Assassins
May 14-23, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
$5 Preview Wednesday, May 13
Matinee Thursday, May 21 at 12:30 p.m.
No show Sunday, May 17
Directed by MFA Directing candidate Clinton Carew
Set, Lights and Projected Media: Lee Livingstone
Costumes: Robert Shannon
“Aim for what you want…Everybody gets a shot”
ASSASSINS
Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Book by JOHN WEIDMAN
The University of Alberta Studio Theatre closes out the 2008/2009 season with a bang! Assassins – a bold musical from Stephen Sondheim about the people who killed or attempted to kill the President of the United States, blasts onto the mainstage May 14 - 23, 2009 at 7:30 pm in the University of Alberta’s Timms Centre for the Arts (87 Avenue & 112 Street).
From the opening number set in a shooting gallery to the provocative tune of “C’mere and Kill the President,” Sondheim delivers a captivating portrait of nine notorious killers in our culture; historical figures that are as much a product of the American Dream as the famous leaders they aim to kill.
Musicals are a rare occurrence for the UofA Studio Theatre and this production, directed by MFA Directing candidate Clinton Carew (BFA Acting ‘95) as his thesis project, promises to be a dazzling spectacle, with Carew also playing the Proprietor. Musical Direction is by Ryan Sigurdson.
Assassins premiered off-Broadway in 1990 and was met with a lukewarm reception from American audiences then steeped in a pre-Gulf war patriotic climate. A later production in London was far more acclaimed. A Broadway production planned for 2001 was deemed too controversial in the 9/11 aftermath and postponed until 2004, eventually earning Michael Cerveris a Tony Award for his performance as John Wilkes Booth. Assassins was recently revived in London’s West End in 2008.
The Studio Theatre cast features: Paul Bellows (Hinckley), Tara Brodin B Ed ’97 (Moore), Paul Morgan Donald (Byke), Andrew Mecready (Guiteau), Laura Raboud (Chorus, Herold), Garrett Spelliscy BFA Acting ’08 (Czolgosz), Jon Lachlan Stewart (Booth), Farren Timoteo (Zangara), Paul Welch BFA Acting ’07 (Chorus), current BA Drama students Holly Cinnamon (Chorus), current BFA Acting students Adam Cope (Chorus), Elliott James (Chorus, Ford), Robert Markus (Chorus, Billy), Karyn Mott (Fromme), recent BFA Acting graduates Joel Crichton (Balladeer), Joshua Dalledonne (Oswald), Joëlle Préfontaine (Goldman), and current UofA Art & Design student Allison Leggatt (Chorus).
Sets, lights and projected media are designed by Professor Lee Livingstone (MFA Theatre Design ‘73), costumes are designed by Professor Robert Shannon (MFA Theatre Design ‘85) and the soundscape is designed by Matthew Skopyk (BFA Technical Theatre Production ‘06). The production is stage managed by recent BFA Technical Theatre Stage Management graduate Dawn Friesen, assisted by current BFA Technical Theatre Stage Management student Emma Deobald.
Evening performances of Assassins run May 14-23, at 7:30 pm, with a $5 preview performance Wednesday, May 13 at 7:30 pm. A matinee is scheduled for Thursday, May 21 at 12:30 pm. There is no performance Sunday, May 17.
Tickets are on-sale now, available for $10-$20 at TIX on the Square, in-person at Sir Winston Churchill Square Interpretive Centre, by phone at 780.420.1757, and online at www.tixonthesqaure.ca . Walk-up tickets are available one hour before each performance at the Timms Centre Box Office.
Assassins is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI) and produced with the support of the University of Alberta Department of Drama, University of Alberta Faculty of Arts and the Timms Centre for the Arts. 
Assassins Musical Director Co-Sponsors: Yellow Pencil Inc. and Heights Residential 
Studio Theatre 08.09 Season Media Sponsors: See Magazine and CKUA Radio Network