Contact: Cathy Johnson or Susan Claassen 1400 N. First Ave, Tucson, AZ. 85719 www.invisibletheatre.com (520) 884-0672

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE INVISIBLE THEATRE

Presents

The Zany Comedy

MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS by By Ron Hutchinson

Directed by Betsy Kruse Craig

Through the generous support of Bob and Mary Ann Stubbs

WHERE: The Invisible Theatre 1400 N First Avenue (at Drachman) Tucson, AZ 85719

WHEN: September 14* - October 3, 2010

TICKETS: Ticket Price: $18 - $25 Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 7:30 pm - Preview ($18) Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 7:30 pm – Opening ($25) Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 pm ($25) Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm ($25) Sundays at 3:00 pm ($25) Call (520) 882-9721 for reservations and information Discounts available for groups of 10 or more

RUSH TICKETS: One half-hour prior to curtain for any scheduled performance, tickets are available for half price, subject to availability

CAST: Terry Erbe, Roberto Guajardo, Dwayne Palmer and Victoria McGee

RUNNING TIME: 2 hours with one intermission

August 16, 2010, Tucson, Arizona; The Invisible Theatre kicks off it’s 40th Anniversary Season with the zany comedy, MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS directed by Betsy Kruse Craig. This wildly funny and engaging tale illuminates the behind-the-scenes business of movie-making during the golden age of Hollywood. Legendary producer David O. Selznick has shut down production of his new epic, Gone with the Wind. He sends a car for screenwriter and pulls director Victor Fleming from the set of The Wizard of Oz. Subsisting on a diet of bananas and peanuts, the three men spend five days crafting a screenplay that will become the blueprint for one of the most successful films of all time! “Frankly, my dear, this is one funny play.” -Daily News ABOUT THE CAST

TERRY ERBE (Victor Fleming) is a Kansas native, celebrating his twelfth year in Tucson. He teaches theatre at Catalina Foothills High School, as well as acting and directing around town. Terry is a founding member of the newly formed Winding Road Theatre. Previously seen at IT in acclaimed performances in THE EXONERATED and LEAVING IOWA, he has also performed at LTW in SOCIAL SECURITY, at The Rogue in Genet’s THE BALCONY and OUR TOWN, FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIRE DE LUNE for Winding Road and in two Toni Press-Coffman plays, THAT SLUT and NEW HOUSE, NEW DOG. Terry directed PRELUDE TO A KISS at LTW, where he also directed A PERFECT GANESH. Other directing credits include THE LAST FIVE YEARS, ELEEMOSYNARY, LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! and SUMMER AND SMOKE.

ROBERTO GUAJARDO (Ben Hecht) is a veteran of well over a dozen IT productions. Roberto first appeared here back in the 1970’s in WEEDS. He last appeared at IT in AN EMPTY PLATE IN THE CAFÉ DU GRAND BOEUF and LEAVING IOWA. He has frequently appeared with Arizona Theatre Company, Borderlands Theatre, Beowulf Alley and Arizona Repertory Theatre. Roberto has also worked in theaters throughout the state, including Arizona Jewish Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Phoenix, Phoenix Theatre and four seasons with the Flagstaff Festival of the Arts. Regional credits include appearances at Seattle Repertory Theatre, San José Repertory Theatre, Missouri Repertory Theatre and The Pasadena Playhouse. He has worked extensively in film and television. In 2008 Roberto was honored to receive TPAC’s Lumie Award for Lifetime Achievement for outstanding contribution to the arts in Pima County.

VICTORIA McGEE (Miss Poppenghul) is happy to be back at IT where she was last seen as Mom in LEAVING IOWA. IT audiences will also remember her as Carla Carla in SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS. Victoria has also appeared at Beowulf Alley Theatre in THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE, FIFTH PLANET AND OTHER PLAYS and ARCADIA. Victoria is a regular performing member of Not Burnt Out, Just Unscrewed – Tucson’s comedy improvisation troupe. In addition to stage, Victoria has worked in film, television, commercials and recently started doing audio books.

DWAYNE PALMER (David O. Selznick) received his BFA in acting from the University of Arizona in 1986. He made his long overdue IT debut in BARBRA’S WEDDING and played Billy in last season’s IRON KISSES. Dwayne has been an active member of the Tucson theatre scene. He was last seen as Jack in BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS at Arizona Repertory Theatre and BROADWAY BOUND at Arizona Repertory Theatre. He also appeared as Richard Robin in LIVING OUT at Borderlands Theater which won the Mac for best drama of 2005. Other favorite roles include Aram Tomosian in BEAST ON THE MOON and Don Francisco in LA NONA/THE GRANNY at Borderlands Theater. He is now SAG eligible due to his work in the comedy Trade In which was filmed in Tucson.

BETSY KRUSE CRAIG (Director) is IT’s treasured Artistic Associate. She returned to IT in BINGO! after a much too long hiatus. Betsy has also appeared at IT in THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND, THE BATTING CAGE, YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY and most recently, GUN METAL BLUES. She received her MFA in acting from the University of Arizona in 1994. She recently directed ENCORE! at the University of Arizona, where she also teaches. Betsy has performed at the Gaslight Theatre as XEENA THE WARRIOR PRINCESS (among many other roles), as Alexa Vere de Vere in Borderland's AS BEES IN HONEY DROWN, and at Arizona Repertory Theatre in LYSISTRATA and NINE. She performed in NYC as a company member of THE PAPER BAG PLAYERS and THE NEWS IN REVUE. Betsy directed IT’s CAMPING WITH HENRY AND TOM. She is the director of IT’s new Acting Conservatory (ITAC) and teaches with The Pastime Players.

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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

RON HUTCHINSON (Playwright) is the author of Rat in the Skull which premiered at Royal Court Theatre in 1984 and also played at Chicago's Wisdom Bridge Theatre, The Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and a revival at Duke of York's Theatre in 1995. He also wrote an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's Flight which played at the National Theatre in 1997; Burning Issues, Hampstead Theatre Club in 1999; Beau!, Theatre Royal, Bath and Haymarket, Leicester Square 2001; Lags, national tours 2002-03; Believers, for Playbox Young People's Theatre, 2003; Head/Case, Royal Shakespeare Company 2004; and Moonlight and Magnolias, Goodman Theatre, Chicago 2004 and Manhattan Theatre Club 2005.

Mr. Hutchinson lives in Los Angeles where he is a writer/producer for features and television. Winner of an Emmy for Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, starring Ben Kingsley in 1989, his latest projects include the miniseries Marco Polo and The Ten Commandments, The Tuskegee Airman, The Burning Season, Traffic (nominated for three Emmys in 2004) and rewrites on Fox Pictures' remake of Flight of the Phoenix.

The Invisible Theatre adds a tasty selection to It’s 40th Anniversary menu!

Invisible Theatre’s Page to Stage Brunch

Sunday, September 12th at 11am AM Rio Café 2526 E. Grant Road

Reservations are now being taken for a delightful brunch and a lively discussion of MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS with the actors and director, Betsy Kruse Craig.

$35 for Invisible Theatre season ticket holders (Includes a copy of the script) $50 for non-season ticket holders (Includes a copy of the script and a ticket to the show)

Reservations for this delicious event: (520) 884-0672

3 ABOUT THE PEOPLE

Gone with the Wind was produced at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood, at a time when the studio system was still firmly in place. The studio system was the primary means of producing and distributing Hollywood films from the 1920s until the early 1950s. At that time the major film studios not only produced movies, but they also owned the distribution companies, as well as chains of movie theatres, ensuring that they controlled every aspect of the movie business. It wasn’t until 1948, when a Supreme Court ruling forced the studios to sell their theatre chains that the studio system started to die. But until then, the Big Five – MGM, RKO, Paramount, Fox and Warner Brothers – ruled Hollywood. Under the studio system, the movie moguls were the dictators of their own celluloid worlds. They controlled the contracts of actors, directors and writers, and determined what movies would be made and how they would be made. A producer like David Selznick – though not head of one of the major studios – could pull a director like Victor Fleming off one movie in the morning and put them on a different movie in the afternoon, because he controlled Fleming’s contract. The studio system built the star system, through which studio executives groomed actors and actresses for stardom, shaping their image through carefully controlled publicity, while also controlling their professional career for years.

DAVID O. SELZNICK (May 10, 1902 – June 22, 1965) Producer, writer, and Hollywood Legend - David O. Selznick was an iconic figure of “the Golden Age of Hollywood.” His most notable films at RKO as Head of Production include King Kong and A Bill of Divorcement, which marked the film debut of Katherine Hepburn. In 1933, Selznick left RKO to form his own production unit at MGM, where he produced such classics as David Copperfield, Anna Karenina and A Tale of Two Cities. He struck out on his own in 1935, forming his own production company, Selznick International Pictures. Here he produced only 11 films in over five years, but two of those films, Gone with the Wind and Rebecca, won back-to-back Best Picture Oscars, making Selznick the only producer in movie history to achieve that feat. Gone with the Wind was by far Selznick’s greatest success. It was, in fact, one of the greatest successes in Hollywood history, grossing more money than any other film. It won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay (that award went to Sidney Howard), and helped earn Selznick the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

BEN HECHT (February 28, 1894 - April 18, 1964) Author, playwright, journalist and Academy Award- winning screenwriter, Ben Hecht was one of the most prolific writers of his generation, penning hundreds of screenplays, stories, articles, columns and plays over the course of his career. Working at Paramount Studios, one of his first screenplays, Underworld (1927), won the first Academy Award for Best Original Story. In all he worked on dozens of movies, either as a credited screenwriter or an uncredited rewrite or dialogue contributor. In all, Hecht was nominated for six Academy Awards for Best Story or Screenplay: Underworld (winner), Viva Villa!, The Scoundrel (winner), Wuthering Heights, Angels over Broadway, and Notorious. Wuthering Heights was defeated by another screenplay that Hecht had played an uncredited but instrumental role in writing - Gone with the Wind. In 1981 the Writers Guild of America honored him posthumously with the Laurel Award for Screen Writing Achievement.

VICTOR FLEMING (February 23, 1883 – January 6, 1949) was an Academy Award winning director and one of the forgotten greats of Hollywood’s Golden Age. He joined MGM in 1932 and directed a mixture of steamy comedies, dramas and family adventure classics. He was the favorite director of Clark Gable and when the filming of Gone with the Wind ran into trouble, Fleming was brought on to bring the situation under control. He left another troubled production, The Wizard of Oz, just short of completion to take on the task of bringing Margaret Mitchell’s blockbuster, Gone with the Wind, to the screen. It went on to become the highest grossing film in history and won Fleming his only Academy Award for Best Director. Fleming is the only director to have two films in the top ten of the American Film Institute’s list of greatest American films – Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. 4 SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION

MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS

SCHEDULE & TICKET INFORMATION

Special Dates: Page to Stage Brunch Sunday, September 12, 2010 – Rio Café at 11:00 am ($35/$50) Preview: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 – 7:30 pm ($18) Opening: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 – 7:30 pm ($25) Seminar: Wednesday, September 22, 2010 – 7:30 pm ($25) Closing: Sunday, October 3, 2010 – 3:00 pm ($25)

Week One: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 7:30 pm (Preview) Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 7:30 pm (Opening) Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 7:30 pm Friday, September 17, 2010 at 8:00 pm Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 8:00 pm Sunday, September 19, 2010 at 3:00 pm

Week Two: Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 7:30 pm (Seminar Night) Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 7:30 pm Friday, September 24, 2010 at 8:00 pm Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 8:00 pm Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 3:00 pm

Week Three: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 7:30 pm Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 7:30 pm Friday, October 1, 2010 at 8:00 pm Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 8:00 pm Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 3:00 pm (Closing)

Box Office: To purchase tickets or for information: . Call (520) 882-9721 to charge by phone . Visit the Invisible Theatre Lobby (1400 N First Avenue at Drachman) . Discounts available for groups of ten or more . Visa, M/C and AE are accepted

Rush Tickets: One half-hour prior to curtain for any scheduled performance, tickets are available for half price, subject to availability.

Wheelchair Access: IT is fully accessible to patrons using wheelchairs or with other mobility challenges. Seating areas to accommodate persons using wheelchairs are located in the theatre. If patrons require special seating, please inform the Box Office (882-9721).

5 PRODUCTION INFORMATION

MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS

PLAYWRIGHT – Ron Hutchinson

DIRECTOR – Betsy Kruse Craig

PRODUCERS – Susan Claassen and Cathy Johnson

CAST – Terry Erbe (Victor Fleming), Roberto Guajardo (Ben Hecht), Victoria McGee (Miss Poppenghul) and Dwayne Palmer (David O Selznick)

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR – James Blair

SET DESIGN – James Blair and Susan Claassen

SOUND DESIGN – Rob Boone

LIGHT DESIGN – James Blair

COSTUME DESIGN – Maryann Trombino

PROP DESIGN – Hank Krowicki

COMPANY STAGE MANAGER – Hank Krowicki

SOUND OPERATOR – Dave Hassen

LIGHT OPERATOR – Hank Krowicki

PHOTO CREDIT – Tim Fuller

THE STORY: David O. Selznick, famed Hollywood producer, has a problem. He’s three weeks into shooting his latest historical epic, Gone with the Wind, but the script just isn’t working. His solution? Fire the director, pull Victor Fleming off The Wizard of Oz, and lock himself, Fleming, and script doctor Ben Hecht in his office for five days until they have a screenplay. With only peanuts and bananas to sustain them, they work through and act out Margaret Mitchell’s bestseller and in the process make movie history.

Invisible Theatre 1400 N First Avenue at Drachman Tucson, AZ 85719 Box Office – (520) 882-9721 Administration – (520) 884-0672 Fax – (520) 884-5410 www.invisibletheatre.com

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