein.

Rothstein conducted research for two years to develop ALL IS CALM. “I wanted to tell the story in their own words, I created the drama by stringing together letters, war documents, autobiographies, World War I poetry, gravestone inscriptions, even an old radio broadcast,” says Rothstein. “For decades, the truce was considered a romantic fable, fiction, and I wanted to give legitimate voice to this remarkable moment that had somehow been denied its rightful place in history. I cannot express how gratifying it has been to share the story of these heroic men, in their own words, across the country and around the globe.”

Since ALL IS CALM had its world premiere in a live broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio in 2007, the show has enjoyed global success with broadcasts on five continents through American Public Media and the European Broadcasting Union. The work has won many awards including the Gold World Medal at the 2010 New York Festivals and the 2010 Gabriel Award, which honors works of excellence in broadcasting that serve audiences through the positive, creative treatment of concerns to humankind.

ALL IS CALM has toured the United States for ten seasons, reaching more than 50 cities playing prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Cal Performances (Berkeley, CA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). The work has also been licensed and performed by theater companies, opera companies, and choruses in 30 different states, Canada, and Australia.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artists, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

FACT SHEET

ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914

 Written by Peter Rothstein
Vocal Arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach
Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Erick Lichte
Costume Design by Trevor Bowen
Lighting Design by Marcus Dilliard
Sound Design by Nicholas Tranby

Starring Sasha Andreev, Paul Coate, Benjamin Dutcher, Andrew Hey, Ben Johnson, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, James Ramlet, Andrew Wilkowske, and Evan Tyler Wilson.

The Western Front, Christmas, 1914. Out of the violence comes a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into No Man's Land singing "Stille Nacht." Thus begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music, peace. A remarkable true story, told in the words and songs of the men who lived it.

 Venue: Ritz Theater (345 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413)
Dates: Nov 27-Dec 29, 2019
Tickets: Tickets start at $33 and are on sale now at Latteda.org or by calling the Box Office at 612-339-3003

Performance Dates and Times

Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at 7:30pm (Opening night)
Friday, November 29, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 1, 2019 at 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 7:30pm
Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 7:30pm
Friday, December 6, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)
Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 7:30pm
Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 7:30pm (ASL/AD Performance)
Friday, December 13, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 15, 2019 at 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)
Tuesday, December 17, 2019 at 2:00pm
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 7:30pm
Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 7:30pm
Friday, December 20, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 21, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, December 21, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 22, 2019 at 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)
Thursday, December 26, 2019 at 7:30pm
Friday, December 27, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 28, 2019 at 2:00pm
Saturday, December 28, 2019 at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 29, 2019 at 2:00pm

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THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES NEXT GENERATION COMMISSION TO SUPPORT NEW MUSICAL THEATRE BY WOMEN ARTISTS AND ARTISTS OF COLOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                 
Contact: Andrew Leshovsky

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES NEXT GENERATION COMMISSION TO SUPPORT
NEW MUSICAL THEATRE BY WOMEN ARTISTS AND ARTISTS OF COLOR

The $20,000 commission will support the creation and development of new musical theatre projects and help to create a canon of musical theatre that reflects the multiplicity of voices  and diversity
of our country.

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Theater Latté Da today announces the NEXT Generation Commission, an new opportunity for women artists and artists of color designed to support the creation and development of new musical theatre projects. Theater Latté Da has designed the commission to support the early, generative stages of creation. In addition to the $20,000 commission awarded to the individual artist or creative team, the project will receive creative and developmental support over an 18-month period, including two developmental workshops totaling a minimum of 50 hours. 

“It’s clear to us that if it is our goal to create musical theatre that is reflective of our communities, we need to create more pathways for women and artists of color,” shares Founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein. “The NEXT Generation Commission is designed to seek out those voices and provide them with the support necessary for their talents to be recognized and nurtured and their stories to be told.”

The NEXT Generation Commission builds on Theater Latté Da’s celebrated commitment to nurturing new work.  

Since its founding in 1998 by Artistic Director, Peter Rothstein and Music Director, Denise Prosek, creating and premiering new work has been a part of Theater Latté Da’s DNA. Theater Latté Da has premiered 12 new musicals and 12 area premieres. Each has garnered critical acclaim and earned its artists and TLD a host of awards, including: the 2019 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience awarded to the Off-Broadway production of its original production All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914. It also supports the development of new musical theater through its annual NEXT Festival. New musicals supported in the NEXT Festival include: Five Points by Harrison David Rivers, Douglas Lyons and Ethan Pakchar (NEXT 2017); Goddess by Saheem Ali, Jocelyn Bioh and Michael Thurber (NEXT 2017) and Gun and Powder by Angelica Cheri and Ross Baum (NEXT 2018).

Artists interested in applying for the NEXT Generation Commission should visit www.latteda.org/next-generation-commission for complete submission details. The application deadline is December 15, 2019.

The Next Generation Commission is funded by the NEA, the Phileona Foundation and Theater Latte Da’s NEXT 20/20 donors.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

Minnesota's Theater Latté Da wins big at New York's Drama Desk Awards

By Rohan Preston

Star Tribune

Minnesota was in the mix at the 64th annual Drama Desk Awards, held Sunday in New York and chosen by a cross-section of the city’s arts journalists and critics.

“All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” is a holiday show created in 2007 by Theater Latté Da founder Peter Rothstein. The production, which combines music with text from World War I-era figures, played off Broadway at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture in New York in 2018. Also presented annually in the Twin Cities, the show won the Drama Desk for “unique theatrical experience.”

“I was really not expecting it, to be honest, but I’m thrilled,” Rothstein said Tuesday as he landed in Austin, Tex., where he’s directing the world premiere of a new Terrence McNally play, “Immortal Longings.”

“When the producer first approached me about doing it in New York, I right away advocated for the hometown designers and actors who’d been doing the show for years,” Rothstein continued. “The producer agreed to the whole creative team and seven actors from Minnesota. We have such extraordinary talent, and our artists deserve to be working on — and recognized at — a national level.”

Latté Da is not the only Minnesota-connected talent to win a Drama Desk this year. Actor Santino Fontana, who graduated in the first class of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA program and famously essayed Hamlet at the Guthrie Theater, won a Drama Desk for outstanding actor in a musical for playing the title character in “Tootsie.”

And “Hadestown,” whose producers include a group of theater-loving Minnesotans, took home Drama Desk statues for outstanding director (Rachel Chavkin) and outstanding featured actor (André de Shields).

The Drama Desks are high honors in their own right, but are often regarded like the Golden Globes are to the Oscars. They suggest possible winners of the Tonys, theater’s highest honor. Those awards will be broadcast Sunday on CBS.

'Chicago,' 'La Bohème' and new 'Twelve Angry Men' musical on tap for Theater Latté Da

Photo by Dan Norman

“All is Calm” returns as Theater Latté Da’s holiday offering.

Theater Latté Da fans can expect a double dose of acting duo Regina Marie Williams and Britta Ollmann in the 2019-20 season.

Ollmann starred in last year’s “Once,” the biggest hit in the Minneapolis theater’s 21-year history. She will team with Williams to open the season in “Chicago,” the John Kander/Fred Ebb musical that became an Oscar-winning movie (it’s currently in the public eye yet again as the focal point of current episodes of the FX series “Fosse/Verdon”). Featuring songs “All That Jazz” and “Cell Block Tango,” it’s the satiric story of two murderers who meet in a Chicago jail in the 1920s. Ollman plays Roxy Hart, one of the killers, while Williams makes her Latté Da debut as her jailer, Mama Morton (Sept. 18-Nov. 3).

Williams takes the title role in “Bernarda Alba,” an all-female chamber musical based on Federico García Lorca’s classic tragedy “The House of Bernarda Alba,” in which a Spanish matriarch attempts to cloister her five daughters after the death of her husband. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t work. The powerhouse cast also includes Latté Da vets Meghan Kreidler, Ann Michels, Sara Ochs and Ollmann. Mill City Summer Opera's Crystal Manich directs. (Jan. 15-Feb. 16, 2020).

Events shift to France for a return visit to “La Bohème,” which earned Latté Da an Ivey Award in 2005 for a production that zooms the opera from its original 1840s setting to the occupied Paris of the 1940s. The 2005 production was performed with an English translation. This time, it’ll be sung in Italian with English supertitles. The story of artsy youth, falling in love and struggling to survive is orchestrated for Parisian street instruments, including accordion, violin and clarinet (March 11-April 26, 2020).

Latté Da artistic director Peter Rothstein helms all but one of the season's titles, including a world premiere musical inspired by another classic. “Twelve Angry Men” by David Simpatico and Michael Holland (based on Reginald Rose’s 1950s teleplay) is set in a jury room where the acrimonious title characters settle the fate of a youth charged with murder (May 27-June 28. 2020).

Assuring that there’s at least one death in every Latté Da show next season, the company’s holiday offering is “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.” This tear-jerking favorite uses beloved songs to re-create a single day of peace on the front lines of World War I. A hit last year in New York, and an impossible-to-get ticket in its brief local appearance, “All Is Calm” returns much of its cast — including Sasha Andreev and Rodolfo Nieto — for a monthlong run (Nov. 27-Dec. 22).

The company’s annual festival of works-in-development, Next, also returns in July 2020.

Season tickets are currently on sale at 612-339-3003 or latteda.org.

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES 2019-2020 SEASON, AN EPIC LINEUP OF RE-IMAGINED CLASSICS AND NEW WORKS

Regina Marie Williams and Britta Ollmann star in CHICAGO and BERNARDA ALBA in Latte Da’s 2019-20 Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
May 8, 2019                                                                                              

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky                                                                                                                         andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office
 

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES 2019-2020 SEASON,
AN EPIC LINEUP OF RE-IMAGINED CLASSICS AND NEW WORKS

 Highlights of Season 22’s wide-ranging exploration of musical storytelling include Broadway’s longest-running American musical CHICAGO, the area premiere of a musical adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca's BERNARDA ALBA, Peter Rothstein’s innovative staging of the beloved opera LA BOHÈME, and the world premiere musical adaptation of the American courtroom drama TWELVE ANGRY MEN.

 (MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL) Theater Latté Da (Peter Rothstein, artistic director) today announces its 2019-2020 season. The highly-celebrated company will launch a series of productions that encompass a continued commitment to presenting original and re-imagined musical theater beginning with the Tony award-winning and longest-running American musical CHICAGO; the homecoming of the Latté Da original docu-musical ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914; the area premiere of Michael John La Chiusa's powerful musical masterwork BERNARDA ALBA based on the play by Frederica Garcia Lorca, Peter Rothstein’s award-winning staging of Puccini's beloved opera LA BOHÈME, the world premiere musical adaptation of the American courtroom drama TWELVE ANGRY MEN, and continued robust commitment to the development of new musicals and plays-with-music in our annual NEXT FESTIVAL.

 “I continue to be inspired by the musical theater and the vast range of stories it can tell,” shares artistic director Peter Rothstein. “This season is a celebration of some of the art form's greatest works as well as new work by some of the most exciting voices working today. And I find each of these stories moving, challenging, funny, and profound.”

 The season opens with the show-stopping Tony award-winning musical, CHICAGO (September 18-November 3, 2019) by John Kander (Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Bob Fosse (Pippin), based on the stage play by Maurine Dallas Watkins (Libeled Lady screenplay) with music by John Kander (Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman) and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Directed by Peter Rothstein with music direction by Denise Prosek and choreography by Kelli Foster Warder.

 Set in 1920s Chicago and based on real-life murders and trials, CHICAGO follows Roxie Hart, a wannabe vaudevillian star who murders her lover. In the Cook County Jail, Roxie meets her hero, the famed double-murderess and nightclub performer Velma Kelly. Tensions come to a head as the two murderesses vie for the ultimate spotlight. Broadway’s longest-running American musical, CHICAGO is a female-driven powerhouse. It’s a dazzling and satirical look at fame, justice, and the media machine. The production features Britta Ollmann, Robert Berdahl, Dorian Brooke, Fernando Collado, Michelle de Joya, Jaclyn Juola, Joey Miller, Reed Sigmund, Jessica Staples, Maureen Sherman-Mendez, Angela Steele, Dylan Rugh, and Regina Marie Williams. 

 ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 (November 27 – December 22, 2019), the poignant docu-musical about the World War I Christmas truce, will celebrate a homecoming after a successful Off-Broadway run at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture in 2018. This moving ode to peace is written and directed by Peter Rothstein with vocal arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach. The production will feature the talents of the Minneapolis-based cast who starred in the highly-lauded Off-Broadway run, which earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for Most Unique Theatrical Experience. The production will be available as a season ticket add-on.

The Western Front, Christmas, 1914. Out of the violence a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into No Man’s Land singing “Stille Nacht.” Thus begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music, peace. A remarkable true story told in the words and songs of the men who lived it. A Theater Latté Da original, this a capella production has become an annual holiday classic and is brought to life by a cast of 10 actor/singers, beautifully blending iconic WWI patriotic tunes, trench songs, medieval ballads and Christmas carols. Featuring Sasha Andreev, Benjamin Dutcher, Ben Johnson, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, James Ramlet, and Evan Tyler Wilson.

In January, the Ritz Theater will erupt with the fiery sounds of flamenco music with the area premiere of Michael John La Chiusa's BERNARDA ALBA (January 15-February 16, 2020). La Chiusa (The Wild Party, Marie Christine) brings a musical voice to Federico Garcia Lorca's final 1936 masterpiece through pulsing castanets, trilling Spanish guitars, and resounding rhythmic stomps.

Bernarda Alba is a powerful matriarch, who imposes a strict rule on her household following her second husband's funeral. Bernarda's five daughters, however, struggle with Bernarda's cold regime. The girls' dreams, desires, and the lure of the outside world begin to permeate their isolated existence. Theater Latté Da’s production features a cast of ten of the Twin Cities’ finest women actors including Regina Marie Williams as Bernarda Alba, featuring Aimee Bryant, Haley Haupt, Christine Hwang, Kim Kivens, Meghan Kreidler, Ann Michels, Nora Montenez, Sara Ochs, and Britta Ollmann. Crystal Manich, recently appointed Artistic Director of the Mill City Opera and renowned opera director leads the production. Music direction by Jason Hansen and choreography by Kelli Foster Warder.

In the spring, Theater Latté Da brings Peter Rothstein’s innovative, award-winning staging of Puccini’s
LA BOHÈME (March 11-April 26, 2020) to the intimate Ritz Theater. Peter Rothstein directs, the production featuring orchestrations for Parisian street instruments (accordion, piano, guitar, violin, and clarinet) by Joseph Schlefke. Performed in Italian with English titles projected above the stage.

Puccini’s LA BOHÈME (March 11-April 26, 2020), the passionate, timeless, and indelible story of love among young artists in Paris, can stake its claim as the world’s most popular opera. Lyrical and touchingly beautiful, LA BOHÈME is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and loss and meaning of life in the face of adversity.

Season 22 concludes with the world premiere of TWELVE ANGRY MEN, (May 27-June 28, 2020) book by David Simpatico (Disney’s High School Musical 1 & 2, The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing) music and lyrics by Michael Holland (You’re Gonna Hate This, Hurricane) based on the teleplay “Twelve Angry Men,” by Reginald Rose. Peter Rothstein directs with music direction by Denise Prosek.

In form, TWELVE ANGRY MEN is a courtroom drama; in purpose, it's a crash course in those passages of the Constitution that promise defendants a fair trial and the presumption of innocence. In a small New York City jury room, on "the hottest day of the year," twelve men debate the fate of a young defendant charged with murdering his father.

Theater Latté Da continues its robust commitment to new work with their NEXT FESTIVAL in July 2020. The summer festival showcases three new works that stretch the boundaries of musical storytelling, where audience members are invited into the ground floor of the creative process.

Season tickets are currently on sale; packages start at $120. Call the box office at 612-339-3003 or purchase online at Latteda.org.

SEASON 22

CHICAGO

Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins
Script adaptation by David Thompson

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Denise Prosek
Choreography by Kelli Foster Warder

Featuring Britta Ollmann, Robert Berdahl, Dorian Brooke, Fernando Collado, Michelle de Joya, Jaclyn Juola, Joey Miller, Reed Sigmund, Jessica Staples, Maureen Sherman-Mendez, Angela Steele, Dylan Rugh, and Regina Marie Williams

September 18 – November 3, 2019

ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 (Season Add-on)

By Peter Rothstein
Vocal Arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Erick Lichte

Featuring Sasha Andreev, Benjamin Dutcher, Ben Johnson, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, James Ramlet, and Evan Tyler Wilson

November 27 – December 22, 2019

BERNARDA ALBA (Area Premiere)

Words and music by Michael John La Chuisa
Based on the play The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca

Directed by Crystal Manich
Music Direction by Jason Hansen

Choreography by Kelli Foster Warder
Starring Regina Marie Williams as Bernarda Alba, featuring Aimee Bryant, Haley Haupt, Christine Hwang, Kim Kivens, Meghan Kreidler, Ann Michels, Nora Montenez, Sara Ochs, and Britta Ollmann

January 15 - February 16, 2020

LA BOHÈME
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Guiseppe Giacosa

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music arrangements by Joseph Schlefke

March 11 - April 26, 2020

TWELVE ANGRY MEN (World Premiere)
Adapted from the play by Reginald Rose
Music and lyrics by Michael Holland
Book by David Simpatico

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music direction by Denise Prosek

May 27 – June 28, 2020

 
NEXT FESTIVAL 2019 (Season Add-on)
July 2020

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With 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch,' Minneapolis theater sparks dialogue on gender identity and casting

Theater Latté Da’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” features cisgender actor Tyler Michaels King as the title character. Photo credit Allen Weeks.

By Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune
March 22, 2019 7:33PM

The 1998 New York Times review of the original staging of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” contains at least two words now considered outdated, even offensive. The fact that the review was written just 21 years ago? That shows how much has changed in the world of gender and identity politics.

“Sex-change” operations are now generally called “gender-confirming” surgeries. And many “transsexuals” prefer the term “transgender.” With our language evolving so rapidly, no wonder it’s so tricky to stage the once-outré-but-now-beloved “Hedwig.” Discussion concerning gender has become a lot more nuanced since the musical premiered, with more Americans embracing a definition that is nonbinary, where people can identify with points along a continuum rather than the male-female extremes.

“ ‘Hedwig’ means so many different things to different people,” said trans actor Jay Owen Eisenberg, a cast member for Theater Latté Da’s “Hedwig” (opening Saturday in Minneapolis). “There are so many people in the queer community who love Hedwig and this show and so many who hate it and so many people in the middle. It’s true of any piece, but ‘Hedwig,’ especially, has a polarizing quality.”

That was also true when “Hedwig” debuted off-Broadway. It felt revolutionary with its story of a German youth who falls in love with a man. The title character has his penis removed so he can marry his lover and move to the U.S., only to be dumped and forced to carve out a living as a low-rent cabaret performer.

“Hedwig” became a 2001 cult movie starring co-creator John Cameron Mitchell. It eventually landed a 2014 Broadway stint that earned Neil Patrick Harris a Tony award. The show’s mass appeal proved “Hedwig” was no longer as subversive as it once seemed (the Times’ 2014 review called Hedwig’s gender “undefinable”). In fact, Mitchell — who now refers to the title character as “genderqueer,” a term that barely existed in 1998 but describes people who don’t identify with traditional roles — has said “Hedwig” would be a different show if he wrote it today. With actors including Laverne Cox and Asia Kate Dillon and TV series including “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “Transparent” becoming popular in the interim — to say nothing of marriage equality and the public transition of Caitlyn Jenner — audiences are apt to see “Hedwig” a lot differently than they did in the late ’90s.

‘A third gender space’

Jay Owen Eisenberg in rehearsals as Hedwig’s boyfriend, Yitzhak. Emilee Elofson • Theater Latté Da

For one thing, is Hedwig even trans?

“So many people, even LGBTQI people, still call Hedwig a trans character, but she never uses that word,” said Theater Latté Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, who codirects “Hedwig” with Annie Enneking. “The narrative is that Hedwig is a gay man who cuts his penis off to get out of East Berlin.”

Eisenberg concurs with that assessment.

“The show was pushing the envelope in so many ways in 1998 because we were seeing someone who was really messing with gender presentation and was a gender-variant person on stage,” he said. “But we have someone whose transition was largely informed by coercion, so it gets tricky to use the word ‘trans.’ ”

One thing both Eisenberg and Rothstein like about Hedwig is that she doesn’t fit current gender norms (as indicated by the script, the artists use she/her pronouns for the character). That’s why Eisenberg loves the idea of all kinds of actors playing the character: men, women, trans, genderqueer.

That’s also why, when he heard about the production last summer, in which cisgender actor Tyler Michaels King was cast as Hedwig (a role almost always played by cis men), Eisenberg “had some questions” about Latté Da’s take on the show.

So he called Rothstein. At a follow-up meeting with Rothstein and Latté Da Associate Artistic Director Elissa Adams, Eisenberg raised issues the queer community was debating, issues concerning the fairness of casting King. “Peter said, basically, ‘We knew conversation would come out of this, but we would rather have those conversations than not. We want to do this show and we want to talk about it,’ ” Eisenberg said.

The meeting convinced him that this was a “Hedwig” production he could get behind. “I do want us to be cast more, of course,” Eisenberg said. “But I don’t necessarily interpret this character as trans, because of how the transition happens. I interpret her, by the end, as occupying a third gender space.”

Minneapolis City Council Member, trans woman and artist Andrea Jenkins said that she’s surprised that a cisgender man is playing “Hedwig” but that she appreciates the involvement of Eisenberg and trans woman Jendeen Forberg, who played Hedwig’s drummer in the first Twin Cities production in 2002 and returns to that role for Latté Da. (The production includes several queer or gay artists.)

“I’m not always necessarily a purist around these issues,” Jenkins said. “I thought Jeffrey Tambor was an excellent choice for ‘Transparent’ because it was about a trans person coming out late in life. It totally made sense to me that that actor would portray that character, and I think Hedwig is in a similar vein.”

Rothstein stands by his casting choice but said he also gets why it’s controversial.

“We’re very intentional about opening our doors and inviting nonbinary artists to audition, to be a part of our process,” he said. “So that conversation I absolutely agree with: People were upset that Tyler got the role because there are not that many roles written for trans or nonbinary artists and I was denying them a chance to play this role.”

But “theater can build a more compassionate world,” he added, specifically because artists have the empathy to play characters who are different from them.

‘Small things matter’

After that initial meeting with Rothstein and Adams, Eisenberg was offered a job codirecting “Hedwig.” But when Meghan Kreidler, originally cast as Yitzhak, dropped out of the show, Adams asked Eisenberg whether he would consider auditioning.

He may be the first trans man to play Yitzhak, Hedwig’s sometime lover, a male role written for a woman’s voice. One “really beautiful” aspect of this production, he said, is how music director Jason Hansen rearranged Yitzhak’s vocals to make use of Eisenberg’s voice now, “a tenor with a lot of falsetto,” rather than the trained mezzo soprano he had before taking testosterone. “On the first day of rehearsal, I said, ‘Thank you for working with my Yitzhak. It feels good,’ ” Eisenberg said.

Meanwhile, Latté Da reflects Hedwig’s bravery by staging her lounge act not in a queer space, but in a suburban Minneapolis park circa 1997. That’s bound to start a conversation.

There’s also bound to be talk about the new signage at the Ritz Theater, where Latté Da performs. When patrons visit for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” they will see that the former men’s and women’s restrooms are now marked with signs inviting theater­goers to use whichever feels most comfortable. (Latté Da has been weighing an expensive conversion to fully gender-neutral bathrooms since it bought the Ritz in 2016.)

“When Peter first brought it up, I said, ‘That’s so great. I think it’s important for the run of this show to do that, considering that it’s likely we’ll have more people who want gender-neutral restrooms,’ ” Eisenberg said. “And Peter said, ‘Yeah, and then we’re going to keep them that way.’ Those small things matter. It can make you feel immediately comfortable when you walk into a place and think, ‘Hmmm. I see some very active allyship happening here.’ ”

While Latté Da’s nonbinary patrons and their allies will likely applaud the shift, Rothstein knows it won’t be easy for everyone. “We have some patrons who have said, ‘I would not be comfortable with this,’ ” he acknowledged. “But our response is usually, ‘Imagine how a transgender person has felt the majority of their life.’ ”

With President Donald Trump banning trans people from the military and seven states issuing nonbinary driver’s licenses, these are issues the country is still debating. And we’re debating them, at least in part, thanks to the trailblazing influence of “Hedwig.”

“Hedwig was a pioneer,” Rothstein said. “And we need to acknowledge these pioneers who put on a pair of heels, if that was how they acted out loud, or who knocked on doors or put on political rallies. She wants to have real conversations about her life experience, and how that resonates with gender identity and sexual identity and power.”

So Latté Da is inviting Hedwig into the Ritz to continue that conversation, one encompassing how all of us come to know ourselves, how we express that, where we occasionally miss the mark and maybe which restroom feels right.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Who: Music and lyrics by Stephen Trask. Book by John Cameron Mitchell. Directed by Annie Enneking and Peter Rothstein.

When: 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. next Sun. Ends May 5.

Where: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Av. NE., Mpls.

Tickets: $31-$57; 612-339-3003, latteda.org.

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES THE CAST OF HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb 21, 2019

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office
latteda.org/media-room

THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES THE CAST OF HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

“More than any god could ever plan. More than a woman or a man.”
– from Wicked Little Town, Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The genre-bending and electrifying musical stars Tyler Michaels King in the titular role of Hedwig and Jay Owen Eisenberg stars as Yitzhak. Jendeen Forberg, Jason Hansen, Mayda Miller, and Jakob Smith are the Angry Inch band.

Performances begin March 27 and run thru May 5, 2019 at the Ritz Theater.|
Single tickets are on sale now at Latteda.org or 612-339-3003.

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Theater Latté Da announces the cast for John Cameron Mitchell’s genre-bending, fourth-wall-smashing sensation Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Winner of 2014 Tony award for Best Musical Revival, Hedwig and the Angry Inch features music and lyrics by Stephen Trask. Annie Enneking and Theater Latté Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein co-direct the production with Music Director Jason Hansen. Performances begin March 27 at the Ritz Theater (345 13th Avenue NE in Minneapolis). Single tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at Latteda.org or by calling 612-339-3003.

“Groundbreaking and undoubtedly ahead of its time,” says Entertainment Weekly, this genre-bending, fourth-wall-smashing musical sensation, with a pulsing rock score and electrifying performances, tells the story of one of the most unique characters to ever hit the stage. Winner of the 2014 Tony award for Best Musical Revival, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is an inspiration to anyone who has felt life gave them an inch when they deserved a mile.

Peter Rothstein co-directs Hedwig and the Angry Inch with Annie Enneking, who shares, “I’m obsessed with notions of transcendence, the problems of love, and the vitality behind radical self-definition.” Rothstein adds, "I have long admired this radical piece of musical theater and am thrilled to re-imagine it with this extraordinary team of artists."

The production stars Tyler Michaels King as Hedwig and Jay Owen Eisenberg as Yitzhak. Michaels has starred in several productions with Theater Latté Da including Assassins, Peter and the Starcatcher, Sweeney Todd, and Cabaret.  This production marks Eisenberg’s debut with Latté Da. A director, actor, and teaching artist, he has appeared in productions at Children’s Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, and Open Eye Figure Theatre, among others. Joining them live on stage as the Angry Inch band are Chicago-based guitarist Jakob Smith, bassist and multi-musician/artist/producer Mayda Miller, and drummer Jendeen Forberg, founder and leader of Wolverines Big Band.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch features scenic design by Michael Hoover, costume design by Alice Fredrickson, lighting design by Mary Shabatura, sound design by Alex Ritter, and properties design by Abbee Warmboe.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

FACT SHEET:

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Book by John Cameron Mitchell
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Trask

Directed by Annie Enneking and Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Jason Hansen 

“Groundbreaking and undoubtedly ahead of its time,” says Entertainment Weekly, this genre-bending, fourth-wall-smashing musical sensation, with a pulsing rock score and electrifying performances, tells the story of one of the most unique characters to ever hit the musical stage. Winner of the 2014 Tony award for Best Musical Revival, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is an inspiration to anyone who has felt life gave them an inch when they deserved a mile.

Starring Tyler Michaels King as Hedwig and Jay Owen Eisenberg as Yitzhak
Jendeen Forberg, Jason Hansen, Mayda Miller, and Jakob Smith are the Angry Inch band.

Dates: Wednesday, March 27 – Sunday, May 5, 2019
Venue: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN 55413
Tickets: $31-51

DUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND, THEATER LATTÉ DA ANNOUNCES EXTENDED PERFORMANCES OF A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office

“Crystalline in its storytelling and flat-out gorgeous to behold.”
– Pioneer Press

“’Send in the Clowns’ is a shimmering, shattering moment.”
– The Star Tribune

“Theater Latté Da hits all the right notes.” – City Pages

 “Thoughtful, detailed, well cast, beautifully staged, and musically gorgeous.” – Cherry and Spoon

CLICK HERE FOR PRODUCTION PHOTOS

Performances have been extended thru March 10, 2019 at the Ritz Theater.
Tickets are on sale now at Latteda.org or 612-339-3003.

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Theater Latté Da announces extended performances through March 10th for Stephen Sondheim’s romantic comedy A Little Night Music. Winner of three Tony Awards including Best Musical, A Little Night Music features a book by Hugh Wheeler with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Theater Latté Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein directs the production with Music Director Jason Hansen and choreography by Heidi Spesard-Noble. Performances run now through March 10 at the Ritz Theater (345 13th Avenue NE in Minneapolis). Single tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at latteda.org or by calling 612-339-3003.

Part comedy of manners, part battle of the sexes, this funny, elegant work inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s period film Smiles on a Summer Night explores the tangled web of affairs centered around leading actress Desirée Armfeldt. Winner of multiple Tony Awards including Best Musical, A Little Night Music features a romantic score, set entirely in 3/4 time signatures, including Sondheim’s most popular song “Send in the Clowns.”

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

FACT SHEET:

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Suggested by a Film by Ingmar Bergman
Originally Produced and Directed on Broadway by Harold Prince   

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Jason Hansen
Choreography by Heidi Spesard-Noble 

Starring Mark Benninghofen*, Grace Chermak, Bradley Greenwald*, Elizabeth Hawkinson, Susan Hofflander*, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, Britta Ollmann*, Sally Wingert*, and Mabel Weismann. 

Part comedy of manners, part sexual farce, this funny, elegant work inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s period film Smiles on a Summer Night explores the tangled web of affairs centered around leading actress Desirée Armfeldt. Winner of three Tony Awards including Best Musical, A Little Night Music features a romantic score, set entirely in 3/4 time signatures, including Sondheim’s most popular song “Send in the Clowns.” 

Dates: Wednesday, January 23 – Sunday, March 10, 2019 EXTENDED
Venue: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN 55413

Tickets: $31-57

We’ve added these performance dates":

Tuesday, March 5, 2019 at 7:30pm  Added performance
Wednesday, March 6, 2019 at 7:30pm  Added performance
Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 7:30pm  Added performance
Friday, March 8, 2019 at 7:30pm  Added performance
Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 2:00pm  Added performance
Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 7:30pm  Added performance
Sunday, March 10, 2019 at 2:00pm  Added performance

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REHEARSALS ARE UNDERWAY FOR SONDHEIM’S ROMANTIC COMEDY, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC AT THEATER LATTÉ DA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 4, 2019

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office

Sally Wingert stars as Desireé Armfeldt, Photo by Emilee Elofson.

REHEARSALS ARE UNDERWAY FOR SONDHEIM’S ROMANTIC COMEDY, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC AT THEATER LATTÉ DA 

Winner of multiple Tony Awards including Best Musical, A Little Night Music features a romantic score, set entirely in 3/4 time signatures, including Sondheim’s most popular song “Send in the Clowns.”

A Little Night Music stars Mark Benninghofen, Grace Chermak, Bradley Greenwald, Elizabeth Hawkinson, Susan Hofflander, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, Britta Ollmann, Sally Wingert, and Mabel Weismann.

CLICK HERE FOR REHEARSAL PHOTOS

Performances begin January 23 and run thru March 3, 2019 at the Ritz Theater.
Single tickets and season tickets are on sale now at latteda.org or 612-339-3003.

(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Rehearsal are underway for Stephen Sondheim’s romantic comedy A Little Night Music. Winner of three Tony Awards including Best Musical, A Little Night Music features a book by Hugh Wheeler with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Theater Latté Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein directs the production with Music Director Jason Hansen and choreography by Heidi Spesard-Noble. Performances begin January 23 at the Ritz Theater (345 13th Avenue NE in Minneapolis). Single tickets and mini season ticket packages are on sale now and can be purchased at latteda.org or by calling 612-339-3003.

Part comedy of manners, part battle of the sexes, this funny, elegant work inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s period film Smiles on a Summer Night explores the tangled web of affairs centered around leading actress Desirée Armfeldt. Winner of multiple Tony Awards including Best Musical, A Little Night Music features a romantic score, set entirely in 3/4 time signatures, including Sondheim’s most popular song “Send in the Clowns.”

“I’ve wanted to stage this masterwork for years, but was holding off for the perfect cast,” says Director Peter Rothstein.

The production reunites two beloved Twin Cities actors, Sally Wingert (Desirée Armfeldt) and Mark Benninghofen (Frederick), who came together for Theater Latté Da’s award-winning productions of Sweeney Todd and Six Degrees of Separation. Wingert most recently appeared on the Ritz Theater stage as the fastidious Librarian in Latté Da’s highly-successful production of Underneath the Lintel. The duo is supported by an all-star cast including Bradley Greenwald, Elizabeth Hawkinson, Susan Hofflander, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, Britta Ollmann, and Mabel Weismann.

A Little Night Music features scenic design by Joel Sass, costume design by Rich Hamson, lighting design by Marcus Dilliard, sound design by C Andrew Mayer, and properties design by Abbee Warmboe.

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater.  www.latteda.org

FACT SHEET:

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Suggested by a Film by Ingmar Bergman
Originally Produced and Directed on Broadway by Harold Prince 

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Jason Hansen
Choreography by Heidi Spesard-Noble

Starring Mark Benninghofen*, Grace Chermak, Bradley Greenwald*, Elizabeth Hawkinson, Susan Hofflander*, Riley McNutt, Rodolfo Nieto, Britta Ollmann*, Sally Wingert*, and Mabel Weismann.

Part comedy of manners, part sexual farce, this funny, elegant work inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s period film Smiles on a Summer Night explores the tangled web of affairs centered around leading actress Desirée Armfeldt. Winner of three Tony Awards including Best Musical, A Little Night Music features a romantic score, set entirely in 3/4 time signatures, including Sondheim’s most popular song “Send in the Clowns.”

Dates: Wednesday, January 23 – Sunday, March 3, 2019
Venue: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis MN 55413

Tickets: $31-51

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